Today I'd like to introduce you to a fun little band that, unfortunately, never really took off: Dark Hall. Dark Hall is, or rather was, an instrumental jazz fusion group from the late 90's. They released a total of three demos, one with their original lineup and two more after changing guitarists. In the end, Dark Hall never actually released an album, and I've only been able to track down their last demo (their self-titled effort from 1998) and one track from their 1994 demo Solace.
You might be wondering why I'm so interested in this non-starter of a band from the 90's. One answer is that Dark Hall was simply great at what they did. For demos, the five tracks of theirs floating around are well mastered and impeccably performed. This wasn't exactly amateur night, and Dark Hall had a rather noteworthy cast of talent. Dark Hall started as a trio with Steve Di Giorgio on bass, Chris Dugan on drums and Flamp Sorvari on flute and saxophone, adding Eric Cutler on guitar in time for their first demo. Now, I haven't been able to find much information on Flamp Sorvari or Ken Schultz (the band's replacement for Eric Cutler on guitar in '95). However, the rest are associated with some fairly high profile acts of their own. Chris Dugan is known less for his musicianship and more for his work as an audio engineer, working with Green Day from American Idiot to Revolution Radio. That probably goes a long way towards explaining the high audio quality of the demo. Founding guitarist Eric Cutler (not to be confused with the opera singer of the same name) is also a founding member of Autopsy, a rather legendary death metal band. Steve Di Giorgio is probably the most prolific of the bunch, playing bass guitar for a slew of metal legends, from Autopsy to Death to Testament to Control Denied.
On the video I've embedded in this post, the first four songs are their 1998 demo Dark Hall, with the last track being from their 1994 debut Solace (meaning Eric Cutler is on guitar, rather than Ken Schultz). You can pick them up for free at the band's ReverbNation page here: https://www.reverbnation.com/artist/downloads/3622154. According to the band's write up, they're "in the planning stages for a new recording." I, for one, wouldn't get your hopes up too high, though. They've been in the "planning stages" since 2013, and we haven't heard a peep from them since. They could actually be making something new, but I dunno. It's quite possible that we'll have to content ourselves with their killer demo in the meantime.
By the way, if you have some obscure band that you think deserves a little more coverage, let me know so I can feature it. I can be reached at my email, askguitarman@gmail.com. Until next time, Guitarman out.
Well, it's been a hell of a year. Unfortunately, I mean hell in the biblical sense. 2016 has been pretty much a giant dumpster fire of a year, and it simply can't die soon enough in my opinion. If nothing else, I at least have some free (or, rather, name your own price) music for your listening pleasure. The following records have no minimum price on Bandcamp, but I suggest you at least pay something instead of just leeching. People have to eat, and all that. Anyways, here're some free* tunes I've been listening to lately.
Ah, blackgaze. Astronoid's Air is basically what happens when you supply a black metal band with antidepressants and switch their vocalist out for a pop-punk singer. The result is something uplifting and surprisingly accessible, even for those who aren't fans of metal. Not only is this album available for no minimum price, it's also one of my favorite albums to come out of 2016. There aren't really any excuses for not checking it out.
The Armed is a bit of an odd band. First off, yes, the album is actually named Untitled. Second, The Armed released Untitled as actually free on Bandcamp instead of as a name your own price option. In other words, there isn't a way to really pay the band for the album. This is a fairly strange move to be honest. If they simply wanted their music to be accessible, they could just as well have chosen the name your own price option as that (strictly speaking) carries no obligation of paying anything at all. Instead, they went out of their way to NOT receive any money for their work. As an econ major I find this somewhat baffling, but hey, that's punk for you I suppose. In any event, The Armed's Untitled is a fantastic slab of hardcore and punk that seems straightforward but ultimately isn't. It's all fairly conventional until the song Dead Actress, but I'd rather not spoil it for you. Just give them a listen if you're in the mood for frenetic energy and youthful aggression. Being a fan of The Dillinger Escape Plan would also help, as The Armed can be quite similar at times.
Is it black metal? Is it death metal? They call themselves blackened death metal, but I'm not sure I see this as a death metal record as much as it is symphonic black metal. Whatever you call it, Hyperion's debut album Seraphical Euphony is bloody impressive. If it weren't for a less than optimal level of audio compression, Seraphical Euphony would be very nearly perfect in my opinion. As it stands, these Hyperion newcomers have still managed to knock the ball out of the park with this one. Black metal fans, sleep on this one at your own peril. It's yet another quality offering from 2016, a year that's been as good for metal as it has been shit for all else.
Hopefully this triple post helps make up for my rather spotty posting record during last semester. I look forward to 2016 being over with in a few days. Until then, Guitarman out.
Hello, everyone. Today's post is going to be heavy on recommendations, but relatively low on content. I'm not going to go into much depth about each artist on today's menu due to time constraints, but I may go back and do a separate feature for some of the artists I mention in this post. We'll see.
In case I wasn't particularly clear on the subject before, I'm currently in my senior year of college. This means that much of my time is occupied by reading about Plato, or researching Mexico's 19th century foreign debt, instead of discovering interesting bands to pass on to you folks. Thankfully, my roommate (who will go unnamed for now, since I haven't asked his permission) is a fellow musician, and a music major to boot. Since our schedules don't have too much overlap (I'm stuck being an early-riser this semester, while he burns the midnight oil), we've set up a whiteboard in our dorm room for sharing bands we think the other might be interested in. I've decided to start sharing the fruits of this exchange with my audience (such that it is) at this blog. This time, we both selected three albums from different artists, so I'll be sharing a total of six different bands with you today (in no particular order). Due to the sheer quantity of music this time around, I'll be fairly brief with each band. I think the music should speak for itself, anyways. Without further ado, let's get to the music.
Guitarman's recommendations:
#1: Haken - "Affinity"
My list of recommendations starts off with Haken's release from earlier this year, "Affinity." The album is modern progressive metal with an 80's pop-ish flair. Great stuff, and very much on the lighter end of the heaviness spectrum. I may do a more in-depth feature on it later, because it deserves more than just a little blurb here. Give it a listen, and you'll see what I mean.
#2: Gygax - "Critical Hits"
I think the best way to describe Gygax is to call them a nerdy Thin Lizzy. Actually, that's probably all the description that the band really needs. Their sound is straightforward classic rock/metal with focus on guitar harmonies (did I mention that they sound almost exactly like Thin Lizzy?), and their lyrical themes are about what you'd expect from a band named after the creator of Dungeons and Dragons. Their album "Critical Hits" doesn't ask for much of your time (it's about 30 minutes total), and is well worth it. We don't get enough of this stuff these days.
#3: The Dread Crew of Oddwood - "Lawful Evil"
There's some context behind this recommendation. See, I live on a themed hall on campus. Specifically, we're the pirate-themed substance-free hall. Kind of a strange combination, I know. My roommate is one of the hall captains, which is what we call our leaders. Anyways, The Dread Crew of Oddwood are similar to Alestorm (a band I previously featured) in that they write songs almost exclusively about pirates. Unlike Alestorm, however, they aren't a metal band. Dread Crew of Oddwood are an acoustic folk band that takes stylistic inspiration from metal groups. They're a quirky lot, and their latest album "Lawful Evil" is certainly worth a look if you're into folk and have a functioning sense of humor.
Roommate's recommendations:
#1: JJ Doom - "Key to the Kuffs"
For the record, no, rap isn't really my cup of tea. My roommate recommended JJ Doom for his lyrics, which are villain themed and, frankly, great. However, I'm probably not going to be seeking out this album that often. While this is some of the best rap I've ever heard, I tend to focus much more on the instrumentation than the vocals when I listen to music. As such, I gravitate towards rap-rock like Rage Against the Machine, Pre-Fight Hype or Southpaw Swagger when I want my rap fix. Still, I'll probably be coming back to JJ Doom, which isn't something I can say about most straightforward rap outfits. I imagine anyone who normally pursues rap music will absolutely love this.
#2: Danish String Quartet - "Wood Works"
And now for something completely different: traditional Nordic folk music. I'm not exactly qualified to assess the quality of a string quartet, but I must say that I'm enjoying what I'm hearing here. They're precise without sacrificing the inherent fun of the pieces they preform. If you enjoy folk half as much as I do, you'll enjoy them.
#3: Punch Brothers - "Phosphorescent Blues"
Full disclaimer: I'm still digging through their music, so this is more "first impressions" than "researched opinion." That being said, I'm really liking what I'm hearing from these folks. The Punch Brothers play progressive bluegrass, which is absolutely fantastic. I'm lacking in comparisons to draw from to describe their sound, but that's honestly a good thing in my opinion (just not when I'm trying to introduce them to you). They've managed to blend soulful bluegrass with classical inspirations, and it works bloody brilliantly. This is certainly my favorite of the groups my roommate recommended, and by a rather large margin. Definitely worth checking out!
So, there you have it: round one of the roommate music exchange. I'm clearing off the whiteboard to make way for more music, and I'll be sure to let you know what makes the list! Until next time, Guitarman out.
Things have been hectic over here. With grad school applications, job hunting, classes and persistent health issues, my plate has been fairly full as of late. Thankfully, I've finally found enough time to shine a spotlight on one of the more delightfully strange releases of last year. Introducing "The Mighty Few," by The Grand Astoria.
Hailing from Saint-Petersburg, The Grand Astoria is a Russian rock outfit that combines a stoner aesthetic with progressive fundamentals to great effect. Or was it a progressive aesthetic with stoner fundamentals? In either case, their opus The Mighty Few is a paradoxically easy and challenging listen. No, I'm not just speaking in riddles for the sake of pretentious pseudo-intellectualism. I get enough of that from college freshmen trying to debate continental philosophy. Allow me to explain what I mean.
You may have noticed that the embedded track is a full twenty-eight minutes and nineteen seconds in length. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. Yes, that's the first track of the album. The Mighty Few is a full-length album (actually a fairly long one at nearly fifty minutes), but has a mere two tracks. Furthermore, these tracks are repetitive enough that listening to them all the way through isn't an easy task for the ADHD music fan. It's also somewhat difficult to just allot twenty-plus minutes of your time to listening to a single song. That's what I mean by The Mighty Few being a challenging listen.
