Love or Hate?

Trollheart · 10-17-2015, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeadChannel

Hey Trollheart, you mind if I change the Office Space ost to this:
https://ramshackleglory.bandcamp.com...-the-nightmare (Pat the Bunny - Die the Nightmare)

The ost was a joke and there's basically no way you'll like it. Also, Office Space is maybe a little bit overrated imo.

Die the Nightmare is technically anarcho-punk, but it's all solo acoustic guitar material, so I think there's a chance you'll dig it.

Sure, why not?

DwnWthVwls · 10-17-2015, 09:31 AM

WB. You still doing singles and albums?

Trollheart · 10-17-2015, 01:24 PM

I am, but recs are closed. I have so much to get through at the moment, and now there's also The Torture Chamber to administer.

Trollheart · 10-17-2015, 02:17 PM

Once upon a time there was a member called Neurotripsicks, who was here for a brief time, during which he roundly insulted everyone and acted loftily towards those he did not insult. He of course did not last (whether he was banned or ****ed off of his own accord I don't know) but before he left he did recommend an album here, and so I guess I should really give it a whirl. So I will.

Title: Back to Times of Spendor
Artiste: Disillusioned
Genre: Melodic Death/Progressive Metal
Familiarity: Zero; for a long time I thought this band was called And the Mirror Cracked, which would have been an interesting if perhaps unwise choice for a band name. It is, in fact, the title of the opening track. And here it is.

1. And the mirror cracked: Vocal's a bit rough, music's not bad. Bit confused. Vocal harmonies are great though. Do they use two vocalists, a “clean” and “unclean” one, as some bands do? Not according to what I read: there's only one vocalist, and that's a guy who goes by the name of Vurtox. He also does keys, guitars, bass and writes the songs. Hmm. His baby, then. Good instrumental passage there in the middle, percussion is very effective, then it gets a bit more towards the progressive side of things. Interesting. Vocal is now totally changed, completely understandable. Prefer this obviously. Still considering at this point what colour this track will be, edging between Green and Orange... it's Green.
2. Fall: Meh, didn't think much of this. Pretty standard fare really.
3. Alone I stand in fires: Teh promise of the opening track has not been duplicated. This is ok, but just ok.
4. Back to times of splendor: Oh dear. This is fourteen minutes long! And it's not the longest either. But it starts off promisingly with cello and violin then picks up into a sort of power metal groove, so you know, maybe there is hope. Okay, this is fairly bitchin'. Goes through a whole lot of changes, as you would expect,and overall very satisfying sound and a pretty damn good song. Most importantly, for a track of such length it never seemed to drag, which is often a problem for me. Mind you, there's a seventeen-minuter to go yet! But looking good.
5. A day by the lake: Great atmospheric intro, builds really well, the perfect shift in tempo and feel after that epic. If this is an instrumental I'll be happy, as it seems to want to be one. Lasts less than five minutes and we're half of the way through now, so ... no. There are the vocals, but at least they're “clean”, and actually not unwelcome. Yeah, I really like this.
6. Sleep of restless hours: And now we're into the real epic. Nice three-minute instrumental intro, which leaves us with fourteen minutes yet to go when the vocals come in, and this time they're “unclean”, which is a disappointment and does not work as well as on the other tracks. Oh, at eleven minutes there is total silence, now I think a soft organ is coming through? Low bass, slowly rising. Interesting. Comes back with a pretty powerful instrumental closer. Yeah, liked that.

End result: It was a good album; I'm not so sure why Neurowotsit got so excited about it. It certainly wasn't bad but I don't see it rewriting the history of prog metal or whatever the hell he was on about. Decent, competent album.

So, Love or Hate? In his memory, I'm prepared to give it a Love.

Trollheart · 10-18-2015, 09:56 AM

Title: Anabaena
Artiste: Leonid Federov
Genre: Experimental
Familiarity: Zero

Note: So here we are, about a year after I promised to review this “sometime soon” (well, not a year but it probably feels like it to Grindy!) about to keep that promise. Apologies for the delay man, but there are a number of things that put me off this initially, not least of which is the fact that it's 22 tracks long and in Russian! Because of the latter, I'm not going to be naming the tracks as I don't want to copy-and-paste 22 titles that mean nothing to me and will probably mean nothing to most of the forum, so I'll just number them. Hope that's all right with you. If not, suck it.

