The Batlord

I assumed it was a nod to Frownland the member as well, since, you know, Frownland (hella **** him BTW) . Is it a sign of a heavy Beafheart influence, or just a title that felt appropriate?

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YorkeDaddy

I didn't really know Frownie the individual until soon after that album released, it was really just a funny coincidence :P

And there's not exactly much Beefheart influence on that album, it was more about the two of us agreeing that the title was a perfect fit.

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Trollheart

TLP, here's the link for my album, in case you end up listening to the "next generation" version released this century. The revamp is ok but this is the original and definitely the better of the two.

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TechnicLePanther

Alright, finishing off this batch.

Album: The Ape of Naples
Artist: Coil
Genre: Experimental
Suggested by: grindy
Familiarity: Absolutely none.

1. Fire of the Mind - Much synthesized. Very atmosphere. Wow. This is like nothing I've ever heard before. It's beautiful.

2. The Last Amethyst Deceiver - A lot of synth as well, but now I've basically heard something like this already. Sounds like some of the music you hear on How It's Made. About halfway through, and it's already feeling a bit redundant. He keeps repeating the same lyric over and over. I assume this will be a recurring theme. "Pay your respects to the vultures for they are our future." Yeah, whatever. It's a really interesting and textured sound, but the same basic thing for ten minutes absolutely sucks. Makes me recall a certain British comedy troupe.

3. Tattooed Man - Sounding European this time. A sluggish pace isn't necessarily a detractor, but it could be. This song without the vocals is extremely uninteresting. That really shouldn't be the case. The decision to include a xylophone and the sousaphone-sounding instrument makes the music sound very childish and unimportant too. However, as the song goes on, and adds more layers on, it takes on a more mature sheen. The whole thing is very cold and icy. I'm shivering over here. I'm into it. This one catches on after a while. Cool.

4. Triple Sun - Now this is freaky. This is what I was expecting when I first started up the album. It's super cold. And thankfully it doesn't go on for long enough to get boring. The synth trumpets are a nice addition. Great.

5. It's In My Blood - Creepy. Getting industrial I see. Oh, my. The screaming. Sounds like Rob Zombie's music. Sounds like Roger Waters' vocals (lol). Awesome. As long as this song was going for bone-chilling, it hits the nail on the head. The hard-hitting beats just keep getting harder. And the violins just keep getting more random.

6. I Don't Get It - Yup. We have hit the noise section of the album. Pink Floyd used to have these. Weren't quite as creepy as this, though. Very foreign-sounding. Futuristic at the same time. Though I was only 2 minutes in when I started getting bored. Is the song a self-fulfilling prophecy? Because I really don't get it. I mean, I get it, but I just don't get why people want so much of it. The guy going "Hello?" at the end was pretty satisfying though. Then it comes to the loud conclusion. I always enjoy the end of a song more than the beginning it seems. Anyways, this song has a rating of, "Thanks... but no thanks."

7. Heaven's Blade - Why and how was this song made? It's just a bunch of BS. A bunch of distressing music over Balance's psycho-babble. I mean, it's interesting, sure, but it's not fun. It's not really even that scary for me. I have a hard time finding music scary. "Just cut yourself." Thanks... but no thanks. See, it's being repetitive, so I'll be repetitive too.

8. Cold Cell - A depressingly simple drum line carries Balance's strange vocalizations on its shoulders. Besides a couple synth tracks here and there, that's all this song is. Greeaaatttt. We're on a downward spiral, it seems (get it).

9. Teenage Lightning 2005 - Hey, look. It's the same crap! What's the same crap doing here? Oh, it's just badly produced. Oh, okay. It's just so, whatever. This is the coldest stuff I've ever heard. There's no emotion to it. There's nothing. Nothing. *sigh* This one was actually looking pretty promising at the beginning. Alright, so let's take stock. Tube Drums? Check. Xylophone? Check. WAY too much synth? Check. Seemingly random lyrics? Check. Sounds like fun. This one's a bit better than the last one. But probably only because I've had more time to listen to it. P.S. Why is there laughing at the end? Because it sounds like a desperate attempt to grab my attention.

10. Amber Rain - After doing a bit of reading, I've discovered this song was a bit of a remix album. Produced almost exclusively by Peter Christopherson (a very confusing last name). I guess that explains why this album seems to have a one-track mind. Because it only has one mind. Foreign sounding a bit. It's all the same now. None of this stuff is catchy in the slightest. It's so cold that it's impossible to get into. I really hope you don't actually like this whole album, grindy. This song is a clusterf*** of beeping noises. There you have it.

11. Going Up - Are we? Please say we are. It seems like we may be. Well, the industrial influences are making me excited. And the instrumentation isn't impossibly dull anymore. We're adding more instruments. Stuff's happening. I like it. There's emotion. It's not as cold anymore. Feels like slowly swimming towards the surface. Then suddenly it stops. Wat. Alright, it's still got me in its clutches. Will it hold on? The vocals are totally incoherent, which means I can't really judge the lyrics. But the melody is good. It's gotta be the strings that add the depth. Beautiful. All it needs now is drums and a final march. Probably to doom and destruction, but at least it's something. It's not doing anything, is it. Despite this song saying it's going up, it's not quite fitting the bill. Seems like it's comfortable staying right here. Anyways, it fits with the rest of the album. Underwhelming.