On the other hand, the actual music being played here is extremely accessible (despite its format). The Grand Astoria play a hypnotic blend of stoner rock, jazz, progressive rock and classic metal. To quote the blog Heavy Metal Textbooks, "if Pink Floyd and The Mars Volta had a baby, and that baby grew up listening to heavy metal and punk, and then formed a rock band, that band would be The Grand Astoria." It's a bit of a roundabout description, but roundabout descriptions seem oddly apt when talking about music of this sort. My advice would be to listen to the first few minutes of the second track, The Siege, to see if this album is right for you. Opener Curse of the Ninth takes a good two minutes of tease and build before the distortion kicks in, while The Siege fires on all cylinders right out of the gate. Either way, they're both great songs. You have excellent vocal harmonies and glorious walls of fuzz juxtaposed with subdued psychedelia and restrained classical elements, and the end product is a quite compelling (if arguably overlong) slab of music. Give it a spin; for twenty-plus minute songs, they're quite addictive.
Well, it's a little later than planned, but better late than never. It's time for another music spotlight. Introducing: Shining, with their 2010 album Blackjazz!
Shining is a bit of a tough nut to crack, so let's start with the basics. First off, it would be helpful to clarify that I'm talking about the Norwegian band called Shining, not the Swedish band called Shining. The Swedish Shining is a black metal band ostensibly concerned with making listeners as suicidal and likely to self-harm as possible. On the other hand, the Norwegian Shining (hereafter referred to as just Shining) is...well, for starters it's far more difficult to describe via pithy statements.
Shining is, for lack of a simpler term, an avant-garde metal band. Avant-garde, however, is itself a fairly empty description. It would be better to call Shining's music the ungodly fusion of industrial and progressive metal with free-form jazz and electronica. On Blackjazz, Shining have created something that you aren't likely to fully appreciate on your first listen. My first time through, I found Blackjazz to be more exhausting than exhilarating. Part of that is likely a result of the album's run-time falling just short of an hour. Add to that an incredibly dense sound, manic tone, lengthy songs (particularly on the album's back-end, where a nearly eleven-minute song is followed by two songs just shy of nine minutes each), and counter-intuitive design choices ("The Madness and the Damage Done" is track one; "The Madness and the Damage Done, part one" is track six) and you get an album that's potentially draining for the uninitiated listener. I assure you, however, that Blackjazz is worth the extra effort required in its appreciation.
Do you like your music progressive and full of surprises, yet with a strong sense of groove? Does the idea of music made by madmen, for madmen, appeal to you? Do you think Meshuggah would be a more interesting band if they hired a saxophonist? If you answered yes to any of those, then you (like me) might be the target audience for Blackjazz! The album is funky, brutal and strangely satisfying. It's filled with intricate compositions formed around the simplest groove riffs. Ultimately, though, it's nearly impossible for me to describe Blackjazz without resorting to hyperbole and metaphor. At times, it's the sound of the apocalypse (a trite metaphor, but a fitting one regardless). At times, it's the sound of a jazz orchestra and a metal band attempting to bludgeon each other with their instruments. Either way, it's great fun for those of us able to appreciate music of this level of insanity. Don't take it from me, though. This is one of those albums that, love it or hate it, you owe it to yourself to experience.
I had planned to do this feature on the 17th, actually, but real life started hitting hard and fast. That weekend, one of my cousins from California visited. The next weekend, I went to see one of my brothers who flew over from his post at the Pentagon. I have also been desperately making vacation preparations. Next week, I'll be flying off to Dublin to go stay with my sister for a week. Since I won't have much internet access over there, I figured I needed to get something out ASAP. So, here I am. Let's get down to business.
This week, I'm featuring The Protomen. Oh boy, where do I even start with these guys. Well, they're a rock group hailing from Nashville, Tennessee and have been active (in some form or another) since 2003. The band currently contains a whopping nine members whose real names are unknown. Their claim to fame? They've crafted a rock opera inspired by the original Mega Man games on the NES. The Protomen have released two parts of the planned trilogy (their eponymous debut, and its follow up "The Father of Death"), and are working on the third. Each album forms a coherent story (The Father of Death is a prequel) with the musical genre shifting as appropriate. The apocalyptic Act I plays out like a lo-fi, punk rock, chip-tune take on Queen. Act II opens as a Western musical but closes as an 80's rock concert (the transition occurring during the instrumental "How the World Fell Under Darkness," and symbolizing the mechanization of society under Dr. Wily's rule).
I'll grant that the band is far from perfect in terms of technical skill. Some of their guitar leads in Act II are uninspired at best. There are moments where the vocals in Act I are uncomfortably off pitch. Act I also contains some audio artifacts (including a particularly jarring one somewhere in the middle of "Due Vendetta") that should have been eliminated somewhere in the process. Additionally, while Act I is intentionally lo-fi, the audible peaking (especially with the drums) can be headache inducing at sufficient volume.
Despite their flaws (which are certainly fewer in their recent output), The Protomen have created a convincing and emotionally compelling dystopian imagining of freaking Mega Man. Why? I have no idea, but I'm glad they did. Even in tracks where their musicianship falls a little short, their vision manages to still shine through. It's the strength of the band's vision and their storytelling that makes their epic such a captivating listen. You don't have to be a fan of Mega Man, driven by nostalgia (like me), to enjoy this. You just have to be interested in hearing a story told through songs. It's a tale of a man whose noble aims end up the undoing of all that he loved. It's the tale of cynicism versus idealism, of hope versus pessimism, of brother versus brother. At the end of the day, it's a tale that asks if humanity, jaded and indifferent, is truly worth saving. Give it a listen, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Yes, I basically just reused one of my older titles. No, I don't care. I promised an update this weekend, and I have to wake up in about eight hours to go to work. Not ideal writing conditions, but I'll roll with it.
