Well this week I revealed a new project by me and my good friend Chris Drexler-Lemire (bassist for The Final Year) called Lupus Mentem. So yeah, we're gonna be recording all summer (as well as working on new stuff with TFY!) and the best way to follow all that will be on our blog, Facebook, and Twitter. So stay tuned for developing awesomeness!
You will also want to stay tuned into The Final Year's new stuff, with a high chance of shows in late July and August. Again, we'll be keeping a blog, Facebook, and Twitter going for that.
All exciting stuff!
Cheers,
Pierre.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Decemberists: "The King Is Dead" - Album Review
When we last heard from The Decemberists, it was 2009 and they had just dropped their ridiculously epic concept-album folk-rock-opera The Hazards of Love. A lot of people had already labelled them as "sell-outs" for having signed to Capitol Records, thus losing their "indie" cred and blah blah blah... In any case, The Hazards of Love was and is amazing for what it is, although that is not what a lot of people expected from The Decemberists, as I discovered after falling in love with their indie debut album, Castaways and Cutouts. In any case, fast forward to December 2010 and we start hearing new stuff from these guys. Reportedly recorded in a barn on a farm somewhere in the middle of Nowhere, USA, the first sounds were a lot more pure folk-rock than the epic stuff from The Hazards of Love; much closer, indeed, to their first albums. But we could also notice some sleek production and different sounds - could it be, a little touch of country?
Well, when the album finally arrived in mid-January, most of my preconceptions were confirmed, but I also discovered a lot, and I really do mean a lot, of stuff I didn't expect. So let's work through it, shall we?
The King Is Dead opens with a quite country-infused folk-rock ballad called "Don't Carry It All". In it, we find some signature Decemberists sounds, but twisted in a new way. Indeed, this opening track appropriately blends most of the atmospheres we'll be hearing in various degrees through the rest of the album. However, this is also a very good song by itself.
Next we come across "Calamity Song", which is actually a really cool energized folk-rocker of a track. From the opening acoustic riff to the layered electrics, it's a great, almost epic work from a band who we know can make some very intense stuff (remember "The Infanta"?). This is more purely folk-rock than "Don't Carry It All", a lot more in the vein of their early albums. Which I really appreciated, and as I'm sure a lot of fans will. I'm just glad the entire album isn't a "let's go back to our roots" type thing.
The next track, "Rise to Me", is very much a melancholic folk ballad in the style that we've come to expect from these guys. However, and a big however, they've managed to mix in some really awesome new sounds, like that haunting slide guitar that just seems to chill in the background most of the song. Still, we get that same emotion from Colin Meloy, and the mix between old feeling and new sounds is a joy to listen to.
"Rox in the Box", the following track, is one of the songs on The King Is Dead which changes rather completely from The Decemberists' old material. Although the same instruments are there - acoustic guitar, accordeon, and perhaps a mandolin - the song is very different. The first noted change is the addition of a fiddle (calling it a violin would feel out of context here, as I'll explain). Secondly, the country-styled backing vocals were a surprise, and finally, the completely country/East Coast hybrid main riff is what really got me. It breaks fully into it at one point, the accordeon and fiddle transporting you to Nova Scotia for a few awesome moments. This is probably my favourite track on the album, just because of the combination of all these styles and sounds, without ever being overwhelmingly caught in one of them, is pure genius.
Anyways, we move on (too quickly) to "January Hymn", which is another beautiful melancholic ballad whose melodies envelop you like a little cocoon and don't let you go until the very ending, echoey back vocals. Not much to say other than enjoy, because this is a simple, beautiful piece of music.
Those echoey vocals fade away and in comes the pulsing energy of the lead single, "Down by the Water". This is a fine folk-rock power track, destined to be a single; but that in no way means it's a lesser piece of music. The Decemberists have created here one of their classic power ballads but in a new sort of way. Call it more country-like if you want, but that would be limited only to the instrumentation because on top it is still Colin Meloy's awesome voice carrying everything swiftly and awesomely onwards.
The next track, "All Arise!", is the most country of the whole album, and you can tell right from the first fiddle riff. It's probably my least favourite of the album but it's still quite a good song. Just feels like they're trying a bit too hard at that style. A shame, yet still very much enjoyable.
The following piece feels like a complimentary song to "January Hymn". Indeed, it's titled "June Hymn", and it's also a slow, melancholic ballad. Again, beautiful, enjoy and let yourself drift in the melodies and harmonies (which are truly amazing).
Next we get what is probably the "hardest" or "heaviest" track on the album, because it's the only one that starts right with slightly distorted guitars. It's got a really cool riff, some good energy, and it's really driving. Oh yeah, it's called "This Is Why We Fight", which might help explain the high paced, energetic atmosphere created. I really like it, and, being the penultimate track, it's really the climax of the album.
Which bring us to the final track of The King Is Dead. As we know by now, The Decemberists like to finish off with a little unwinding; some denouement to their albums. Usually it's a pretty long track (like "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade" from Castaways and Cutouts), and in this case it's an almost five minute slow ballad called "Dear Avery" that leaves us in a very Decemberists melancholic mood at the end of everything. But it leaves us satisfied, knowing we just heard another solid work from the kings of modern folk-rock. And no, these kings are definitely not dead.
Well, when the album finally arrived in mid-January, most of my preconceptions were confirmed, but I also discovered a lot, and I really do mean a lot, of stuff I didn't expect. So let's work through it, shall we?
The King Is Dead opens with a quite country-infused folk-rock ballad called "Don't Carry It All". In it, we find some signature Decemberists sounds, but twisted in a new way. Indeed, this opening track appropriately blends most of the atmospheres we'll be hearing in various degrees through the rest of the album. However, this is also a very good song by itself.
Next we come across "Calamity Song", which is actually a really cool energized folk-rocker of a track. From the opening acoustic riff to the layered electrics, it's a great, almost epic work from a band who we know can make some very intense stuff (remember "The Infanta"?). This is more purely folk-rock than "Don't Carry It All", a lot more in the vein of their early albums. Which I really appreciated, and as I'm sure a lot of fans will. I'm just glad the entire album isn't a "let's go back to our roots" type thing.
The next track, "Rise to Me", is very much a melancholic folk ballad in the style that we've come to expect from these guys. However, and a big however, they've managed to mix in some really awesome new sounds, like that haunting slide guitar that just seems to chill in the background most of the song. Still, we get that same emotion from Colin Meloy, and the mix between old feeling and new sounds is a joy to listen to.
"Rox in the Box", the following track, is one of the songs on The King Is Dead which changes rather completely from The Decemberists' old material. Although the same instruments are there - acoustic guitar, accordeon, and perhaps a mandolin - the song is very different. The first noted change is the addition of a fiddle (calling it a violin would feel out of context here, as I'll explain). Secondly, the country-styled backing vocals were a surprise, and finally, the completely country/East Coast hybrid main riff is what really got me. It breaks fully into it at one point, the accordeon and fiddle transporting you to Nova Scotia for a few awesome moments. This is probably my favourite track on the album, just because of the combination of all these styles and sounds, without ever being overwhelmingly caught in one of them, is pure genius.
Anyways, we move on (too quickly) to "January Hymn", which is another beautiful melancholic ballad whose melodies envelop you like a little cocoon and don't let you go until the very ending, echoey back vocals. Not much to say other than enjoy, because this is a simple, beautiful piece of music.
Those echoey vocals fade away and in comes the pulsing energy of the lead single, "Down by the Water". This is a fine folk-rock power track, destined to be a single; but that in no way means it's a lesser piece of music. The Decemberists have created here one of their classic power ballads but in a new sort of way. Call it more country-like if you want, but that would be limited only to the instrumentation because on top it is still Colin Meloy's awesome voice carrying everything swiftly and awesomely onwards.
The next track, "All Arise!", is the most country of the whole album, and you can tell right from the first fiddle riff. It's probably my least favourite of the album but it's still quite a good song. Just feels like they're trying a bit too hard at that style. A shame, yet still very much enjoyable.
The following piece feels like a complimentary song to "January Hymn". Indeed, it's titled "June Hymn", and it's also a slow, melancholic ballad. Again, beautiful, enjoy and let yourself drift in the melodies and harmonies (which are truly amazing).
Next we get what is probably the "hardest" or "heaviest" track on the album, because it's the only one that starts right with slightly distorted guitars. It's got a really cool riff, some good energy, and it's really driving. Oh yeah, it's called "This Is Why We Fight", which might help explain the high paced, energetic atmosphere created. I really like it, and, being the penultimate track, it's really the climax of the album.
Which bring us to the final track of The King Is Dead. As we know by now, The Decemberists like to finish off with a little unwinding; some denouement to their albums. Usually it's a pretty long track (like "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade" from Castaways and Cutouts), and in this case it's an almost five minute slow ballad called "Dear Avery" that leaves us in a very Decemberists melancholic mood at the end of everything. But it leaves us satisfied, knowing we just heard another solid work from the kings of modern folk-rock. And no, these kings are definitely not dead.
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Album Quest, Part 5
Well it's been quite a while but to be fair, I have been quite busy with school and whatnot. In any case, I actually have time to write up this episode of the Album Quest. We continue in a metal-ish vein with the Deftones, Devin Townsend (of Dream Theater), The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Disarmonia Mundi, but move out of it at the end with DJ Champion's Chill 'Em All. Without wasting any more time, let's get down to it...
1. Deftones
a.) Diamond Eyes
This is only album I have by the Deftones at this point, although I'm definitely going to be hunting down the rest of their discography. This is their latest, and it's brilliant. The Deftones create an intense blend of nu-ish metal, punk, grunge, and alt-rock. It's interesting to say the least, but what makes it good is the way they blend and arrange sounds and moods to portray everything from pure anger to sadness and melancholy, anguish, and (sometimes) happiness and ecstasy. This album moves from the title track, which has a neatly polished chorus and heavy verses, through an overall intense first half which continues with tuned-down overdriven guitars and a lot of screamed (not growled) vocals interspersed with captivating melodies to a second part which introduces some clean sounds and more chilled parts amidst the continuing sonic carnage. An amazing album to listen to if you're up for some pure intensity and rage.
2. Devin Townsend
a.) Ziltoid The Omniscient
I guess there comes a point, when you're the guitarist for an epic metal band such as Dream Theater (which I don't listen to, but they're apparently pretty good), when you just want to let loose and have some fun. And since you play epic metal, what better way to do so than to create a massive sci-fi epic metal rock opera about an omniscient alien being who comes to Earth looking for the universe's ultimate cup of coffee? Yeah, that's basically what Devin Townsend has made for us... It's hilarious, epic, and actually musically interesting. Long pieces are full of great arrangements and appropriately used themes. The narration is extremely funny and entertaining but still conveys the story efficiently. If you want to laugh your way through some great music, this is one of the best albums to do lose yourself in for an hour or so.
3. The Dillinger Escape Plan
a.) Option Paralysis
As with the Deftones, this is the only Dillinger Escape Plan album I currently have in my library - but that is sure to change. The Dillinger Escape Plan make cacophonic prog metal that can be easily dismissed but must be lent a careful ear in order to understand the greatness inherent within. These guys manage to cover all the bases in this album, from pure melodic metal in parts to Radiohead-like keyboard-based falsetto atmospheres in others. Always possessing an intensity that acts as a constant reminder that this is indeed a metal band, the album moves across moods and sounds like a high-speed train in a rapidly changing landscape. If you can keep up, this album is certainly quite the musical ride. Very highly recommended. And the good news is, they're touring with the Deftones (in Toronto on May 3 at the Sound Academy).
4. Disarmonia Mundi
a.) Fragments of D-Generation
With all the weird metal-ish genre-mixes that I was listening to and loving for this installement of the Album Quest, it was actually nice to come across some pure, classic melodic death metal. Such are Disarmonia Mundi - slightly electronica-infused, but basically traditional melodeath complete with riffs and growls and double kick. The album itself is quite a solid collection of the above. Never does one song stick out as weak or unfinished - they are all quite amazing. Sometimes reminiscent of Dark Tranquillity in the way they combine synthesizers with the guitar riffs, Disarmonia Mundi manage to create their own brand of melodeath while respecting the norms of the genre. Always intense, often time beautiful, this is exactly what you want when you're just looking for some great melodeath with its own flavour.
b.) The Restless Memoirs EP
Slightly less produced that the full-length I talked about above, this EP contains some more adventurous arrangements and sounds, including weirder synths and some extended acoustic parts. Still the same flavour of melodeath, it's nice to see this is a band that isn't afraid to try things out. Fortunately everything they try more or less works out so the EP is a solid overall production, although the overall polish of the work could have been better. If you have a listen to Fragments of D-Generation and like it, make sure to check this out as well.
