Well, so much for this being a weekly slot. To be completely honest, I never expected it to be: intentions and ambition are all well and good, but the reality is that with three journals to write, my other offsite work to do and trying to have something I laughingly call a life as well, the chances of my reviewing a new album from outside the usual sphere of my musical preferences and tastes once a week was simply never going to fly. Even monthly reviews would not be in any way guaranteed. Bimonthly? Whenever-the-hell-I-feel-like-it-ly? More realistic.
So here I am with the second in this new series, looking at an album by a band I have never heard of but know to be working within a genre I have no time for, and have heard little of, other than secondhand. This time it's punk. But not just punk: hardcore punk. Mind you, some websites are calling this southern rock, which seems odd. Anyway, whatever the case, punk is something I have never liked. You can talk all you like about the influence the Sex Pistols had on music, but I have never seen it, nor will I ever. To me, all Johnny and the boys did was make a mockery of rock music, and to say they "shook up the music scene" and use that as an excuse for the kind of off-key, noisy, blatantly laughable music they ... well, an argument for another day perhaps. Let's just say I'm not punk's biggest fan, and leave it at that, yes?
So why have I chosen a punk record? Well, look at the cover! How could I resist? Not only is this a (supposed) parody of or (maybe) tribute to one of my alltime favourite Sabbath albums, the title is hilarious too. Even if the music is awful --- as I expect it to be --- this is something I could not let slide by without at least allowing it to assault my ears one time. So take a deep breath and get ready, cos we're going in!
Bat Sabbath: Bastards of reality --- Cancer Bats --- 2013 (Label unknown: nobody will tell me!)
Surprisingly, this album is very hard to find (unless you want to pay full price: er, no thanks Mister Jobs! You ain't getting rich beyond the grave at MY expense!) so I've had to track down the individual tracks --- of which there are only five anyway; it's more an EP than an abum --- on YouTube. And so...
First impressions: Unfortunately the only recording I can find of their version of "Children of the grave" is live, so you have to allow for that, but even so, it is AWFUL! Just noisy and messy with no real attempt at melody, though in fairness not as bad as I would have thought. The studio version of "Into the void" is better, and though it was never my favourite song on "Master of reality" the boys here give it a decent enough go. Think Ozzy may be turning in his grave though! I
know he's not dead...!
Likes: The fact that these are Black Sabbath songs; guitar work is decent enough
Dislikes: Singer's voice. Very growly and gravelly and then screechy; hard to make out what he's singing. Oh well, this is punk after all!
Actually, he's not too bad on the studio versions, so maybe it's just the live performances where he screams too much that are putting me off. Still, not my style of vocalist at all. Way too loud on the live versions. Not enough variety in the studio versions to stand these tracks out from the originals.
Development of album: Okay, well I'm realising now (not sure why I didn't at the time) that far from being a cover of the album "Master of reality", this is a mixture of songs from that and "Paranoid", with "Iron man" and "War pigs" thrown in, so it's a little lopsided in that regard. That said, they've picked some good ones, though again the only version of "Iron man" I can find is live, so the sound is again pretty bad. Also kind of hard to rate the band, as the crowd, obviously Sabbath fans, are shouting the lyric most of the time. Hmm. Not to mention the video is stopping and starting all the time. Gaah! I know, I should stop being so tight and just buy the damn thing, but as Mo once said in "The Simpsons" about paying his bills "I don't wanna!" And "NIB" is also live, and played at such volume that it distorts, and I simply can't even listen to it, which takes us to the final track, another one off "Paranoid". Wait a minute what's this --- oh. I thought for a moment I'd come across a video of the full album, but it was the actual Black Sabbath one. Oh well. At least I've got a studio version of "War pigs" to listen to. Yeah, that's not bad, not bad at all...
Overall sound: Loud and noisy!
Reminds me of: Why I hate punk. Ah really, it's not that bad: I've heard worse metal bands, though not many...
Favourite track(s): "Into the void" and "War pigs", really only because they're the only ones I could get studio versions of and the live ones were just terrible.
Least favourite track(s): Have to be their live version of "NIB", played at a volume that would cause even Lemmy would clap his hands over his ears!
Overall effect on me: Bit bemused. The studio versions are okay but nothing great, while the live versions are in general almost unlistenable. Hasn't softened me towards punk anyway. I wouldn't see it as an insult to Sabbath, but not a total homage either.
TRACKLISTING
1. Children of the grave
2. Into the void
3. Iron man
4. NIB
5. War pigs
So, the rating. Well, based on how little I listen to this type of music we should score high on one die, but then again, that's tempered by the fact that I already know these songs (admittedly from another genre), so I'm not exactly walking into the valley of the shadow of evil...
Die one: How did I enjoy this? Not so much, though a lot of that was down to the unavailability of studio versions. Even given that though, the versions I did get to hear weren't that different to the originals, so I wouldn't consider it a worthy purchase, had I bought the album. I'd have to say at a stretch
Die two: How unfamiliar was I with this genre? Completely. Like I said at the beginning, the only punk I've heard has been the likes of the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks et al. But --- and it's a big but --- (no, not mine!) I
do know these songs, so again I'm not treading totally unfamiliar territory. Still, based on the genre alone this must get a
Therefore, total rating for this album: rolling the dice I've come up with