Remember that band Blackwater Fever I featured a while ago? They were the slow, dark blues band hailing from Australia. Well, tonight's band is basically their foil. Introducing The Fumes.
Hailing from Sidney, Australia, The Fumes are a blues rock band with a very special place in my heart. They three albums under their belts at this point, but their debut opus, "Guns of Gold," is what I'd like to talk about today. The Fumes started out with a fairly simple plan of attack: use delta blues as a foundation, play with a punk rock attitude, and turn the fuzz and distortion to eleven. It's a winning formula that keeps Guns of Gold relevant a decade after its initial release. Guns of Gold is quality blues-based hard rock from start to finish, sprinkled with a refreshing amount of variety. You get acoustic numbers like Postman's Inn, the nearly-seven-minutes-long heavy stomp of Tell Your Story Walking, the long-lost ZZ Top crunch of Down River, and the epic closer Johnny the Lion Slayer. The album does get a little long in the tooth, with a total runtime over an hour, and with three of the fourteen songs going for more than six minutes. They definitely could have made more of an impact by trimming some of that fat, but I'm not going to complain too long about too much of a good thing here. Guns of Gold is certainly worth your time, as is the more "mature" follow up, Sundancer. I haven't listened to the third album, Bloodless, yet, but I'm a little hesitant after the stinker single "Dance in Costume," released after their second album. Then again, I didn't see that song on Bloodless, so I think the coast is clear. Think they learned their lesson (the song was really quite bad).
Anyways, so that's The Fumes. Go check them out if you like blues and/or hard rock. There's plenty of both in their catalog. I'll see if I can get another feature out next weekend. Wish me luck!
As I mentioned over on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/rotgm/), Lincoln Durham's latest album, Revelations of a Mind Unraveling, dropped on the 25th. It's been about three years since his sophomore effort, Exodus of the Deemed Unrighteous, and four years since his debut album, The Shovel vs. The Howling Bones.
First, some more background. Lincoln Durham is a native Texan who tours as a one-man band. His style on his previous albums was a vigorous blend of olden southern Americana. Durham's music is as much founded in bluegrass as in blues, and his records are filled with fiddles, banjos and mandolins accenting his powerful yet loose guitar playing. His first album, The Shovel vs. The Howling Bones, captured my with its stomping riffs and tasty slide guitar. On the other hand, his sophomore effort, Exodus of the Deemed Unrighteous, put Durham's vocals front and center. Durham had sounded like a seasoned blues singer on his debut; his second album saw him attack his microphone like a fire and brimstone preacher. His performance was dynamic, soulful, and one of the only times I've seen spoken word passages actually benefit an album.
So, how does his latest album measure up? Revelations of a Mind Unraveling confused me before I even pushed play for the first time. The album artwork was such a stark departure from the others. Here it is put next to the previous two.
Confusion about the sudden palette change aside, Revelations is one heck of an album. Like Exodus, it's rather short at just shy of 32 minutes. It's by far the darkest and most experimental of his albums so far. The balladry of Shovel and Exodus is kept to a bare minimum here. There are certainly no love songs this time, either. Instead, we get such cheery numbers as "Rage and Fire and Brimstone," "Bones," "Rusty Knife," "Noose," and the uncomfortably titled "Bleed Until You Die." Yikes. The most upbeat track is the gleeful pagan bluegrass of "Gods of Wood and Stone."
The guitar work, though not the emphasis of the album, has a noticeably more modern edge to it at times. If anything, it sounds at times like the blues-meets-punk assault favored by the White Stripes, although with a considerably more traditional approach. As expected, Durham knocks the vocals out of the park with a mastery and fervor that simply can't be topped. The spoken word sections make a comeback, although considerably more blended with the sung passages than on Exodus. They're also kept to a relative minimum. Durham isn't content to simply tell you stories here like he was on Exodus. Instead, he sells his lyrics with positively manic delivery and righteous conviction.
It's not quite like his previous albums, but once again Durham delivers the goods. I can safely recommend this to fans of Exodus of the Deemed Unrighteous, fans of the White Stripes and anyone interested in hearing new takes on classic American genres. You won't regret it.
Happy intensely belated new year. Now that I have recovered from this weekend's shenanigans (flat tire repair, work gone awry, my 21st birthday), I'm ready to ring in the new-ish year a month late with some quality music. I have a lot of music to go through today and not quite as much time as I'd like, so I'll make this a bit briefer than I probably should.
Before I get to the music, though, I'd like to talk on the subject of harsh vocals in metal. You might notice that the music I'm featuring today is strewn with all manner of screams, rasps, growls, barks and snarls. This was intentional, and it's to make a point. It should come as no surprise to my audience at this point that I'm something of a metalhead. I can't help it; so much of the best guitar-work is found in metal, progressive rock, blues and flamenco. I simply listen to whatever has the most interesting or exciting guitar parts. Few genres these days are as guitar-driven as metal, from the treble-heavy blast strumming of black metal to the crunchy grooves of death metal. There is, however, something of a price of entry to the more hard-edged stuff in metal: the vocals. For the longest time, I simply chose to avoid harsh vocals in metal. Payoff be damned, I simply couldn't stomach screams or...whatever those black metal vocalists were doing (it just sounded like irritable stage whispering to me). I think the record that opened my mind a little was Lost in the Sound of Separation, by Underoath. It's not an album I return to often anymore, though. What really changed my mind to harsh vocals in metal was hearing Amon Amarth's single War of the Gods (from Surtur Rising) for the first time.
THAT was a gamechanger. I hadn't heard quality death metal before, let alone death metal with MELODY. The use of harsh vocals in music finally clicked with me. Amon Amarth was using the human voice (to great effect, I might add) as a percussion instrument, and not as an additional source of melody. It needed to be a gruff growl and snarl in order to not distract from the guitar lines in the treble. It needed to be abrasive to project any kind of power with that low of a pitch. The vocals took getting used to, but they made sense. I could accept that, and I'm glad I did.
What I'm trying to say here is that there is both logic behind these more abrasive vocals, and (more importantly) a MASSIVE payoff for acclimating oneself to them. Oh boy, is there ever a payoff!
Introducing Wilderun's sophomore album, Sleep at the Edge of the Earth.
This album is, without hesitation, my favorite of all the records I've encountered. It has folk instrumentation, beautiful clean vocals, blast beats, brilliant arrangements, excellent pacing, a sense of groove and of melody. It has harsh vocals. Basically, this is what would happen if we took Opeth, removed the 70's prog influences and replaced those with folk music. The result is majestic and should NOT be skipped over. This is the album I'd suggest for acclimating oneself to harsh vocals in metal. It's an extremely palatable blend of melody with black metal and death metal, and I'd recommend it to people who do not consider themselves metal fans at all. I have yet to show this to someone, metal fan or not, and have them dislike it. I could ramble on for hours about how much I love this album, but I'd rather just let the music speak for itself. It's not free, but it's worth every freaking cent and then some. You can pick it up from their Bandcamp page HERE. It's only $7 USD minimum, and it's worth so much more.
For someone looking for a bit less bombast and way more oomph and strange puns, we have Slugdge.
As much as I love these guys, I am not advocating using them as your gateway to extreme metal unless you're already fine with harsh vocals. Slugdge is freaking heavy, with a potent mixture of blackened sludgy death for your listening pleasure. No, they're more an example of the long-term payoff for acclimating yourself to extreme metal. They're also a pretty way to just jump straight into the deep end rather than sticking your toes in the water with Wilderun. If you're already a fan of the headier brews metal has to offer, then you'll feel right at home with Slugdge. They're creative, brutal, and highly entertaining. They also write all their songs about slugs bringing about the end times, which is frankly hilarious. Give them a shot at their Bandcamp page HERE. Their entire discography is available with a name your own price offer with no minimum price, after all, so there's no reason not to give them a shot if you (like me) are a fan of what they're peddling.
No, I don't mean the erotic theatre group. Not that kind of blog, folks.
I was scratching my head for a while about what group to cover next. Should I look for some new-to-me group? No, I hardly have that kind of time a mere week before finals. Perhaps some more metal? Nah, I'm not interested in getting the blog pigeonholed into a single genre. ROTGM has done consecutive metal spotlights for too long now. How about some criminally unsung blues badassery? Now we're talking my language.
Introducing: The Blackwater Fever.
This Australian trio (formerly duo) have been steadily cranking out some of the darkest, most raw electric blues this side of...well, anywhere at this point, ever since their debut in late 2008. The Blackwater Fever are masters of their craft, namely the creation of languid, tar-black soundscapes. The instrumentation has this sort of effortless feel to it and a simplicity which belies the musicians' tremendous talent. The result is something truly hypnotizing while still often being as heavy as you can get without being labeled doom metal. There aren't self-indulgent guitar solos here, no frills or unnecessary motions, just pitch-perfect pitch-blackness. They've put out three albums and an ep of the stuff so far, with each effort getting progressively more polished and atmospheric. Seriously, if you're looking for something moody and down-tempo, give these folks a spin or two or fifteen. You'll be glad you did.
Hello again, world. For a good while, I wasn't sure if I would ever post here again. Quite a few things have changed since my last post. I changed jobs, my mom is moving to a new neighborhood, my sister is living in a different country (follow her Irish escapades on her blog: The Novelest). I'm doing what I can to balance a full course-load, a ten-hour workweek and various forms of impending doom (midterms, papers, floods, etc.). Basically, the ol' blog got put on the backburner for far longer than I had anticipated. At the end of the day, though, I don't want Ramblings of the Guitarman to be some project I toyed with for a while and then abandoned. I may not get much in the way of traffic here, but I'm fairly fond of having my own little corner of the interwebs. I'm not going to do something irresponsible like promise regular updates and then leave you all hanging for another year, but I will do my best to keep the site updated. It might not be all band reviews, but I should find something to put here every now and then.
With that in mind, I have a treat for all two of my readership who comes here for music stuff and not just because they typed in "rotgm" instead of "rotmg" when looking for info on Realm of the Mad God (yes, I am aware that the similarity makes it really hard to actually find this blog; no, I am far too fond of the acronym to consider changing it this far in). Here's some free music!
While I admit to not actually finding them myself (I found them through Angry Metal Guy, and his excellent self-titled blog), Iron Thrones is too good of a band for me to skip over. This Minneapolis-based metal outfit disbanded back in 2012, but produced two killer albums back when they were still active. They somehow managed to combine prog-y melodeath with metalcore, of all things, and the result is far more coherent than you might expect. In case you were wondering which half of the equation is more responsible for the songwriting, take a gander at the track lengths. We're talking as long as 12 minutes in some cases, and they go by effortlessly (no small feat, that). This is a band that could transition with effortless grace from beautiful prog arrangements to crushing breakdowns and back again. Their second album, The Wretched Sun, features the usual clean/hardcore vocal transitions you might expect of this type of music, but their first album, Visions of Light, manages with only the hardcore half of the package. Oddly enough, the music doesn't suffer for it. You'd think that maintaining the same vocal delivery over such varied musical passages would in some way be detrimental to the flow of songs, but it actually works here. The vocals variously wash over or pummel through the listener, as called for by the song.
This is the part of the review where I'd usually try and justify my title of Guitarman by commenting on the axe-work employed by Iron Thrones. It's certainly impressive, but it's so far divorced from my area of expertise that I find it difficult to comment on. The playing is tight, and there are certainly some some memorable riffs here (the main riff from Heart of the Light, for example), but riffs really aren't the focus. This isn't a band that writes a riff, puts a song around it, and then slaps on a guitar solo for good measure. The focus is more on chord progressions, rhythms and the vocals than on any given riff. I suppose that might be a product of the band's metalcore influences, and I do appreciate that it keeps the prog half from getting too self-indulgent. Iron Thrones writes good songs, not just good riffs, which is a nice change of pace from the Dream-Theater-clone-of-the-week type of progressive metal we usually get. All in all, I highly recommend Iron Thrones to fans of progressive music looking for something a little more raw, and to fans of metalcore looking for something a touch more layered and complex. I'd recommend Iron Thrones to all of you, actually, so long as you don't mind harsh vocals. I get that they're an acquired taste, but one well worth the price of admission in my humble opinion. Give them a spin at their Bandcamp page, ironthrones.bandcamp.com, for free downloads of both Visions of Light and The Wretched Sun. Alternatively, if you're feeling particularly lazy, just use the widgets I linked earlier in this post.
Introducing Sabaton, a Swedish power metal outfit that almost exclusively draws upon military history for lyrical content. The track I've posted above, Resist and Bite, for example is dedicated to the Casseurs Ardennais. The Casseurs Ardennais (French for "hunters from the Ardennes") is a Belgian infantry outfit that, during WWII, was engaged in fierce resistance against German invading forces. The song's title, Resist and Bite, is the English translation of the motto of the Chasseurs Ardennais. This is probably more detail than I need to get into for a discussion of the band itself. It should suffice to say that Sabaton takes inspiration not just from themes of war, but from specific military groups, persons and events.
As for the music itself, it's pretty standard power metal fare. For the record, I mean that as the highest praise. Power metal is great, and Sabaton is a shining example of everything I enjoy about the genre. Power ballads? Check. Choir chants? Check. Symphony and organ perfectly accenting guitar and vocals? Check. Excellent melodies? Clean vocals soaring over the mix? Epic lyrical content? Check, check and check. Having listened to both their older and newer content, I can assure you that, based off of their latest album Heroes, they don't seem to be running out of steam any time soon.
Bottom line: in a genre where epic fantasy tropes are employed to the point of becoming passe, it's refreshing to see acts like Sabaton attacking completely different subject matter. At the same time, Sabaton feels fresh while staying close to the stylistic roots of the genre. The end result is a group that, in its current incarnation, is a well-oiled musical machine that simultaneously cuts its own niche while reminding me why I enjoy the power metal genre as a whole. Bravo.
You can find Sabaton's works for download on iTunes.
It's certainly been a while since I last posted here. Sophomore year has been...chaotic so far, to say the least. Well, I'm back home for the holidays, finally getting over my lingering cold (having passed it on to my immediate family) and seem to have internet access for the moment. Let's get cracking with some more music, shall we?
She Loves Pablo is a four-piece groove/stoner rock group hailing from Zagreb, Croatia. Before I get to the band itself, I'd like to thank Jesus Varela (guitarist of Maldia) for telling me about them. I probably wouldn't have heard of them otherwise, which would've been a shame. She Loves Pablo has quickly become one of my favorite groups in the stoner genre, thanks to a fairly no-nonsense approach to songwriting and execution. The riffs are massive, the vocals are powerful and articulate, and the drums and bass are perfectly locked into the songs' behemoth grooves. The band takes the best of garage rock and heavy blues, dials the distortion and fuzz to eleven while snapping it all neatly into a mesmerizing beat. Take their song Burnin' My Soul, for example; that bassline and rhythm guitar riff are just downright tasty. Especially on their second album, Burn And Levitate, everything just clicks perfectly into beat. Production values are astounding for free music. The vocals are even free of any of the accent or affectations that come from having English as a second language. I really can't recommend them highly enough to any fans of heavy blues, garage rock, hard rock, grunge, etc. Anyone who considers themselves a fan of rock and blues riffs run through a considerable layer of fuzz should definitely give them a listen. I certainly have been.
I hope you enjoy She Loves Pablo as much as I have. I'll be trying to get back to posting at least once a month for 2015. Happy new year!
As I sit here at my kitchen table, typing away on my laptop, I can hardly believe what a crazy summer this has been. I've put on a garage sale, worked in a government cubicle, washed cars, and even received a car of my own. More importantly, I'm adjusting to the reality that my family is finally selling my childhood home. I've known for a while that this would happen eventually, but foreknowledge has done little to ultimately lessen the strangeness of the situation. Moving out of the home I've lived in for as long as I can remember is a frankly surreal experience, and certainly not one I know how to process. Getting ready to move has occupied my time and thoughts this summer, but now that the house is actually going on the market I think it's time I try and get on with my life. For all the memories I associate with this house, it's still just stuff in the end. No sense in getting so hung-up about it, I suppose. Anyways, on with the music.
Introducing Alestorm, a Scottish metal band with a pirate fixation. There's a curious tendency of some metal bands (especially power and folk metal groups) to intentionally restrict their lyrical and thematic content to a single topic. From what I've seen, that topic is generally either the medieval ages (the typical setting of high fantasy) or vikings (which makes sense considering how many great Scandinavian metal bands there are). Alestorm, on the other hand, is the only metal group I've seen to have pirates as their central thematic element. The group hammers out well polished power/folk metal, with accordion synths adding to the band's pirate-esque feel. There are more straightforward metal numbers (the guitar harmonics on the track Heavy Metal Pirates reminds me of some classic Judas Priest numbers), but the vast majority of Alestorm songs are littered with faux-accordion, Bowes' gruff Scottish accent, and a certain lightheartedness that separates Alestorm from the crowd. The lyrics, despite being limited to pirate-y things, are genuinely clever and often hilarious ("You put your faith in Odin and Thor, / We put ours in cannons and whores"). At first glance, Alestorm has put themselves into a very narrow box by restricting themselves to songs about pirates. In truth, the band exercises more flexibility than most metal groups I've come across, switching freely between tropes of power metal, folk metal, thrash metal, and even death metal without leaving the listener behind. Alestorm brings well-polished production, creative lyrics, and enough love of fun to the table for me to heartily recommend them. They just released their fourth album (Sunset on the Golden Age) little more than a week ago. Give it a listen, and you might see why I love this group so much.
It's been a while since I've been this completely floored by free music. Remember my previous post about Sonorant? It seems that its frontman (also only-man), guitarist Chris Catharsis, has been busy with his more recent project, Soul Cycle. This time, however, Chris brings more than Meshuggah-esque djent rhythms and alternately looming or brutal melodies. Soul Cycle's modus operandi is a bit harder to pin down than that. Take the opening of the song Heartless from Soul Cycle's eponymous debut album. The first minute or so features cheery, chorus-soaked arpeggios of the sort one generally does not expect to find on an album this heavy. While similar elements are present in some of Sonorant's works, here these interludes feel more strongly integrated into the music, and with spectacular results. Chris Catharsis has matured as a songwriter, and it shows. The music on Soul Cycle and Soul Cycle II is thoroughly splendid throughout, with brutal rhythms, searing leads and spectacular melodies. Moreover, the music reaches emotional heights previously lacking from Chris' work in Sonorant. Rather than simply beating down the listener with brutal riffs, the offerings here feel significantly richer and more dynamic. As an added bonus, Soul Cycle and Soul Cycle II are full length albums, as opposed to the EPs produced by Sonorant. While the music is available free, I must say that audio quality is fantastic with. One. Glaring. Exception. I understand that not every group can afford to staff a drummer. Really, I get it. Soul Cycle is, after all, only two people: Chris Catharsis doing triple duty on lead, rhythm and bass guitars, and Mark Hawkins also on lead guitar. However, there are moments when my ears feel violated by the sheer tinniness of the programmed drums. These moments, while few and far between, manage to seriously detract from the guitars, which are the obvious main attraction of Soul Cycle. Don't let my criticism dissuade you from giving them a listen, however. Soul Cycle is packing some of the most blisteringly intense and searingly delicious shred I've heard in a while. Not too many groups can actually pull off that magical combination of impressive guitar chops and songs actually worth hearing. Either you get "good enough" guitar-playing or "merely passable" songs. I certainly am not hearing compromises from Soul Cycle. The melodies are strong, well-executed, and leave your guitar-nerd of a host feeling absolutely ecstatic. It's just that good.
All in all, Soul Cycle offers some stupendous guitar carnage for the low, low price of free. The music is incredibly precise while also being emotive. The recording quality is, for the most part, top-notch. The songs are diverse and technically impressive. This, ladies and gents, is some grade-A face-melting material we have here. You can find Soul Cycles two currently-released works here: http://soulcyclemetal.bandcamp.com/. You can choose how much (or whether) to pay them for both albums. If you enjoy the music (I certainly do), then please support the artists responsible. Until next time!
Guitarman, out.
Well, it's certainly been a while since I've last posted. School and personal matters have been holding my attention fairly firmly lately. Anyways, I only have a few more weeks left before I head back home for the summer. It's certainly been a long first year of college, with plenty of unforgettable (for better or worse) memories. I hope to return to a more frequent posting schedule once I no longer have to worry about schoolwork hanging over my head. In any event, I should probably spit out what I came here to say. Well, Slayer...
...wait, Slayer? Yes, Slayer. Slayer apparently has some new material in the form of the single "Implode." This is the first piece of new content they've released since the tragic death of Jeff Hanneman. I'd give you my opinion of the track, but I'd much prefer to have you judge it for yourselves before I taint your view of it. There's no sense biasing you beforehand; enough people are already angry at Slayer for moving on past Jeff. Anyways, you can download the new track "Implode" from here: http://www.slayer.net/us/implode. Just sign up for the mailing list, and they'll send you a download link. For the record, the track has absurdly high audio quality. The song file is about 50MB, and it's not even particularly long! Anyways, I'll try and get some more posts out before too long. See you then!
I promised posts, so here's some more free music. Introducing Sonorant (AKA Chris Catharsis), a Georgia-based metal guitarist well worth keeping an eye on. These days, metal bands can often be divided into either melodic or rhythm-focused groups in terms of their instrumentals. The more melody-based metal acts (Bullet For My Valentine, Avenged Sevenfold, etc.) tend to have a wider appeal than, say, rhythm-centric (and, in my personal opinion, fascinating) groups in the vein of Meshuggah. This is arguably all the more reason to appreciate acts like Sonorant which manage to strike an even balance of melodic and rhythmic craziness. Not only displaying a keen ear for melody, Sonorant appears to be heavily influenced by none other than the mighty Meshuggah, as evidenced by the cover of Meshuggah's song Sane on the band's Myspace page. For those of you unfamiliar with Meshuggah, they are essentially the masters of rhythmic displacement, polyrhythms, polymeters, and inordinately heavy guitar grooves. As Meshuggah guitarist Fredrik Thorendal once told Guitar World magazine (quoted from the September 2012 issue), "I understand why people hear odd meters in our songs, because we group our notes in different ways. But just about all of them are 4/4." The band's tracks tend to focus more on creating a groove than a melody. Sonorant's songs, however, combine the interesting rhythmic elements of bands like Meshuggah with some fantastic melodies. As an added bonus, Sonorant's songs don't have vocal tracks, allowing them to appeal to those who would be repulsed by the menacing barks, snarls and growls of Meshuggah's singer. As usual, more of Sonorant's tracks can be found for free at their Jamendo page. Enjoy.
Well, it's been about a month since I've posted. Between writing essays and reading school texts, I haven't had much time to breathe. Anyways, it's been too long since I've been able to post some free music, so here we go!
Hot Fiction is a London-based alt-rock and blues outfit that's caught my attention lately. Their music somehow has a strong groove while remaining loose and open. It's a fairly minimalist sound, which works quite well for their style of the blues. Naturally, their primal sound and two-man lineup will draw forth the inevitable Black Keys comparisons, but Hot Fiction definitely has their own distinct feel. For more information, you can find the band's bio here. I'm a sucker for heavy blues, so they drew me straight in. I'm hoping that they might do the same for you. As usual, you can find their music for free. Enjoy. (By the way, the reason the formatting for this post is a little odd is because www.blogger.com is being weird right now. I'm actually typing this into the html editor, because the normal text input will only let me type while I hold the left mouse button for some odd reason...)
Hello there. Ever heard of a band named Annihilator? If not, then I'm not too surprised. Despite being a highly influential metal band, the Canadian thrash group Annihilator never quite gets the acclaim it should. Hopefully, their latest album Feast will change that somewhat. A powerful album in its own right, Feast really shines with its bonus tracks. In fact, Feast has more bonus tracks (fifteen) than standard tracks (nine). Why so many bonus tracks? The bonus, second disk to Feast is actually a collection of re-recorded Annihilator classics. Furthermore, some of those re-recordings are actually improvements over the original songs. In any event, this blog post wasn't intended as a review of the album. I'll do that soon. Instead, I have here some interviews with Jeff Waters, one of Annihilator's founding members and a truly phenomenal muisician. Furthermore, he makes for a highly entertaining and informative interviewee. I think these interviews, one concerning the current state of the metal genre and one about Feast, should be interesting even for non-metalheads. Enjoy.
Well, summer camp put a large dent in my scheduling plans. Fear not, I intend to return to my weekly routine. In any event, today's post is not going to include more free music. I've been doing more than enough of that lately. Instead, I'm going to list a few of my favorite albums. For the record, this is a highly subjective and inconclusive list. I'm not making a list of "best" albums. Those lists irritate me. Judging music's worth through a rigid ranking system just doesn't sit well with me. Anyways, I didn't want to start a rant: on with the list!
Black Sabbath: "Black Sabbath" + "13"
I am a huge fan of Tony Iommi, guitarist of Black Sabbath. He's shown absolutely mind-blowing versatility over his career. I, for one, am the proud owner of a Tony Iommi signature Epiphone sg. I may be a metal-head, but I have blues-man's heart. As such, I'm drawn towards the sinister blues of Sabbath's self-titled debut album and the crushing bluesy grooves of their latest work, "13." My favorite tracks? That's like asking me which of my children I like the most...They're all amazing in my opinion.
Trouble: "Manic Frustration"
Now HERE'S a feast for the ears! The album is a legendary doom metal band's fantastic take on psychedelic rock. This is hands down one of my favorite albums. It's hard hitting, but is ultimately more reminiscent of Hendrix than it is of, say, Sabbath. I'd have to say that Hello Strawberry Skies is one of my favorite hard-rock songs period. You really don't need to be a metal-head like me to enjoy this one.
Slash: "Slash"
This solo album by Slash, guitarist of Guns and Roses fame, features a nonsensical collection of vocalists. Never had I expected to see Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Kilmeister, Adam Levine, and Fergie co-star on the same album. The album, naturally, is not the most coherent of compilations. Frankly, I see that as a good thing. It keeps the listener on their toes. Slash masterfully juggles a variety of styles, from glam-infused-alt-rock to traditional hard-rock, from haunting ballads to airtight modern metal. With thirteen different singers, the album's eclectic nature keeps me coming back for more. There's really something for everyone there.
Well, that's it for today's post. I'll be back later with more of my favorite albums.
