ALBUM REVIEW: Kirk Windstein, "Dream in Motion"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 24/01/2020

Label: eOne Music

“Dream in Motion” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Dream in Motion

2). Hollow Dying Man

3). Once Again

4). Enemy in Disguise

5). The World You Know

6). Toxic

7). The Healing

8). Necropolis

9). The Ugly Truth

10). Aqualung

The Review:

Kirk Windstein is certainly an underground legend- Crowbar, Down, working with Jamey Jasta- his has quite a curriculum vitae. His debut solo LP proper (nothwithstanding the Jasta pairing) is a very intriguing proposition. Crowbar are heavier than lead and as sludgy as a swamp; what can Windstein bring to the table beyond that. Well, as keen fans will know, Windstein is a big fan of 70s rock and classic songwriting. Certainly, opener “Dream in Motion” is weighty and swampy but it is also hooky and surprisingly... breezy. As the album unfolds, you get a definite sense that this is not Crowbar Mk. II but is instead a kind of mid point between Kirk's influences and his Alma mater.

Over the course of “Hollow Dying Man” and “Once Again”, there is actually plenty of darkness but a little more light than you might expect. The latter is dreamy and ethereal in sound- akin to Mastodon at their most mellow. From there, there is plenty of clean guitar on offer on “Enemy In Disguise” and again it is not huge riffing that draws you in, but the dreamlike spacey quality of the sound. The melancholy vibes continue on through “The World You Know”- as do the melodies. It's like a stripped bare Crowbar with the melodies pushed to the fore while the riffs take a back seat.

There is heaviness and riffage, of course, “Toxic” provides that in spades and comes on strong with its doomy sludge but it also has a lighter side as the dynamics are pushed. Windstein's usual themes of self loathing and desperation are apparent, as per, but with some of the sounds there is also hope. Even the title of “The Healing” states this explicitly. It has quiet and loud dynamics and is a worthy instrumental piece. “Necropolis” is again lighter and akin to almost shoegaze type material... were it not for the glacial tempo and inherent darkness.

By the time of the album's latter stages, it has become clear that Windstein wanted to make an album that didn't rely on brute force but instead let the melodic hooks bring the weight and create atmosphere through an air filled production and reverb combined with the clean sounds on offer. “The Ugly Truth” is a fine example of that ethos and then there is only the Jethro Tull cover of “Aqualung” to finish things. It's a fine cover and a solid snapshot of what perhaps Windstein was invoking over the course of the record; Tull were always not really one thing or another. They weren't rock, folk, pop, hard rock, rock n roll, jazz, blues or anything else but were instead a combination of all those things and created startling music, particularly through their 60s and 70s heyday.

Windstein, then, has a created a mellow and dynamic album with lots of light and dark. It wouldn't have worked as a Crowbar record, so his venturing outside of that stricture is to be commended. A good and worthwhile solo record.

“Dream in Motion” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Exhorder, "Mourn The Southern Skies"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 20/09/2019

Label: Nuclear Blast

 

“Mourn The Southern Skies” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. My Time
2. Asunder
3. Hallowed Sound
4. Beware The Wolf

5. Yesterday's Bones
6. All She Wrote
7. Rumination
8. The Arms Of Man
9. Ripping Flesh
10. Mourn The Southern Skies

The Review:

Exhorder, the real Exhorder- are back. Those in the know will readily espouse the fact that “Slaughter In The Vatican” is one of THE greatest thrash albums. Those who delved deeper will know that follow up “The Law” was just as good and influential. They will also say that in Kyle Thomas, the band had a frontman of the highest calibre with a voice so good that Phil Anselmo took more than just notes on it. 

With good unfriendly violent fun being firmly on the agenda, then, what else can Exhorder offer up all these years after their heyday and now that the band are a lot older and a lot greyer? Well, after twenty seven years... the band is as heavy and aggressive as ever. Thomas' voice has not got any weaker at all- one of metal's best vocalists without a doubt. From the opening fury of “My Time”, the band's light is blazing brighter than ever. There are more groovesome tracks (“Asunder”) and pure speed demons and tracks that combine both- “Hallowed Sound” springs to mind.

Of course, to say that this sounds like nothing else after twenty seven years, countless bands influenced and countless thrash bands who forged their own path would be untrue. It occurred to me that Exhorder here sound like a particularly pissed off and up tempo Testament of the latter day (“The Gathering”) onwards. Naturally, the band also have that Southern swagger and groove that their most famous step child also had and this sets them apart from their Bay Area brethren. Ultimately, though, when thrash is executed so expertly as on “Beware The Wolf “ then you can enjoy this for what it is: one of the best thrash bands of all time making a killer third album decades after it should have even been possible.

Over the course of ten tracks, the band don't put a foot wrong. It rages, it grooves, it demonstrates exactly why the band are so revered all these years later. Thomas' voice on “All She Wrote” is superb. His performance on every track is just incredible. His work with Floodgate, Alabama Thunderpussy and Trouble lifted all those releases and added an extra dimension to two of the bands. His work here is just as good, his life-force undimmed.

