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The Darts - The Darts
Psychedelic fuzzed up dark punk pop eased into your mind by the fact is it's all chicks. Not that matters these days, but believe me, it does. There's that crazy circus sound going on throughout the tracks here, which might temp you to place them wrongly, but it kinda reminds me of the first couple of Stooges records. However it's purely english containing those lovelies all roughed up and ready here. The rudeness, volume and not all that togetherness displayed here might not be revolutionary, but it's kinda a breath of fresh air just outside the steel mills. It's like that 4th or 5th pint after a day of full-on bullshit. You start loosening up a bit and The Darts will make ya wanna dance.
It's worth noting The Darts owe a bit to former female farmers The Donnas and maybe some other more obscure set ups from other places. The go-go horror movie feel like your in a car gonna crash fuck it whatcha gonna do The Darts pretty much bring in on their own. I'm telling you it's that crazy organ man. I feel the need for danger! There's enough creepy guitar slinking around on numbers like Carry Me Home and I Wanna Get You Off that it feels kinda sexy. Enough dreariness, and strange rebuke, on pieces like You Got Me to remind me it may not all be alright. Then there's big drums, shouting, screaming riffs and that fucking crazy organ again on Take What I Need that it's like being down in New Orleans where they work that voodoo and hand you the bill. Or maybe it's the power vibe of Ramblin On that does the trick. I kinda like it man, it's a wild ride and like I said it's all chicks, which makes it that much cooler. See, I told you it matters!
Contact: Dirty Water Records - http://www.dirtywaterrecords.co.uk/darts
Anal Trump - To All The Broads I've Nailed Before
The entire program will be over before you have a chance to say SHIT! The AT's have long been quick with the grind, growling, pit plunging and mind dumbing all the way. When it first hits you it's like a prank, then you realize it's dead serious, and finally it become perfectly clear to you Anal Trumpet does not give a damn, and that's as it should be. I mean, c'mon they ARE called Anal Trumpet.
It's only when you step back and study the grind from afar that some things become abundantly clear here. One, this entire album could be one long grind ground up into many. That the longest song here, at 11 seconds, which is near the end of the album probably spells out what it's all about, except maybe the name which has been around long before. Yes, kids, you know what I mean. I mean the 45th President of the USA, Donald J Trump. I mean, when you really get down to it, isn't that what, who, when, and where it's all about? Trump By God, Trump!
Not really, but if you can't get in there and get with it, you don't understand. Nor, do you grind. That's a sad pitiful state to have to go through life, not knowing the grind.
Kreator - The Gods Of Violence
A band which has stood the test of time, Kreator have went through a few phases, but who doesn't working almost 35 years straight. Since the beginning the band has retained an edge to their sound while maybe being better or less so depending on the occurance. The Gods Of Violence is no difference, yet I will say perhaps better. It is good, again after all this time, to hear a band retain their original context and expand the offering through quality of the songs.
What I like about the album, is that it starts off cool with Death Becomes My Light, and builds through Apocalyption into something technical and strong with World War Now. Then it's true old school with Satan Is Real. A time or two throughout again they play devil's advocate, but it's not over done. That's why Kreator have always been considered a thrash band, and not death metal. They do stand strong for metal, listen to the rebellion bubbling under the core on Totalitarian Terror. In the days of the gifted golden haired one, we must all stand strong!
Take Hail To The Hordes, a classic metal shout out with hints of folk yearnings placed skillfully within. Again so much we have heard, yet it is done well here repeatedly. Giving us tastes of their classic sound, adding a few new classics and keeping it true metal keeps it solid for Kreator. Such is the remembrance of Fallen Brother and the speeding album closer Side By Side. The Gods Of Violence have come to play! Horns up!
Homepage - http://kreator-terrorzone.de/
Double Horse - Double Horse
It hits you right off the bat that the end is near. If you didn't already know. The thunder of the romp and the slicing of the wah take your head. As if you shall never hear silence again. Smoke rises as the guitars are held up to the sky, as an offering, perhaps a sacrifice. Then there is that voice. Something like Froggy singing into a hollow tube. Like the world has left you, and it is just you as spirit, drifing down the other end of the sewer pipe. Then here comes that fucking voice, sometimes faintly, other times it is all you can hear. Ladies and Gentlemen! DOUBLE HORSE!
Double Horse are full of the riff, the stomp, all the passion of the dark boogie. Doom of course is an aquired taste, sometimes overwhelming as it slams you down. Then some say it is uplifting, as the smoke of the funeral pyre. Either way you're all giving up the ghost sooner or later so enjoy it! You can't get any more serious than the themes here on this record. Yet is it real the whole time it seems to ask. And you're given an option not to care. That's the beauty of the whole thing.
So who should we care about another gloom metal band in an already over crowded genre. That's where you just have to ride it a while and see if it gets you high, or helps you on through the hurt, into the cold sweat of another survival, another day to waste away. This is Double Horse bitches, lay down and pray.
Dirty Fences - First Ep Plus Two Extra Songs
Going in you're not sure. What is this? That's why never look at the pictures first and try to figure out what the music sounds like. It is better to feel the grooves, ride the rhythm and punch the rhino, like Double Fences do. Punk but at the core pure rock n roll, you really can't loose. Vocals and harmonies right there with ya, a couple breaks like it's happenin' and lyrics either about bein' a glow in love or killin' what ya love, topped off with bar chord runs. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
When they stumble, it's above palitable, as the Ramones are called in seance on "Bomber", except how can you fuck up with something that sounds like the Ramones? Done good, done right, you can't homie. Dirty Fences rumble about considerably yet seem to be mostly on the same street. The ripping "East Gun Hill" again recalls the hardcore and punk legends of days gone by, but it's stuff from Dirty Fences so it's post-neo-modern, as is most of the album.
Drum runs like lightnin', staying just ahead off the band, with another shout or two for whatever keep "Keep Your Kitten Inside", with enough tongue to hit both cheeks, it's another piece of kinda sloppy loose fun Dirty Fences excel at. The meat and potatoes feel of "Sell Your Truth", a newer one from the band on this album, is everything put right together, as it should be, one of their more original and better numbers. This number paired up with another brand new one "2x2" show the band beginning to score. It's great to hear, makes ya wanna crank it up! So do it!
Mosaic - Old Man's Wyntar
Teutonic masterpiece with all the fills and trimmings. At times melodic, sometimes just a dash of reverbed out feedback, it is at once captivating, intriguing, and unsettling. Often beat the drums of war, of the soldier and his tribulations, of the ultimate loss. The darkness discovered has as much to say as anything, and it is within those confines you find, no hope. Peaceful is the heavy, like a raven takes flight through a dream. Such visions are not only within the music, from it's core, of it's soul, they are yours, as time slips away. All this and more, from opening cut Silver Nights. You gotta get right in the head for this trip. Onward Viking warriors!
Some are saying this is black metal, which though sounding like some of the genre, it's more like classically composed music to me. Metal? Most definitely, and it is darker than hell sometimes. Genres fail here and what you have is a full hour of symphonic trip metal (pun intended). It's mind blowing throughout, and I don't generally give those accolades easily. By the time you get 3/4's of the way through the album to Black Glimmer you are spent, hanging over an endless void, mind blown, conscious irrelevant. Like I said it's good stuff. Even short end numbers like Incipit: Geherre bring it all to the table, shimmering shifting guitars, voices as sacred chants, a rollling thunder of bass and drums way back and way under. Yes my son, good for life and if needed, for your funeral.
Cory Branan - Adios
Strong features with a weather front blowing in cool and scripted from somewhere in Americana. There's horns, even Hornsby flavored keys, strumming and an almost Leon Russell thing every so often. Maybe a nod to Springsteen more so though, like you're riding into town on memories and regrets. This is highly apparent on numbers like Blacksburg, which is playbook history all the way. I get off more on up steppers like the album opening I Only Know, or the traditional rave ups like Yeah, So What. Lots folks like nostalgia though, so the inward looking stuff cannot always be overlooked or hidden in the powerchords. It really are the songs which carry Branan along, which is no more apparent than on The Vow. Something almost everyone can relate to, even if you've never known it as part of your life.
That's where good songwriters can get you. While not everyone can produce the most original material, a large quantity of cool to killer songs builds a catalog up nicely. Cory Branan has this quality on his 4th album, and manages to advance his craft a bit by branching out on the more esoteric, bluesy Walls, MS. It's like the Dead man! Proof too you must be from or been a while in that great land of Mississippi to lock up this kinda funky groove. Why you think Elvis came from the state named for a river? Branan goes a bit Petty on Another Nightmare in America, still it's ok , fitting into the real world today as it does. Cory decides to finish the album out on lighter fare, which may seem a cool down, but you've got Visiting Hours in there, which might make ya wanna dance, so it's not all downshifting coming down the mountain. Just check out the scenery, enjoy the ride.
Singles: https://soundcloud.com/bshq/sets/cory-branan-adios-album
Contact: https://www.bloodshotrecords.com
Playboy Manbaby: You Can Be A Facist Too b/w I'd like to meet your parents - single
Don;t Let It Be - album
Not at all what you'll first think upon hearing the name. Which is either one of the worst band names in rock n roll or one of the more brilliant. The first jewel of theirs I got to tangle with was the single You Can Be A Facist Too b/w I'd like to meet your parents. First off singles which aren't on the latest albums is an ancient record label "trick" so that the singles sells more and the album can rest as it's own product not reliant purely upon the single. Today, it may or may not be even relative as to why, then again, today, who cares?
Plenty of humor in the spiel of Playboy Manbaby, and I guess really it has to be that way. The single over all could be the bastard son of the Cure, PIL and maybe some gutter punk wretch from the streets. Definitely not what you think by the pictures and name. I'd say that's a good thing. Pretty much the album is the same thing, except maybe rougher at spots, if that is possible. I hear horns in there too, maybe there were on the single, just drowned out. Anyways, they do better without their blaring, mostly. Last One Standing perhaps there they sound the ticket.
That's the thing about Playboy Manbaby, "mostly" they're an acquired taste preferable to shit, or eatin' roses. But like w/ the Fascist single and a spot or two on the album, they hit it right, and it's like a discharge after a full night of drinking, almost a relief! Honestly, Don't Let It Be as an album is probably great drinking music, the more you drink the better it'll sound, guaranteed!
http://playboymanbaby.com/ via Dirty Water Records UK
Sarah Shook & The Disarmers - Sidelong
Shook & The Disarmers present a nice platter of traditional western style rock. Much akin to the early Sun Records catalog, which generally can never be a bad thing. Here it's definitely an asset, yet Sidelong as a whole isn't reliant upon anything of the past. It's good music, with more than a splash of heavy heart and real world experience showing through to make you sit back and take notice a time or two. Shook's voice is key to this show, though the band, taken to be The Disarmers, make the picture more complete. The guitar work is especially impressive, gliding in and out, weaving I think Keith Richards calls it, serving up mournful cries and piercing lead breaks when called for. A full package it all makes, along with great songs containing memorable melodies, it feels like a work complete. It's but a tease though at this point.
It should make you hungry for more, a yearning to feel that edge, slighty wicked, of riding that fast horse across the desert. Gold in your saddle bags, gold bud rolled, and a trail of dust along your trail far behind. When you do slow down and get all touchy feely, it tends to lose it's way, because you're driving a machine, one that seems to run the best when it's locked stepped into the clakca-clacka or one step behind the down home boogie. Like when you go to the family reunion tore up and everyone is staring at you. You may wanna hide, you may wanna put on a show. It's like that on Sidelong. At each turn it's a different number, from platin' to harvestin' to fetishes up topside, it's irish whiskey on a weekend night, and there never is a work week. Just cocktails on the lawn, another day of guitars, rhythms and wasted sunsets. It's real life man, live it!
Contact: https://www.bloodshotrecords.com
Scath Na Deithe - Pledge Nothing But Flesh
Quiverring dark mass of symphonic dirge is how it was chosen to greet the masses. On this one they quickly transgress into thrasing blackened terror, not to be confused with run of the mill indulgences. Capping off things are melodies not so much dark as moving. Griping grinding of the teeth give away to solemn adages of the dark angels. It's as if the fog coming in from the seas brings the greatest death, at the same time a chance to escape, for complete freedom. Isn't that how an ending often is?
Therein the voices of demons play, yet this music is no game. It's hard at once, surely far into oblivion. Back in days of yore, they might call it pagan folk music, yet titles and genre always fall short for more complex compositions. Such is the case here. While soon you are compiled into pure metal (This Unrecognizeable Disaease) it is soon after you have had transformation (the incredible Bloodless) which left you, perhaps with unfilled desires, all the more longing to be taken. That will happen, for it is but a matter of time, and exposure. The enduring beauty of Failte Na Marbh gives way to the grinding egotistical The Shackled Mind, which we all know can breed all kinds of craziness. But in here, inside that mind, no one can hear you cry. It's like that here, as the music engulfs you, leaving you spent, perhaps unable even to recover, laying still so that perhaps the demons will not notice what is left of you spiraling on the edge of the void.
White Light Cemetary - Be Careful What You Wish For
Rolling heavy grooves on top of the burgeoning haze brought on by the burning of the sweet leaf. It's got a certain dark feel to it, as witnessed in the opener Misery Loves Company. This is not to say it's all bleak, though certainly overtones of losing your shit abound here and there and throughout. Above all, the riff is strong, the bass locked dead on, simple propellants step up into mastery of timed silenced, rarely if ever is there too much said or played here. It's pretty much what is needed for the dose, never too much to take away your ability to comprehend.
Stuff like Looking Out For Number One are what you'd expect lyrical wise, pushed on by a strong beat heavy on cymbol crashes and again near perfect implementation of time and measure. It's like that all the way through, only veering from originators like Trouble or Sabbath to give you what reminds me of some Bad Company when On A Dime plays out. Today, it's too easy to see the lineage, and I find throughout this album needing a shot of new, but the nurse never comes. So I'll felt with my own bad self to rock on through numbers like Quit Work, Make Music which most of us at various times in our lives have decided that was the ticket. More remembering those times on the following Better Days, coming off not as an exercise in retro, but pushing for that gold, even as we speak. There is treasure here, the grind of Waiting is for the war dance preparing you for battle, either on fields of battle or beds of lust. The cold hard truth presents itself with closer Bullet To Erase and as it's been said, it is done! Amen pass me a cold one and roll another!
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