5. DJ Champion
a.) Chill 'Em All
Moving away from the metal in every way possible, I present you now one cool dude from Montreal - Maxime Morin a.k.a. DJ Champion. He made his money making jingles and soundtracks for advertising and such, and eventually grew tired of it. So he decided to go indie and make house/dance electronic music. Chill 'Em All is his debut, and since I couldn't find a torrent for his second album Resistance, I'm using this one to judge whether or not I should buy Resistance. If you want a simple judgement, let's just say that after listening to Chill 'Em All, I'm definitely putting both it and Resistance on my list of albums to buy. Now for the more complete review... Chill 'Em All is an album of guitar and bass-infused house music, where all the sounds and parts are arranged to work absolutely perfectly together. I can only imagine how many hours in the studio it must've taken to get all these to sit and work perfectly together. It's not about the technicalities of the music, it's about the atmospheres, the sounds, the way everything fits together. It makes you want to lose yourself and float at times, and bob your head and/or dance at others. It's everything house music is meant to be in a way I'd never heard it before. It's super refreshing and ridiculously awesome. Even if you don't like house music specifically, I dare you not to like this.
And that's pretty much it for this time. In other news, I've been working more with Chris on the new project which keeps progressing towards something which we know nothing of as yet. We had our first show, playing covers of The Strokes' "Someday" and Muse's "Bliss" with Ableton Live-powered electronic backing tracks, and that was tons of fun. Still deciding on how to reveal and kick off the project but details should be coming in the not too distant future. In the meantime, keep track of the Album Quest! More will be coming soon with Tiësto's debut album (when he was still DJ Tiësto), Dropkick Murphys, Earth, and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's Trio. Cheers,
Pierre.
1. Deftones
a.) Diamond Eyes
This is only album I have by the Deftones at this point, although I'm definitely going to be hunting down the rest of their discography. This is their latest, and it's brilliant. The Deftones create an intense blend of nu-ish metal, punk, grunge, and alt-rock. It's interesting to say the least, but what makes it good is the way they blend and arrange sounds and moods to portray everything from pure anger to sadness and melancholy, anguish, and (sometimes) happiness and ecstasy. This album moves from the title track, which has a neatly polished chorus and heavy verses, through an overall intense first half which continues with tuned-down overdriven guitars and a lot of screamed (not growled) vocals interspersed with captivating melodies to a second part which introduces some clean sounds and more chilled parts amidst the continuing sonic carnage. An amazing album to listen to if you're up for some pure intensity and rage.
2. Devin Townsend
a.) Ziltoid The Omniscient
I guess there comes a point, when you're the guitarist for an epic metal band such as Dream Theater (which I don't listen to, but they're apparently pretty good), when you just want to let loose and have some fun. And since you play epic metal, what better way to do so than to create a massive sci-fi epic metal rock opera about an omniscient alien being who comes to Earth looking for the universe's ultimate cup of coffee? Yeah, that's basically what Devin Townsend has made for us... It's hilarious, epic, and actually musically interesting. Long pieces are full of great arrangements and appropriately used themes. The narration is extremely funny and entertaining but still conveys the story efficiently. If you want to laugh your way through some great music, this is one of the best albums to do lose yourself in for an hour or so.
3. The Dillinger Escape Plan
a.) Option Paralysis
As with the Deftones, this is the only Dillinger Escape Plan album I currently have in my library - but that is sure to change. The Dillinger Escape Plan make cacophonic prog metal that can be easily dismissed but must be lent a careful ear in order to understand the greatness inherent within. These guys manage to cover all the bases in this album, from pure melodic metal in parts to Radiohead-like keyboard-based falsetto atmospheres in others. Always possessing an intensity that acts as a constant reminder that this is indeed a metal band, the album moves across moods and sounds like a high-speed train in a rapidly changing landscape. If you can keep up, this album is certainly quite the musical ride. Very highly recommended. And the good news is, they're touring with the Deftones (in Toronto on May 3 at the Sound Academy).
4. Disarmonia Mundi
a.) Fragments of D-Generation
With all the weird metal-ish genre-mixes that I was listening to and loving for this installement of the Album Quest, it was actually nice to come across some pure, classic melodic death metal. Such are Disarmonia Mundi - slightly electronica-infused, but basically traditional melodeath complete with riffs and growls and double kick. The album itself is quite a solid collection of the above. Never does one song stick out as weak or unfinished - they are all quite amazing. Sometimes reminiscent of Dark Tranquillity in the way they combine synthesizers with the guitar riffs, Disarmonia Mundi manage to create their own brand of melodeath while respecting the norms of the genre. Always intense, often time beautiful, this is exactly what you want when you're just looking for some great melodeath with its own flavour.
b.) The Restless Memoirs EP
Slightly less produced that the full-length I talked about above, this EP contains some more adventurous arrangements and sounds, including weirder synths and some extended acoustic parts. Still the same flavour of melodeath, it's nice to see this is a band that isn't afraid to try things out. Fortunately everything they try more or less works out so the EP is a solid overall production, although the overall polish of the work could have been better. If you have a listen to Fragments of D-Generation and like it, make sure to check this out as well.
5. DJ Champion
a.) Chill 'Em All
Moving away from the metal in every way possible, I present you now one cool dude from Montreal - Maxime Morin a.k.a. DJ Champion. He made his money making jingles and soundtracks for advertising and such, and eventually grew tired of it. So he decided to go indie and make house/dance electronic music. Chill 'Em All is his debut, and since I couldn't find a torrent for his second album Resistance, I'm using this one to judge whether or not I should buy Resistance. If you want a simple judgement, let's just say that after listening to Chill 'Em All, I'm definitely putting both it and Resistance on my list of albums to buy. Now for the more complete review... Chill 'Em All is an album of guitar and bass-infused house music, where all the sounds and parts are arranged to work absolutely perfectly together. I can only imagine how many hours in the studio it must've taken to get all these to sit and work perfectly together. It's not about the technicalities of the music, it's about the atmospheres, the sounds, the way everything fits together. It makes you want to lose yourself and float at times, and bob your head and/or dance at others. It's everything house music is meant to be in a way I'd never heard it before. It's super refreshing and ridiculously awesome. Even if you don't like house music specifically, I dare you not to like this.
And that's pretty much it for this time. In other news, I've been working more with Chris on the new project which keeps progressing towards something which we know nothing of as yet. We had our first show, playing covers of The Strokes' "Someday" and Muse's "Bliss" with Ableton Live-powered electronic backing tracks, and that was tons of fun. Still deciding on how to reveal and kick off the project but details should be coming in the not too distant future. In the meantime, keep track of the Album Quest! More will be coming soon with Tiësto's debut album (when he was still DJ Tiësto), Dropkick Murphys, Earth, and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's Trio. Cheers,
Pierre.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Strokes Release First Single - For Free?!
Well New York alt-garage-rockers The Strokes have finally given us a glimpse into their first album in five years, Angles, set to drop March 22nd, through the leading single "Under Cover of Darkness". At 2:35 pm EST they started giving it away on their website, for free, in exchange for a subscription to their newsletter/mailing list, and only for 48 hours. As soon as I got back from my physics lab I went and downloaded it and listened to it three times straight.
The first time through I was disappointed because I heard a poppy-upbeat rhythm and a very "marketable" sound. However, I remembered Nick Valensi (one of The Strokes' guitarists) saying that it would be impossible for them to make music that would live up to the expectations that people had after five years of nothing. So I listened to it again and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I heard a return back to the rhythms and moods of Is This It and I heard awesome guitar harmonies and layers. I heard Casablancas' voice in all its broken splendour and I heard solid riffs and a cool solo. By the third time through I was convinced this was good, and in a way it reminded me of recent stuff by Brand New, Breaking Benjamin, Arctic Monkeys, and Muse: it's become more "marketable" and "commercial" but it has retained all its originality and "alternativeness", the traits which attracted me to that music in the first place. And it's still quality music. A few minutes ago I listened to it again and decided I couldn't wait for the album to drop.
There is, however, a second thing I would like to discuss about this release, and that is The Strokes' (or their manager's or label's) decision to release the single as a free download from their website for 48 hours. To me (and I'm willing to bet the others I know in the pay-what-you-want-or-free boat) this is a brilliant move by the guys. Not only does it reward the most loyal fans, it will also spread the song like wildfire and build massive buzz, more than a month away from release date. Some will say this is a strategy that only works if you're a band as big as The Strokes (or Radiohead, when they decided to let us download In Rainbows on a pay-what-you-want basis). But I think that smaller bands can draw inspiration from this and adapt it to their needs: say you're releasing an LP in a month or two. You spread one song for free across the Internet, as far as you can reach (and if it's any good, others will then spread it for you). Make sure you tell people that this is a single from an upcoming LP. You continue this effort with the same song for a week. Then you stop. You watch how it works, what the response to the track is. You wait another week. Then you release another track and do the same thing. If the response isn't as good as you'd like, delay the release a bit, and repeat with a third track. After another week's wait, promote the release of the album as ardently as you can for a week and release the LP at the end of said week.
I have no idea if the strategy outlined above works or not, but I think I'll be experimenting with a variant of it in a few months' time. In the meantime, check out the above-mentioned single by The Strokes here and let me know what you think. I know there's gonna be positive and negative response, and I've already given my answer. I'd love to know what everyone thinks, though!
Cheers,
Pierre.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
The Album Quest, Part 4
Welcome to the fourth installment of the Album Quest! This time around I've got a pretty big line-up because I've added some artists since starting this whole thing. I'll be covering three albums from Italian-wannabe-Russian melodic death metalists Dark Lunacy, the six albums by Göteborg (that's Gothenburg for us non-Swedish types) melodeath pioneers Dark Tranquillity that I'd never heard, the massive collaboration between ex-Talking Head David Byrne and Fatboy Slim featuring the same number of guest vocalists as tracks on the "album" (no less than 22), Death Cab for Cutie's three latest albums, and finally the two albums from The Decemberists I had never bothered listening to. Yeah, it's a lot of awesome music so I'll try not to say too much even though there is a lot to be said for each. Anyways, let's get down to it...
1. Dark Lunacy
a.) Devoid
From the first epic arrangements and carefully placed Eastern-European folk sounds, you get the feeling that these Italians wished they had been born elsewhere. If not, their music strongly suggests so. Considering the second song off this album is named "Stalingrad", I think I have a case. Anyways, this is epic folk-infused melodic death metal with amazing complex arrangements and masterful instrumentation. The only weak spot on Devoid are the vocals, which don't seem up to par with the awesomeness of the music. Thankfully, the creativity and originality in the overall music of the album makes this a solid album.
b.) The Diarist
This is, without doubt, Dark Lunacy's best album. Built on the same musical awesomeness as Devoid, the vocals have massively gained in quality, strength, and emotion, perfectly matching the music. The music is of the same high caliber as Devoid and in basically the same vein but with a slightly different sound - dare I say perhaps more polished. Whereas Devoid is still rough in its great arrangements, The Diarist is precise and smooth yet powerful and strong (like melodeath is supposed to be). Basically a must-have if unknown album for all those into melodic death or overall high quality metal in general. And the fact that it's a concept album with some great themes is also pretty cool.
c.) Forget Me Not
In Forget Me Not, we find traces of the brilliance that make up Devoid and The Diarist, but unfortunately, these traces are scattered all over the place. Forget Me Not feels too busy and disorganized, and although you can tell the musicians are awesome and there is much greatness to be had, it never shows through because the arrangements are just not good enough for the album to come together as a whole. It's a shame, really, but the album is still enjoyable, just not one that I would regularly return to listen to in full.
2. Dark Tranquillity
a.) Character
Alphabetical order apparently decided I start with the best in this case. Character is simply a sublime album - although chronologically it suffers the fate of being right after what I consider to be DT's finest piece of work, Damage Done. However, I will admit that's a prejudice and after listening to this album I would have to say the title of "DT's Best Album" is now up for grabs. Perhaps a few more listens of each are in order to determine the winner... In any case, Character is a combination of all the elements which had made DT's earlier albums good, solid, experimental melodic death albums. Like Damage Done, Character is an almost perfect balance between the harsh, the soft, the weird, and the epic. If you like Damage Done or any other DT album, you need, and I repeat NEED, to have a listen to this one.
b.) Fiction
Fiction was the follow-up to Character, and unfortunately it doesn't quite live up to the standards set (to be fair, neither did last year's We Are the Void). Although still great in its own right, Fiction doesn't achieve that balance, and instead delves a little more into the weird and clean. What DT achieved on this album is amazing, but it is not that perfect equilibrium attained in Damage Done and Character, and so Fiction suffers that fate of being the "not-quite-so-perfect follow-up effort to their best albums". Still, you should probably listen to it.
c.) The Gallery
This is a very interesting album, and I only really recommended to the highly musically curious/interested or true DT/melodeath fans. The sole reason is that The Gallery is not as appealing or sublime as the albums mentioned above. However, the creativity and quality of the pure melodic death metal produced on this album is beyond criticism. It's truly amazing - I especially enjoyed the tasteful use of the bass guitar, too often forgotten or under-appreciated in metal, and clean/acoustic guitar, again a sound much too rare in modern heavy music. And all of this is very understandable since DT was basically, along with In Flames, pioneering the melodic death metal genre, and this was their second album. They'd laid down the foundations of the genre and were now expanding on it, so they created what is really, along with In Flames' The Jester Race, a classic awesome melodic death metal album. It is not, however, the great Dark Tranquillity sound we have come to love.
d.) Haven
So with Dark Tranquillity, we have three kinds of albums - the classic, awesome melodic death metal ones (the early ones, basically; The Gallery and Skydancer), the weird experimental ones, and the awesome combination of the two that led to the "classic" DT sound. Well Haven is definitely the weirdest of their experimental albums; it's obvious they wanted to push the electronic influences as far as they could. Sometimes it works really well ("The Wonders at Your Feet") but mostly it's just not as good as DT's other forays into different sounds. Overall, this is (in my mind, at least) one of the weakest DT album I've ever heard, and only because they experiment a little too much without overwhelming success (experimentation is extremely hard, and DT have succeeded at it - Projector being an example, but not this time). That being said, it's still a great work of music, and very interesting to listen to (especially when you compare with DT's other work and see where it fits). Recommended if you're a hardcore DT fan.
e.) The Mind's I
Kind of like Haven, except this is more of an experiment in melodic death metal and less electronic. It feels like they tried to stretch the melodeath genre in a weird experimental way that didn't really succeed all that well. Again, that doesn't mean it's a bad album, it's just not amazing to the standard that we expect when encountering a Dark Tranquillity album. There are some tracks here that are sublime, and there rest are interestingly creative but not great. Again, recommended if you're a really big fan because it's interesting to listen to when you have prior DT knowledge.
f.) Skydancer/Of Chaos and Eternal Night
This is the reissue of Dark Tranquillity's first album Skydancer, combined with their later EP Of Chaos and Eternal Night. Now this is a truly interesting work of music, because the original Skydancer album has none other than Anders Frìden on vocals - yes, that Anders, the one who is now known all over the world as the lead singer of In Flames. Funnily enough, although I think Anders is one of, if not the, best vocalist I've ever heard, the vocals are not the best part of Skydancer. Perhaps it's because he hadn't yet found that "touch" that brings the magic to In Flames and culminated in the phenomenal work on Reroute to Remain, but in any case, the best part of Skydancer is the instrumentation. And it's seriously awesome. Imagine a band of young guys who are completely redefining a genre. It's brilliant. Of Chaos and Eternal Night, tagged on to the end in this reissue, keeps the awesomeness going, this time with early Mikael Stanne vocals that are also not quite what we expect of him but hey, they're all allowed to start out somewhere, aren't they?
3. David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
a.) Here Lies Love
I love massive concept albums by crazy/quirky/weird people with crazy/quirky/weird/epic/awesome music. Therefore I thoroughly enjoyed this collaboration by ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and veteran electro producer Fatboy Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook). First of all, the thing IS massive - 22 solid length tracks, 90 minutes of music. Coincidentally (or not), there are also 22 guest vocalists on the album, plus Byrne himself on two tracks - that adds breaks down to 21 female vocalists (including Tori Amos, Martha Wainwright, Cindi Lauper, Santigold, Sharon Jones, and Camille) and 2 male ones. Secondly, this has an kick-ass story. The album follows the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, and the woman who raised her, Estrella Cumpas. I suggest you listen to the album to immerse yourself in the story, basically because I want you to listen to this awesome work. The music itself is a great blend of David Byrne's spotless musical arrangement and composing and Fatboy Slim's great electronic touch. So yeah, have a listen!
4. Death Cab for Cutie
a.) Narrow Stairs
This is Death Cab's latest album, and of the three I listened to, it's probably my favourite. This is awesome alternative rock with some cool experimental moments; really refreshing sounds and interesting arrangements that keep you hooked from start to finish. Musically, it's a lot of atmosphere building through arrangements, but also spotted with really great melodies and riffs so that you have something to catch on to and get stuck in your head (probably helps to sell the album to the general public, too... I don't know if they could get the 8-and-a-half minute epic "I Will Possess Your Heart" on radio but still). Strongly recommended if you like anything by Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, Radiohead, The Strokes, or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Alternative rock, what.
b.) Plans
I'll say it right off the bat - this is my least favourite out of the three Death Cab albums I listened to. The songs are great ("Marching Bands of Manhattan", "Different Names for the Same Thing", "What Sarah Said" and "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" are highlights) but overall it's just a little too poppy and commercial for my taste. It feels like the songs were conceived to be catchy rather than be interesting, contrary to the awesome feeling you get from the material off Narrow Stairs. Still, a solid album that's worth checking out.
c.) Transatlanticism
After Narrow Stairs, this is my second favourite album of the three. More awesome arrangement atmospheres (although this album came before!) and more awesome melodies/riffs. The title track is simply sublime and yeah, there's not much more to say. Go have a listen.
The Decemberists
a.) Her Majesty
Hmm... this is actually a very hard album to judge. I might have to have a few more listens before I can really understand my reaction to it, but for now I'll call it interestingly really good. It's classic, indie Decemberists and really high-quality stuff, but for now it hasn't struck my as "Oh my, how fucking awesome". If you already like The Decemberists, you'll definitely want to listen to this though.
b.) Picaresque
This one, however, grabbed me by the epicness of the first track, "The Infanta", and never let me go. It is, simply said, fucking amazing. It's again, classic Decemberists sound but the songs/ballads are just so enthralling that you can never get your head out of this album. Even if you don't know The Decemberists, this is a great album to listen to.
And that's finally it for this time! I'll promise to make it shorter last time, but I hope you got something out of this one. The next update will feature... Deftones, Devin Townsend, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Disarmonia Mundi, and DJ Champion.
In other news, Chris and I are going to be playing live for the first time set up as a guitarist/singer, bass player, and MacBook running Ableton Live. We'll see how it goes and let you know!
Cheers,
Pierre.