The grooves that the band conjure up on “Rumination” are excellent as they are on the slower sections of the album- on “Arms of Man”, for instance. Down the back stretch, you also get the thrash-fest of “Ripping of Flesh” and the more measured and epic title track to close out the show.

If Exhorder never make another record, they will be three for three- three records of exceptional quality with an unwavering commitment to heaviness and aggression. There are not many bands that can lay claim to three excellent albums in a row and no-one I can think of that achieved the feat after a near three decade hiatus. A storming and total victory.

“Mourn The Southern Skies” is available HERE

 



Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, "Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Full Length: Full length

Date Released: 26/01/ 2018

Label: Housecore Records |

Season of Mist

Songs like "Mixed Lunatic Results" and "Delinquent" are Anselmo at his best, holding court and being the wildman savant his fans adore. Say what you will about his persona, but Anselmo is as spellbinding as ever, and songs like "Photographic Taunts" show you how he's still got it.

"Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue" CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Little Fucking Heroes

2. Utopian

3. Choosing Mental Illness

4. The Ignorant Point

5. Individual

6. Delinquent

7. Photographic Taunts

8. Finger Me

9. Invalid Colubrine Frauds

10. Mixed Lunatic Results

The Review:

A friend once said he loved hip-hop legend Cam'ron because he was the king of ignorant rap. The former Killa Cam has made a 20-year career out of having wealth, screwing women, making trouble and slapping haters. It's just narcissistic music for the club that is blessed by an artist with a seductive flow who knows his lane is the Wraith and Hennessey, and not Black Lives Matter or introspection. He seems to like it that way, as do his fans, who have followed Cam'ron through the various Diplomats reunions, guest spots and feuds.

Metal's Cam'ron is almost certainly Phil Anselmo. No one in the last 20 years has been as polarizing or reliable/predictable as the former Pantera front man and lead for Superjoint and Down. Rage and seething are largely the emotional spectrum. Anselmo's continued stumblings into political commentary have earned him a reputation as a neo-Nazi, a label he has repeatedly rejected, unconvincingly. His excesses would have killed most of us. And, like Cam, Anselmo's worst enemy has been himself. Fans may point to stylistic growth. It's just not terribly convincing either.

On "Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue" Anselmo offers the first glimpses in some time at attempts to prove his haters wrong. Granted, it's done in that pretentious Anselmo way of not caring what you think, but it's evident nevertheless. When the album's title track was released in November, it featured vintage Anselmo alongside elements of his Down and Superjoint incarnations. Guitarist Marzi Montazeri is gone from this version of the Illegals. And Anselmo suggested this go-around was more collaborative, and intended to convey a story of facing mental health issues.

This renewed energy comes at the right time. As with Cam'ron, the music Anselmo once led has steadily been growing beyond him, and some switches were in order. Metal has since Black Sabbath been a convergence of commentary. Social media and growing political divides, however, have sparked more than a few heavy acts to blend critique into their music. For years, Anselmo has had a penchant for voicing his opinion in his music and elsewhere; unfocused, it can become a trainwreck, such as in his white supremacist flirtation. The topic of mental health herein is a loaded one. In mid-February, a 19-year-old man with an apparent mental illness killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida. There's a worldwide opioid epidemic spurred by attempts to deal with psychiatric problems. How Anselmo contributes to the discourse feels interesting, to say the least.

On the first Philip H. Anselmo and The Illegals album since its 2013 debut, there is plenty of red meat for Anselmo's hardcore base. He's still mad, still dropping that rumbling vocal and still backed by a bruising metal ensemble. The album's opener, "Little Fucking Heroes," delivers a white-hot blast of fury, driving rhythm section and raw riffs for the vocals to tear into. Anselmo, who turns 50 in June, is undoubtedly grown from the kid who fronted 1988's "Power Metal," though his passion is timeless. Unmoored by a band's larger identity, Anselmo feels freer than usual, roaring into the microphone with the muscle that made him famous. Songs like "Mixed Lunatic Results" and "Delinquent" are Anselmo at his best, holding court and being the wildman savant his fans adore. Say what you will about his persona, but Anselmo is as spellbinding as ever, and songs like "Photographic Taunts" show you how he's still got it.

However, don't hold your breath for Anselmo to go Kendrick Lamar on this album in regard to the mental health crisis. Rather than a slam on Congress, insurance companies, Big Pharma or state failures, the critique throughout "Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue" seems aimed at anyone who's not him. It's the wary eye generations of rockers have cast at politicians, liberal social justice warriors, media, institutions, parents and anyone else who just doesn't get it. The two types of people in the world, Anselmo says on "Invalid Colubrine Frauds" are those who just want to be left alone, and those who won't leave them alone. On "Individual," he declares, "I don't want to be part of your pack. Shut the fuck up, you don't even listen… I'll never be what you created." In these sentiments, Anselmo implicitly opens another conversation, most vividly illustrated in the Nikolas Cruz case: where does the right for someone who is seemingly unstable to be left alone end and the community's safety begin? Amidst the American debate over gun control, issues like institutionalization, mental health and the near-manic desire to be self-involved collide too. There are no easy answers.

"Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue" is available here

Band info: facebook

A to Z of Doom: Acid Bath

With the roots of doom founded upon the mighty, Black Sabbath, Doom has defied all the odds to spawn a huge global fan base and today in 2015, the genre is seemingly more popular than ever.  Doom has gone on to spawn numerous sub genres and stylistic divisions, ranging from traditional, Epic, stoner, sludge, funeral, drone, blackened, gothic and many more over the last 45 years. 

Given the variety of music this genre (sub genre) offers and the endless amounts of records we have been unable to cover from bands currently active and those sadly disbanded.  The purpose of the A to Z of Doom is my vague attempt to present a list of bands with some historical merit, but really it is a means of presenting music to people who may have otherwise overlooked it or come into contact with from the past or present. 

Each week or two, I will present a Band in chronological order from A to Z and recommend a record you should check out from the many genres’s mentioned.  The record could be a recent release or a revered classic.    Essentially this is a no frills deal, presenting the band, album artwork, the year the record was released, the label it was issued on, current status of the band, links to the band and finally, I will attempt to embed some music for you to check out. 

If a band is active or has disbanded, I will also attempt to make reference to any bands they went on to form or side projects members have been involved with, which may also be active or split.  Essentially, until I get to grips with what I am trying to do with this segment, it will be a work in progress, but for the most part; it is my attempt to present cool music to you, the readers.  Indeed if you feel passionately about a band, that hasn’t received the kudos they deserve or you just want a favourite record to be included in the list, please submit your requests here including your name and I will ensure it is listed.  Reader participation is essential in order for this to work. 

It is worth nothing, that all information about the bands and the records presented in list will be lifted from numerous sources and is by no means definitive, so there may be some inaccuracies; however I hope you get the gist of what I am attempting to do.  This will not be a review, merely a presentation of the band and some basic information about them, you can then decide to check them out and buy their music.       

So, let us kick off with the first band, starting with

Acid Bath

Formed in 1991, Acid Bath could loosely be described as a sludge metal band, although you will hear influences of thrash, death metal and even black metal at times, as well as that obligatory southern rock charm.  Hailing from Houma, Louisiana, the band were active from 1991- 1997, sadly splitting up following the untimely death of bass player Audie Pitre as a result of a car accident.  The band released two full length records whilst they were an active band, with their most recent release coming in 2005, a compilation called ‘Demos: 1993 – 1996’ released by Rotten Records. 

Over the years despite calls for their reformation, surviving members are seemingly steadfast in their refusal to reform as a mark of respect for their fallen brother.  Whilst, one can only speculate about what the future holds, a reformation of the surviving members is likely to be universally embraced within the metal community and until such a time that happens, if at all, Acid Bath’s legacy is undeniable and for that reason, I present their debut full length ‘When the Kite Strings Pops’ as the first record in the A-Z of Doom. 

Years Active: 1991-1997

Genre: Sludge, Doom

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 8/8/1994

Label: Rotten Records

Acid Bath were:

Dax Riggs | Vocals (currently an active solo artist, Dax went onto form Agents of Oblivion, Deadboy & The Elephant Man)

Sammy Pierre Duet | Guitars, backing vocals (currently an active member of Goatwhore, but also featured on 3 Crowbar records)

Mike Sanchez | Guitars, backing vocals (formed Agents of Oblivion with Dax Riggs)

Audie Pitre (RIP 1997) | Bass, backing vocals

Jimmy Kyle | Drums

‘When The Kite String Pops’ CD/LP track listing:

1). The Blue (06:13)

2). Tranquilized (04:13)

3). Cheap Vodka (02:14)

4). Finger Painting of the Insane (06:04

5). Jezebel (04:53)

6). Scream of the Butterfly (06:14)

7). Dr. Seuss is Dead (06:04)

8). Dope Fiend (05:19)

9). Toubabo Koomi (05:01)

10). God Machine (05:00)

11). The Mortician’s Flame (04:05)

12). What Colour is Death (03:19)

13). The Bones of Baby Dolls (06:00)

14). Cassie Eats Cockroaches (04:24)

The album artwork of ‘Pogo Clown’ is most notable for the fact it was painted by infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Originally released in 1994, ‘When the Kite Strings Pop’ was remastered and reissued by Rotten Records in 2004 on CD and Double LP. 

There you have it, that was the first in what I hope will be a regular feature about doom metal chronologically listed from A to Z.  Can you guess what letter is next?  Seriously though, I encourage you guys to submit your request and fully participate, the choices are potentially endless and I am already psyched to bring the next instalment, as chosen by the dudes from Slomatics.  So submit your choices and I’ll see you next time for the A to Z of Doom. 

7Words and chosen record from: Aaron Pickford

For more information:

http://www.facebook.com/AcidBath