1. : Slow, kind of folk melody with a somewhat slurred vocal that reminds me of Waits. Nice actually. Guitar is really good.
2. : Much faster, with kind of flamenco-style percussion, odd horn sounds. Is there trombone on this album? Very frenetic.
3. : Dark, kind of lamenting vocal. Much slower and restrained. Thick bass. Suddenly kicks up and becomes pretty uptempo, good percussion and something like a kazoo going.
4. : Slower, kind of marching beat with something like tin whistle going in the background, gets into a nice groove with some trumpet or trombone contributing. Really nice instrumental ending.
5. : Seems a little confused. He's singing a sort of love ballad but the music behind him is very disjointed. Not bad though. Get some nice guitar or dobro or something and it's pretty cheerful. Very sudden ending, was not expecting that.
6. : Not really sure what to make of this. Very weird.
7. : Kind of a feeling of French chanson about this. Quite nice.
8. : Another uptempo number, nothing much to say about it really.
9. : Clever little instrumental, sounds like something out of a Polish cartoon.
10. : This has a nice kind of almost hard rock edge to it.
11. : Nice folky guitar, pretty upbeat with a kind of spoken vocal.
12. : More great bass work and some freaky percussion with a crooning vocal
13. : Harder acoustic guitar now, sort of an ominous tone to it. Reminds me a bit of Don Henley!
14. : Just going totally crazy here, like at a Russian wedding or something. Cries of “Akka-takka-takka-takka!” and everyone just flying on this one. Sounds like accordion getting in on the act there.
15. : Well if that was the wedding this is the mass! Slow, stately, grandiose with choral vocals and little if any instruments, maybe synth? Mostly vocal though.
16. : And back to the kind of staggered rhythm with another chanson-like vocal. Nowhere near as frenetic as the fourteenth track but a lot more life in it than the previous. Picking up speed as it goes, building to a crazy crescendo at the end.
17. : And this one then is a slow lament, again great bass and some really nice guitar. Guy sounds a little drunk if I'm honest.
18. : Plenty of kazoos marching happily along and meeting some jews harps on the way. Like the sort of marching rhythm. Is it an instrumental? I feel the answer is yes. Speeding up again now towards the end. Going a bit mad.
19. : And the next one is a slower song. Seeing a pattern develop here. Either someone is breathing heavily or sawing wood. Vocal is nice on this, sort of laidback.
20. : Just talking on this. Poetry? No music. At all. Not a note. Well, he sings acapella for a few moments, but other than that, nothing. I think this is the one Grindy warned me about, where he's just recording his answering machine message? I've obviously added up track times wrong as I seem to have two left, but you know, whatever.

End result: Quite enjoyable for the most part. Bit difficult trying to figure which track was which, and that kind of put a little of a dampener on it for me, but I liked pretty much all of the music. Doubt I'd be listening to more of his material, but nice for what it was. Better than some experimental music I've had to listen to, that's for sure.

So, Love or Hate? I'd have to give it a Love.

grindy · 10-18-2015, 04:03 PM

Yeah, you did it! And it wasn't even terrible.
I wonder though where the other two tracks disappeared to. The spoken word one isn't even the last track on the album.

Trollheart · 10-18-2015, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grindy

Yeah, you did it! And it wasn't even terrible.
I wonder though where the other two tracks disappeared to. The spoken word one isn't even the last track on the album.

Probably just a case of mistiming on my part. I went to download your file but it had expired, so I had to find it on YT, and adding up times is always a pain. Something may have faded out into another track and I may have thought I was listening to the same track, who knows? Good stuff though. Sorry it took so long.

grindy · 10-18-2015, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Probably just a case of mistiming on my part. I went to download your file but it had expired, so I had to find it on YT, and adding up times is always a pain. Something may have faded out into another track and I may have thought I was listening to the same track, who knows? Good stuff though. Sorry it took so long.

Oh okay, listening to it on YT really must have been kinda messy...
The tracks tend to end and start weirdly on this one.

Trollheart · 10-18-2015, 04:33 PM

Yeah, that was a pain. I even made a list with the running times and I still got a bit lost. I hate doing that. If someone is going to put up a full album I wish they would include running times. It's so much easier that way.

Trollheart · 10-19-2015, 11:10 AM

Title: Sound and Color
Artiste: Alabama Shakes
Genre: Southern Rock
Familiarity: Zero

1. Sound and color: Not sure what that is at the opening, Fender Rhodes, organ, synth, but it's nice. Sort of xylophonic thing going now; vocal is very soul.Not that mad about it to be honest. Song never really gets going and is something of a disappointment.
2. Don't wanna fight: At least we have guitars in this one! This is a lot better, the vocal full of strained passion and frustration, and the soul vibe melds with a kind of 90s new wave thing, sort of reminds me of The Belle Stars, if you can believe it. My only complaint would be that it's terribly repetitive, but the constant groan of “I don't wanna fight no more” fits the title and the mood perfectly.
3. Dunes: Slower, with a plodding kind of rhythm and a nice kind of gospel feel to it. Good powerful ending; like the piano.
4. Future people: Seems to borrow the melody line from “Summer breeze” by The Isleys, though AS make this their own certainly. Great vocal, guitars are on point, though I keep expecting her to sing “Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowin' through the jasmine of my mind”!
5. Gimme all your love: Love the slow blues feel of this up to about the last minute, when it suddenly kicks up into a big blues rocker with not a little seventies Floyd, especially in the organ. One of the best on the album so far.
6. This feeling: Channelling Prince here (I know she's female, but the similarities are undeniable); nice soft guitar, easy relaxed rhythm
7. Guess who: Meh, that was just all right.
8. The greatest: Trying too hard on this one I feel. Almost bringing in a punk influence.
9. Shoegaze: This is more like seventies pop/rock, which is ironic given the title. Like this one.
10. Miss you: Yeah, but love this one. Big blues buildup to a superb declaration of powerful, almost angry love. Perfect.
11. Gemini: Another powerful blues-based number, it's the longest on the album and kind of needs to be, to get the full attention it needs and say everything it needs to say. Great organ work on this one but the vocal stands out as both fragile and determined. Kind of flags a little in the middle though.
12. Over my head: Soft and gentle song with a lovely gospel tone, great closer.

End result: Yeah, a fine album with some really good tracks. I'm not sure I'd be too interested in going further into their music, but I certainly enjoyed it and can see why it got the acclaim it did.

So, Love or Hate? Make this a Love, sure.

10-17-2015, 01:24 PM	#1903 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	I am, but recs are closed. I have so much to get through at the moment, and now there's also The Torture Chamber to administer. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-17-2015, 02:17 PM	#1904 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Once upon a time there was a member called Neurotripsicks, who was here for a brief time, during which he roundly insulted everyone and acted loftily towards those he did not insult. He of course did not last (whether he was banned or **ed off of his own accord I don't know) but before he left he did recommend an album here, and so I guess I should really give it a whirl. So I will. Title: Back to Times of Spendor Artiste: Disillusioned Genre: Melodic Death/Progressive Metal Familiarity: Zero; for a long time I thought this band was called And the Mirror Cracked, which would have been an interesting if perhaps unwise choice for a band name. It is, in fact, the title of the opening track. And here it is. 1. And the mirror cracked: Vocal's a bit rough, music's not bad. Bit confused. Vocal harmonies are great though. Do they use two vocalists, a “clean” and “unclean” one, as some bands do? Not according to what I read: there's only one vocalist, and that's a guy who goes by the name of Vurtox. He also does keys, guitars, bass and writes the songs. Hmm. His baby, then. Good instrumental passage there in the middle, percussion is very effective, then it gets a bit more towards the progressive side of things. Interesting. Vocal is now totally changed, completely understandable. Prefer this obviously. Still considering at this point what colour this track will be, edging between Green and Orange... it's Green. 2. Fall: Meh, didn't think much of this. Pretty standard fare really. 3. Alone I stand in fires: Teh promise of the opening track has not been duplicated. This is ok, but just ok. 4. Back to times of splendor: Oh dear. This is fourteen minutes long! And it's not the longest either. But it starts off promisingly with cello and violin then picks up into a sort of power metal groove, so you know, maybe there is hope. Okay, this is fairly bitchin'. Goes through a whole lot of changes, as you would expect,and overall very satisfying sound and a pretty damn good song. Most importantly, for a track of such length it never seemed to drag, which is often a problem for me. Mind you, there's a seventeen-minuter to go yet! But looking good. 5. A day by the lake: Great atmospheric intro, builds really well, the perfect shift in tempo and feel after that epic. If this is an instrumental I'll be happy, as it seems to want to be one. Lasts less than five minutes and we're half of the way through now, so ... no. There are the vocals, but at least they're “clean”, and actually not unwelcome. Yeah, I really like this. 6. Sleep of restless hours: And now we're into the real epic. Nice three-minute instrumental intro, which leaves us with fourteen minutes yet to go when the vocals come in, and this time they're “unclean”, which is a disappointment and does not work as well as on the other tracks. Oh, at eleven minutes there is total silence, now I think a soft organ is coming through? Low bass, slowly rising. Interesting. Comes back with a pretty powerful instrumental closer. Yeah, liked that. End result: It was a good album; I'm not so sure why Neurowotsit got so excited about it. It certainly wasn't bad but I don't see it rewriting the history of prog metal or whatever the hell he was on about. Decent, competent album. So, Love or Hate? In his memory, I'm prepared to give it a Love*. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018*