And I think that's a perfect way to describe it. It's an underwhelming album, produced by a failing band. Balance died, and based on this album, it sounds like he have been the only thing holding it together. It's frustrating, because it feels like this band has a lot of promise, but's it wasted on bad songwriting. There are definitely some really good moments, but they're starkly contrasted by a lot of boring and rambly songs. It stinks. But that's the way things are. You wanted it, you got it.
OVERALL RATING: 4/10

I feel like there's some other guy with the last name Balance, who was somehow connected to post-punk. Any thoughts on who it could be?

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grindy

Nice review. Not that I agree, I came to love the album recently,
but it gives an impression of what it sounds like and one sees where your opinions come from.
I'm not sure it's really a remix album, I think Balance died when the album was mostly finished.

No idea who the other Balance guy you're asking about is. Perhaps it'll come to me later.

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TechnicLePanther

A little morning music can't hurt.

Album: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
Artist: Jeff Wayne
Genre: Progressive Rock
Suggested by: Trollheart
Familiarity: None.

1. The Eve of the War - Lots of spoken word at the beginning. Like it. Orchestra comes in, band comes in. It's funky. This is awesome. It's all pretty similar, but with different instruments every time, making it feel different. The spoken word comes in again, and the music is the perfect accompaniment. There's a small and foreboding ending, and it's a great start.

2. Horsell Common and The Heat Ray - A very mechanical opening this time with the bass. The lyrics are awesome, and the music is sufficiently dark. The harmonics are a nice addition, that sounds strangely metallic. Lots of awesome guitar take the bore right out of the music. Despite the length of the song, it's very fun to listen to. Another great song.

3. The Artilleryman and The Fighting Machine - Picks up where the last left off. A soldier enters the narrator's home, and speaks of the giant tripedal machines. This song goes from depressing to funky within seconds. They both leave, and encounter one of the machines. The music is still awesome. Strings compliment the synth so unbelievably well. And the bass line is excellent. So much awesome stuff is happening at once. Suddenly, the heat rays are attacking the town. The gunmen start attacking the machines, but they attack back. This is like an action movie in song. It's absolutely thrilling.

4. Forever Autumn - The bells are ringing... And the song begins. It's really good. This one feels more like a hit single. But that doesn't detract from how good it is. It's got a bit of a Fleetwood Mac feel to it. Not bad at all. This one's beautiful. Basically, the guy's lover seems to be out of there, and he moves towards the coast to try and catch a boat off of England. Then he sees "Carrie" on a boat.

5. Thunder Child - The last song segues right into this one. It's so good. There's not really much to say about it besides the fact that the album is incredibly catchy, incredibly intriguing, and incredibly awesome. Like the previous side before it, this one ends with some weird synth over the sound of a heart beat. It's great.

6. The Red Weed (Part 1) - Starting out creepy and weird, with the synth and heart beat sounds. The lyrics describe how the "red weed" from Mars was taking over the Earth's landscape. The music is unusual and depressing, reflecting the spirit of the album at that point. There are hardly any drums in this section, reflecting the strange tone.

7. Parson Nathaniel - The music is pretty crazy here. Nathaniel is delirious. A bit like a prelude to the next one.

8. The Spirit of Man - They're all locked up in a house, and having a moral dilemma. The music is pretty cool here as well, if not getting a little generic at this point. It's not terribly bad, though. Despite the commonness of it all, the lyrics are great, and the music is even greater. The vocals contradict each other very well too. Great. The song fades out.

9. The Red Weed (Part 2) - It's creepy and dismal again. The Parson is taken away by the claw, and the main character is left alone.The music is awesome. The Martians were gone from the area, and he left his hiding place. Awesome.

10. Brave New World - On his way back to London, he meets the artillery man. The artillery man suggests they go underground. David Essex's vocals are spot-on, and the mood is set beautifully by the band, as the man relays his hopes for the future. Another great song, and another that doesn't get boring or frustrating either. The narrator realizes the falseness of his hope, and leaves him.

11. Dead London - London is desolate and destroyed, and the Journalist (the narrator) has lost all hope. The song is dark and gritty, and the Journalist's loneliness is represented bleakly in the music. He moves towards the martians, resolving to give himself over to them. However, he discovers that even though all of man's weapons failed to kill them, bacteria had rendered them weak, and the planet became their grave. Great finale.

12. Epilogue (Part 1) So, everything seems happy again. Mankind recovered from the onslaught, but it is unclear what the Martians will do next. The music is happy, and nice, if a little less interesting than everything else.

13. Epilogue (Part 2) The ending is dismal, as the Martians attack again more recently. But whatever, it's cool, and it works as an ending. Really cool stuff.

The album was surprisingly good. The music was excellent, and the orchestrations were very well done. The lyrics were also amazing, and set up a very clear story, that follows the original very well. My only complaint is that sometimes, it got a bit redundant, but that wasn't too often. If you really like prog rock, or symphonic rock, you'll love this. If you like science fiction, you'll love this. If you love The War of the Worlds, you'll certainly love this. It's a great, well-rounded album that pretty much anyone can enjoy.
OVERALL RATING: 9/10

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Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN

SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough.

The Batlord

lol @ throbbing gristle

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Frownland

Dude needs to hear some real industrial music, not that pseudo industrial bull**** that NIN makes.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

The Batlord

So looking forward to his take on "Slug Bait".

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TechnicLePanther

Industrial rock isn't quite industrial, so let's just call it industrial with some emotion built-in. This is why I didn't like The Ape of Naples. It was just SO emotionless.

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Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN

SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough.