Music Banter - View Single Post - Bitesize: Trollheart's Daily Album Mini-Reviews

Trollheart · 11-25-2015, 05:54 PM

Artiste: The Birds of Satan
Nationality: American
Album: The Birds of Satan
Year: 2014
Label: Shanabelle Records
Genre: Rock
Tracks:
The Ballad of the Birds of Satan
Thanks for the line
Pieces of the puzzle
Raspberries
Nothing at all
Wait till tomorrow
Too far gone to see

Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: I know some Foos, the odd Niravana, that sort of stuff
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Bit chaotic at the start
Best track(s): Too far gone to see
Worst track(s): Everything else
Comments: Created as a sideline project of Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, this was apparently something of a rushed album, thrown together quickly and with no real aim in mind other than to lay down some tracks and do something a little different. And man does it show! The Birds of Satan originated from Chevy Metal, a covers band Hawkins had been fronting, and departs considerably from his usual work. With a somewhat confused rolling drum intro with added sound effects, the first track soon settles down into, not surprisingly, a guitar-driven tune with what sounds to me like Nirvana meets Queen and then bump into Bowie. It's not bad but I'm not really feeling it I have to say. There is some very good hard rock guitar on it, but again I would question the wisdom of opening what is a debut album on a nine-minute-plus track, even if there are only seven tracks in all on it.

Going a bit Sabbathy now, vocal cutting back to a much more gentle phrasing, then guitar feedback kicks it all up again, though it remains slow but heavy. Vocal is very Bowie now. I think the trouble here is that TBoS are trying to squeeze way too much into one (admittedly very long) song, and it just ends up sounding confused and overblown to me. There are some great ideas in there, but they're a bit lost in the mix and overwhelmed by everything else going on. Yeah. “Thanks for the line”, the single from the album is nothing terribly special either. Tempo kicks up with “Pieces of the puzzle”, very Queen-influenced especially in the vocal harmonies. There's a good energy about this song, but basically I'm getting the impression of an album thrown together in a hurry, and for a bit of a lark, as seems to be the case.

There's a nice sense of Country and West Coast to “Raspberries”, but it fires up into a kind of uptempo, slightly punkish idea for the chorus. God I am bored with this album! I'm on autopilot now unless something interesting happens. OK, the closer is a beautiful little ballad with touches of the Eagles and CSNY. Very nice.
Overall impression: Really, REALLY meh. The last track is the only one that makes me feel this was not a total waste of my time. Very poor overall.
Hum Factor: 2
Surprise Factor -8
Intention: n/a

11-25-2015, 05:54 PM	#268 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Artiste: The Birds of Satan Nationality: American Album: The Birds of Satan Year: 2014 Label: Shanabelle Records Genre: Rock Tracks: The Ballad of the Birds of Satan Thanks for the line Pieces of the puzzle Raspberries Nothing at all Wait till tomorrow Too far gone to see Chronological position: Debut album Familiarity: I know some Foos, the odd Niravana, that sort of stuff Interesting factoid: Initial impression: Bit chaotic at the start Best track(s): Too far gone to see Worst track(s): Everything else Comments: Created as a sideline project of Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, this was apparently something of a rushed album, thrown together quickly and with no real aim in mind other than to lay down some tracks and do something a little different. And man does it show! The Birds of Satan originated from Chevy Metal, a covers band Hawkins had been fronting, and departs considerably from his usual work. With a somewhat confused rolling drum intro with added sound effects, the first track soon settles down into, not surprisingly, a guitar-driven tune with what sounds to me like Nirvana meets Queen and then bump into Bowie. It's not bad but I'm not really feeling it I have to say. There is some very good hard rock guitar on it, but again I would question the wisdom of opening what is a debut album on a nine-minute-plus track, even if there are only seven tracks in all on it. Going a bit Sabbathy now, vocal cutting back to a much more gentle phrasing, then guitar feedback kicks it all up again, though it remains slow but heavy. Vocal is very Bowie now. I think the trouble here is that TBoS are trying to squeeze way too much into one (admittedly very long) song, and it just ends up sounding confused and overblown to me. There are some great ideas in there, but they're a bit lost in the mix and overwhelmed by everything else going on. Yeah. “Thanks for the line”, the single from the album is nothing terribly special either. Tempo kicks up with “Pieces of the puzzle”, very Queen-influenced especially in the vocal harmonies. There's a good energy about this song, but basically I'm getting the impression of an album thrown together in a hurry, and for a bit of a lark, as seems to be the case. There's a nice sense of Country and West Coast to “Raspberries”, but it fires up into a kind of uptempo, slightly punkish idea for the chorus. God I am bored with this album! I'm on autopilot now unless something interesting happens. OK, the closer is a beautiful little ballad with touches of the Eagles and CSNY. Very nice. Overall impression: Really, REALLY meh. The last track is the only one that makes me feel this was not a total waste of my time. Very poor overall. Hum Factor: 2 Surprise Factor -8 Intention: n/a __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018