I think I’ve said before I’m not a big fan of this record, and I think maybe part of it is the way the record is mixed. The vocals are too forward, and it throws the balance of things off.
Just filthy, y’all. Listen to how fat those synths are! And come on, a guest verse from MF DOOM (R.I.P.)? Come on.
[Read More]Technical death band Gojira took a little bit different approach on 2016’s Magma, where they actually slowed it down a little sometimes and have things approaching melody at times. It’s easily their most accessible album, but they’re good enough that simplifying their sound a little doesn’t spoil the proceedings. That’s not to say it’s not a very loud album, but it’s not the same kind of insanity as some of their earlier stuff.
[Read More]There’s a continuum in music that relies heavily tremelo picking going from black metal at one end to shoegaze at the other end. The placement of any band on this spectrum kind of comes down to the vocals, the use of dissonance, the melodies (if any), and the production. And bands can move around on the spectrum (Alcest, for instance). Ghost Bath isn’t pure black metal, so they’ve moved along that spectrum some. “Blackgaze” is sometimes used for these sorts of bands, and I can’t decide if that’s a good name or not.
[Read More]It is so good, Tuxedo, you’re right.
Kiiiinda regretting not writing more for that first track.
Well, on track here for the shortest Five Songs entry ever, at least by word count. Maybe by running time also, I don’t know. I’d have to actually do some research to figure that out, and that is absolutely not going to happen.
Cynic’s 1993 album Focus is one of the foundational documents of progressive metal, as they took death metal and mashed it up with prog and jazz, resulting in an album that was very, very far out there for the time. The constant showy playing can get kind of exhausting, honestly, but it’s hard not to at least respect what they’re up to here. They actually put just this album out, which would have been an impressive one-record legacy…before ruining that by reforming 15 years later. I have not listened to any post-reunion records, though.
[Read More]Three months in the books, three months of Five Songs every day! And we’re still rollin’!
Have we talked about the Clash’s debut album yet? What separated the Clash from so much of the rest of the new punk scene is that the Clash brought more than just energy and fury to their music. And while early punk should be lauded for how egalitarian it was, and for its emphasis on just getting out there and doing it, the Clash really demonstrated what happened when you took that DIY ethos and married it to some tremendous songs.
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