1. Dark Lunacy
a.) Devoid
From the first epic arrangements and carefully placed Eastern-European folk sounds, you get the feeling that these Italians wished they had been born elsewhere. If not, their music strongly suggests so. Considering the second song off this album is named "Stalingrad", I think I have a case. Anyways, this is epic folk-infused melodic death metal with amazing complex arrangements and masterful instrumentation. The only weak spot on Devoid are the vocals, which don't seem up to par with the awesomeness of the music. Thankfully, the creativity and originality in the overall music of the album makes this a solid album.
b.) The Diarist
This is, without doubt, Dark Lunacy's best album. Built on the same musical awesomeness as Devoid, the vocals have massively gained in quality, strength, and emotion, perfectly matching the music. The music is of the same high caliber as Devoid and in basically the same vein but with a slightly different sound - dare I say perhaps more polished. Whereas Devoid is still rough in its great arrangements, The Diarist is precise and smooth yet powerful and strong (like melodeath is supposed to be). Basically a must-have if unknown album for all those into melodic death or overall high quality metal in general. And the fact that it's a concept album with some great themes is also pretty cool.
c.) Forget Me Not
In Forget Me Not, we find traces of the brilliance that make up Devoid and The Diarist, but unfortunately, these traces are scattered all over the place. Forget Me Not feels too busy and disorganized, and although you can tell the musicians are awesome and there is much greatness to be had, it never shows through because the arrangements are just not good enough for the album to come together as a whole. It's a shame, really, but the album is still enjoyable, just not one that I would regularly return to listen to in full.
2. Dark Tranquillity
a.) Character
Alphabetical order apparently decided I start with the best in this case. Character is simply a sublime album - although chronologically it suffers the fate of being right after what I consider to be DT's finest piece of work, Damage Done. However, I will admit that's a prejudice and after listening to this album I would have to say the title of "DT's Best Album" is now up for grabs. Perhaps a few more listens of each are in order to determine the winner... In any case, Character is a combination of all the elements which had made DT's earlier albums good, solid, experimental melodic death albums. Like Damage Done, Character is an almost perfect balance between the harsh, the soft, the weird, and the epic. If you like Damage Done or any other DT album, you need, and I repeat NEED, to have a listen to this one.
b.) Fiction
Fiction was the follow-up to Character, and unfortunately it doesn't quite live up to the standards set (to be fair, neither did last year's We Are the Void). Although still great in its own right, Fiction doesn't achieve that balance, and instead delves a little more into the weird and clean. What DT achieved on this album is amazing, but it is not that perfect equilibrium attained in Damage Done and Character, and so Fiction suffers that fate of being the "not-quite-so-perfect follow-up effort to their best albums". Still, you should probably listen to it.
c.) The Gallery
This is a very interesting album, and I only really recommended to the highly musically curious/interested or true DT/melodeath fans. The sole reason is that The Gallery is not as appealing or sublime as the albums mentioned above. However, the creativity and quality of the pure melodic death metal produced on this album is beyond criticism. It's truly amazing - I especially enjoyed the tasteful use of the bass guitar, too often forgotten or under-appreciated in metal, and clean/acoustic guitar, again a sound much too rare in modern heavy music. And all of this is very understandable since DT was basically, along with In Flames, pioneering the melodic death metal genre, and this was their second album. They'd laid down the foundations of the genre and were now expanding on it, so they created what is really, along with In Flames' The Jester Race, a classic awesome melodic death metal album. It is not, however, the great Dark Tranquillity sound we have come to love.
d.) Haven
So with Dark Tranquillity, we have three kinds of albums - the classic, awesome melodic death metal ones (the early ones, basically; The Gallery and Skydancer), the weird experimental ones, and the awesome combination of the two that led to the "classic" DT sound. Well Haven is definitely the weirdest of their experimental albums; it's obvious they wanted to push the electronic influences as far as they could. Sometimes it works really well ("The Wonders at Your Feet") but mostly it's just not as good as DT's other forays into different sounds. Overall, this is (in my mind, at least) one of the weakest DT album I've ever heard, and only because they experiment a little too much without overwhelming success (experimentation is extremely hard, and DT have succeeded at it - Projector being an example, but not this time). That being said, it's still a great work of music, and very interesting to listen to (especially when you compare with DT's other work and see where it fits). Recommended if you're a hardcore DT fan.
e.) The Mind's I
Kind of like Haven, except this is more of an experiment in melodic death metal and less electronic. It feels like they tried to stretch the melodeath genre in a weird experimental way that didn't really succeed all that well. Again, that doesn't mean it's a bad album, it's just not amazing to the standard that we expect when encountering a Dark Tranquillity album. There are some tracks here that are sublime, and there rest are interestingly creative but not great. Again, recommended if you're a really big fan because it's interesting to listen to when you have prior DT knowledge.
f.) Skydancer/Of Chaos and Eternal Night
This is the reissue of Dark Tranquillity's first album Skydancer, combined with their later EP Of Chaos and Eternal Night. Now this is a truly interesting work of music, because the original Skydancer album has none other than Anders Frìden on vocals - yes, that Anders, the one who is now known all over the world as the lead singer of In Flames. Funnily enough, although I think Anders is one of, if not the, best vocalist I've ever heard, the vocals are not the best part of Skydancer. Perhaps it's because he hadn't yet found that "touch" that brings the magic to In Flames and culminated in the phenomenal work on Reroute to Remain, but in any case, the best part of Skydancer is the instrumentation. And it's seriously awesome. Imagine a band of young guys who are completely redefining a genre. It's brilliant. Of Chaos and Eternal Night, tagged on to the end in this reissue, keeps the awesomeness going, this time with early Mikael Stanne vocals that are also not quite what we expect of him but hey, they're all allowed to start out somewhere, aren't they?
3. David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
a.) Here Lies Love
I love massive concept albums by crazy/quirky/weird people with crazy/quirky/weird/epic/awesome music. Therefore I thoroughly enjoyed this collaboration by ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and veteran electro producer Fatboy Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook). First of all, the thing IS massive - 22 solid length tracks, 90 minutes of music. Coincidentally (or not), there are also 22 guest vocalists on the album, plus Byrne himself on two tracks - that adds breaks down to 21 female vocalists (including Tori Amos, Martha Wainwright, Cindi Lauper, Santigold, Sharon Jones, and Camille) and 2 male ones. Secondly, this has an kick-ass story. The album follows the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, and the woman who raised her, Estrella Cumpas. I suggest you listen to the album to immerse yourself in the story, basically because I want you to listen to this awesome work. The music itself is a great blend of David Byrne's spotless musical arrangement and composing and Fatboy Slim's great electronic touch. So yeah, have a listen!
4. Death Cab for Cutie
a.) Narrow Stairs
This is Death Cab's latest album, and of the three I listened to, it's probably my favourite. This is awesome alternative rock with some cool experimental moments; really refreshing sounds and interesting arrangements that keep you hooked from start to finish. Musically, it's a lot of atmosphere building through arrangements, but also spotted with really great melodies and riffs so that you have something to catch on to and get stuck in your head (probably helps to sell the album to the general public, too... I don't know if they could get the 8-and-a-half minute epic "I Will Possess Your Heart" on radio but still). Strongly recommended if you like anything by Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, Radiohead, The Strokes, or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Alternative rock, what.
b.) Plans
I'll say it right off the bat - this is my least favourite out of the three Death Cab albums I listened to. The songs are great ("Marching Bands of Manhattan", "Different Names for the Same Thing", "What Sarah Said" and "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" are highlights) but overall it's just a little too poppy and commercial for my taste. It feels like the songs were conceived to be catchy rather than be interesting, contrary to the awesome feeling you get from the material off Narrow Stairs. Still, a solid album that's worth checking out.
c.) Transatlanticism
After Narrow Stairs, this is my second favourite album of the three. More awesome arrangement atmospheres (although this album came before!) and more awesome melodies/riffs. The title track is simply sublime and yeah, there's not much more to say. Go have a listen.
The Decemberists
a.) Her Majesty
Hmm... this is actually a very hard album to judge. I might have to have a few more listens before I can really understand my reaction to it, but for now I'll call it interestingly really good. It's classic, indie Decemberists and really high-quality stuff, but for now it hasn't struck my as "Oh my, how fucking awesome". If you already like The Decemberists, you'll definitely want to listen to this though.
b.) Picaresque
This one, however, grabbed me by the epicness of the first track, "The Infanta", and never let me go. It is, simply said, fucking amazing. It's again, classic Decemberists sound but the songs/ballads are just so enthralling that you can never get your head out of this album. Even if you don't know The Decemberists, this is a great album to listen to.
And that's finally it for this time! I'll promise to make it shorter last time, but I hope you got something out of this one. The next update will feature... Deftones, Devin Townsend, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Disarmonia Mundi, and DJ Champion.
In other news, Chris and I are going to be playing live for the first time set up as a guitarist/singer, bass player, and MacBook running Ableton Live. We'll see how it goes and let you know!
Cheers,
Pierre.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Welcome to 2011
No, not an Album Quest update quite yet, although I should be getting to that in the not so far future. However, I shall propose a little look back on 2010 and and a little look forward to the year ahead - MMXI or 2011.
First off, what the hell happened in 2010... I started off the year with the rhythm guitar and bass bedtracks of "Situations" on an external hard drive, the International Baccalaureate (IB) program taking up too much of my time to really be able to work on the project at all. Eventually, around March Break I managed to start working on the album and putting everything together. It was finally released in early April on Bandcamp, later appearing on iTunes and such online stores. It was a fun little project that has received a small yet overall positive response, so I'm pretty happy about that. There was also the amazing adventure with the guys from The Final Year, with who I had the chance to play gigs all over Toronto, which saw us improve greatly as a band and made me improve greatly as a stage performer. It culminated in our really awesome night at the Sound Academy and the perhaps rushed recording of our EP "Silence and Reflections", which I am still happy we did.
Over the course of 2010 I took the chance to really expand my online presence as an artist and start networking with more people, meeting some really awesome individuals and connecting with some great communities (yes, Café Noodle, I'm mostly talking about you and the fun uStream gigs!). I found some amazing music made by the already mentioned awesome individuals, which I really enjoyed discovering (and some of which I still need to fully discover!). The latter part of the year was taken up by my first semester of University and collecting rough ideas for material to be developed on the upcoming project with Chris Drexler-Lemire...
Which brings us to looking ahead to this new year ahead of us. This network I've built up and the amazing connections I've made bode well for the release of the various projects I know I'm going to be involved with this year, so I'm basically kind of excited. I've got that project I've talked about with Chris, which is going to be epic and awesome, but I'm not gonna talk too much about it right now - just know that there will be a work of music somewhere between an EP and an album that will come out sometime this year, produced by us two in... My room, which I will be soundproofing when I come home from University and transforming into a little sort of studio that we will be working in all summer. At some point we will be moving in the rest of The Final Year to record an epic idea generated by singer/keyboardist Alex Marsolais-Whicher, which I will also not tell you too much about - just know that we will also be releasing a work of music by The Final Year at some point this year, recorded over one week this summer, most likely in my room studio.
Otherwise, 2011 promises some awesome music by real artists - Matt Stevens is promising his third acoustic album, Steve Lawson is saying he's gonna be releasing some cool-sounding stuff, The Strokes are out of studio and mixing, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Mars Volta, and The Decemberists are all going to be releasing full-length albums, and there are even rumours of a Justice album coming out! I really can't wait for this new year, musically and otherwise... See you there!
Cheers,
Pierre.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Album Quest, Part 3
Today: Breaking Benjamin's debut album album Saturate, the Boris and Ian Astbury collaboration album BXI, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats and their two albums to date, French grunge-rockers Creep AC's Do the Humans Kill the Earth?, supergroup Crippled Black Phoenix's studio discography, and finally Cynic's original masterpiece Focus. Mostly highs and one low which I will talk about in more detail; it was, overall, another very enjoyable installement of the Album Quest.
1. Breaking Benjamin
a.) Saturate
Well, it's the second time that I've overlooked an amazing band's debut album while having really enjoyed their later stuff (see The Album Quest, Part 1: the Arctic Monkeys section). In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed the raw power and omnipresent metal influences throughout Breaking Benjamin's first full-length production. When listening, it becomes very clear where the foundations for the band's later awesomeness were laid. The single "Polyamorous" is an instant hit, very catchy but also very well written/composed. "Natural Life" and "Next to Nothing" are equally solid tracks, and overall the album delivers with a force more violent than any other Breaking Benjamin productions - Ben Burnley's use of growled vocals is a lot more present here than in any later albums. This album is a must-listen if you came to Breaking Benjamin from the metal side of things.
2. BXI
a.) BXI
BXI is apparently one-off collaboration between Japanese noise-rockers Boris and former The Cult frontman Ian Astbury that for some reason deserved its own band name as well as album title. In any case, one listen to the short but extremely sweet piece of work tells you why it did indeed deserve its own band name. For this is a dimension of Boris we have seldom seen before. It's a sound we've been offered snippets of, most notable in Boris' collaboration with Michio Kurihara (Rainbow) and their album Soundtrack to the Film "Mabuta No Ura", but in fact it is an atmosphere very specific to this album. It seems almost as if Boris crafted this feel to go with Astbury's voice as much as they could, and in this aspect they most certainly succeeded for the two complement each other to perfection. One can actually easily say Boris and Astbury succeeded at basically everything in this album, from the three masterful original pieces to the fresh and intelligent cover of The Cult's own "Rain" with Boris' guitarist Wata providing very ethereal female vocals that just work for some reason. And when things "just work" with Boris, things are just awesome.
3. Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats
a.) Meet the Meatbats
We all know Chad Smith, if not by name. He's the guy who has so seamlessly accompanied Flea's phenomenal bass work at the root of the Red Hot Chili Peppers since he replaced D.H. Peligro circa Mother's Milk, so all of the classic Chili Peppers tracks (Under the Bridge, Scar Tissue, By the Way, Snow ((Hey Oh))...) have had him pumping out the rhythm. Anyways, through various side projects he met a few wonderfully talented players and ended founding the Bombastic Meatbats, a funk/jazz/rock fusion band of tremendous awesomeness. Their first album, Meet the Meatbats, is a perfect balance between the three genres, often blending all of them in a single piece. All instrumental, the four members of the Meatbats take turns in being awesome, each having their turn at some sort of blistering solo, funkadelic riff, or jazzy atmosphere. Makes for some great homework music!
b.) More Meat
The Bombastic Meatbats' second album is slightly more on the rock side of things than the first one, but songs like "Shag" keep the chill jazz mood going. Although I enjoyed the first album slightly more than this, I think that is only personal preference, for musically both works are equally as solid. And if you ever wondered where one can find a crossover between jazz and metal guitar work, this album is a great place to look (or rather listen, I guess). Starting off with chill and intelligent jazz improv riffs, Jeff Kollman slowly builds up the intensity until he is fully shredding through jazz scales before coming back down to earth. Really cool and eye-opening stuff. So yeah, highly recommended.
4. Creep AC
a.) Do the Humans Kill the Earth?
Alright, I'll be straight up honest with this one: it was the definite "low" of this series of albums. A sort of grunge/punk/alt. rock group stuck somewhere between Boris and Nirvana, these French guys never really grabbed a hold of my attention. The guitars were loud and sure, there were some good riffs and rhythms at times, but the musically low-quality vocal work, cliché lyrics and overall over-reliance on pumping power chords as loud as possible ruined most of the experience. I think I'll be deleting this soon, to make way for the Tom Waits discography I just downloaded...
5. Crippled Black Phoenix
a.) I, Vigilante
In a complete 180 degree turn in quality of music, we know find ourselves with what I would consider the finest piece in this entire series of albums. Post-rock supergroup Crippled Black Phoenix, composed of past members of bands including Mogwai, Iron Monkey, and Electric Wizard, have created here a WW2-themed mini-album/EP that simply blows one's mind far, far way. These long, epic tracks have a way of capturing the mind in their atmospheres and not letting go, making the 10-odd minutes seem like almost nothing, and sometimes almost too short. Although one senses a heaving Pink Floyd influence, you are never overwhelmed by it and always feel like this is something fresh and new. Very high quality music, very much recommended.
b.) A Love of Shared Disasters
Not quite as purely awesome as I, Vigilante but yet still very very good, A Love of Shared Disasters goes for more of a slow, melancholy approach that seems very fitting for the subjects explored in the lyrics. The atmospheres are mostly gloomy and esoteric, sometimes getting heavier and feeling like humidity-saturated 40-degree summer air. The layers are always interesting and once again grab a steady hold on your musically-attentive mind.
c.) 200 Tons of Bad Luck
Similar to A Love of Shared Disasters, this album often goes even heavier and gloomier than the former. The atmospheres are saturated with melodies and harmonies that never seem to hit a positive note, and that's fine because they're so good you don't really want them to, as if that would ruin the whole feeling and it just wouldn't be the same; for some reason I think that's true. So it's not really depressing as much as just a natural melancholy mood, much like Jacques in Shakespeare's As You Like It: heavy, gloomy melancholy is the music's normal state of being, and that's just awesome. So if you're prepared to sit down and get lost in that world for some time, then go ahead and go through this album. If you only want a few minutes in it, then listen to a few tracks and you'll get a nice dose of it. In any case, it's highly recommended you try something with this awesomeness.
6. Cynic
a.) Focus
Focus is the original Cynic album. The band got together, recorded it, toured, then went their separate ways until just a few years ago when they decided to get back together and make an EP. In any case, Focus is genuinely great electro/jazz/death metal fusion. The riffs are powerful and very intelligent, as expected from any good death metal band, the drums rock with the riffs very well, and as to the rest... It's all in the song structure really. Tracks start in death metal, and then break into an electro-jazz fusion funnily reminiscent of the Bombastic Meatbats. The bass starts doing a lot more work than one would expect from a death metal band, or at least it's a lot more noticeable. A bit of tapping, some really cool intervals, all mixed with some great keyboard work and all under some really cool vocoded vocals. A good metal drum fill and we're back with the death metal riffs and growls. It's a great journey that is very nourishing to the music-thirsty mind, for one discovers many combinations of sounds that one is not very used to, and (hopefully) one finds this awesome. So if you're ready, take the plunge into the awesomely weird world of Cynic.
Well, that's it for now. Next time: it's all very dark and melodic-death-metal-ish with both Dark Lunacy and Dark Tranquillity. We then move on to David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's collaboration Here Lies Love, Death Cab for Cutie's Plans and Narrow Stairs, and finally we finish with the two Decemberists albums I have not checked out yet for some reason - Picaresque and Her Majesty.
In other news, my upcoming project with Chris Drexler-Lemire now has a name which we will not reveal, and house music has a very exciting week: both deadmau5's new album 4x4=12 and Daft Punk's Tron Legacy Soundtrack come out. Get pumped (and by pumped, I mean side-chained)!
Cheers, and sorry if you didn't get the ultra-nerdy house joke,
Pierre.
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