10-18-2015, 09:56 AM	#1905 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Title: Anabaena Artiste: Leonid Federov Genre: Experimental Familiarity: Zero Note: So here we are, about a year after I promised to review this “sometime soon” (well, not a year but it probably feels like it to Grindy!) about to keep that promise. Apologies for the delay man, but there are a number of things that put me off this initially, not least of which is the fact that it's 22 tracks long and in Russian! Because of the latter, I'm not going to be naming the tracks as I don't want to copy-and-paste 22 titles that mean nothing to me and will probably mean nothing to most of the forum, so I'll just number them. Hope that's all right with you. If not, suck it. 1. : Slow, kind of folk melody with a somewhat slurred vocal that reminds me of Waits. Nice actually. Guitar is really good. 2. : Much faster, with kind of flamenco-style percussion, odd horn sounds. Is there trombone on this album? Very frenetic. 3. : Dark, kind of lamenting vocal. Much slower and restrained. Thick bass. Suddenly kicks up and becomes pretty uptempo, good percussion and something like a kazoo going. 4. : Slower, kind of marching beat with something like tin whistle going in the background, gets into a nice groove with some trumpet or trombone contributing. Really nice instrumental ending. 5. : Seems a little confused. He's singing a sort of love ballad but the music behind him is very disjointed. Not bad though. Get some nice guitar or dobro or something and it's pretty cheerful. Very sudden ending, was not expecting that. 6. : Not really sure what to make of this. Very weird. 7. : Kind of a feeling of French chanson about this. Quite nice. 8. : Another uptempo number, nothing much to say about it really. 9. : Clever little instrumental, sounds like something out of a Polish cartoon. 10. : This has a nice kind of almost hard rock edge to it. 11. : Nice folky guitar, pretty upbeat with a kind of spoken vocal. 12. : More great bass work and some freaky percussion with a crooning vocal 13. : Harder acoustic guitar now, sort of an ominous tone to it. Reminds me a bit of Don Henley! 14. : Just going totally crazy here, like at a Russian wedding or something. Cries of “Akka-takka-takka-takka!” and everyone just flying on this one. Sounds like accordion getting in on the act there. 15. : Well if that was the wedding this is the mass! Slow, stately, grandiose with choral vocals and little if any instruments, maybe synth? Mostly vocal though. 16. : And back to the kind of staggered rhythm with another chanson-like vocal. Nowhere near as frenetic as the fourteenth track but a lot more life in it than the previous. Picking up speed as it goes, building to a crazy crescendo at the end. 17. : And this one then is a slow lament, again great bass and some really nice guitar. Guy sounds a little drunk if I'm honest. 18. : Plenty of kazoos marching happily along and meeting some jews harps on the way. Like the sort of marching rhythm. Is it an instrumental? I feel the answer is yes. Speeding up again now towards the end. Going a bit mad. 19. : And the next one is a slower song. Seeing a pattern develop here. Either someone is breathing heavily or sawing wood. Vocal is nice on this, sort of laidback. 20. : Just talking on this. Poetry? No music. At all. Not a note. Well, he sings acapella for a few moments, but other than that, nothing. I think this is the one Grindy warned me about, where he's just recording his answering machine message? I've obviously added up track times wrong as I seem to have two left, but you know, whatever. End result: Quite enjoyable for the most part. Bit difficult trying to figure which track was which, and that kind of put a little of a dampener on it for me, but I liked pretty much all of the music. Doubt I'd be listening to more of his material, but nice for what it was. Better than some experimental music I've had to listen to, that's for sure. So, Love or Hate? I'd have to give it a Love. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-18-2015, 04:03 PM	#1906 (permalink)
grindy . Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: . Posts: 7,201	Yeah, you did it! And it wasn't even terrible. I wonder though where the other two tracks disappeared to. The spoken word one isn't even the last track on the album. __________________ *A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.*

10-18-2015, 04:33 PM	#1909 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Yeah, that was a pain. I even made a list with the running times and I still got a bit lost. I hate doing that. If someone is going to put up a full album I wish they would include running times. It's so much easier that way. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-19-2015, 11:10 AM	#1910 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Title: Sound and Color Artiste: Alabama Shakes Genre: Southern Rock Familiarity: Zero 1. Sound and color: Not sure what that is at the opening, Fender Rhodes, organ, synth, but it's nice. Sort of xylophonic thing going now; vocal is very soul.Not that mad about it to be honest. Song never really gets going and is something of a disappointment. 2. Don't wanna fight: At least we have guitars in this one! This is a lot better, the vocal full of strained passion and frustration, and the soul vibe melds with a kind of 90s new wave thing, sort of reminds me of The Belle Stars, if you can believe it. My only complaint would be that it's terribly repetitive, but the constant groan of “I don't wanna fight no more” fits the title and the mood perfectly. 3. Dunes: Slower, with a plodding kind of rhythm and a nice kind of gospel feel to it. Good powerful ending; like the piano. 4. Future people: Seems to borrow the melody line from “Summer breeze” by The Isleys, though AS make this their own certainly. Great vocal, guitars are on point, though I keep expecting her to sing “Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowin' through the jasmine of my mind”! 5. Gimme all your love: Love the slow blues feel of this up to about the last minute, when it suddenly kicks up into a big blues rocker with not a little seventies Floyd, especially in the organ. One of the best on the album so far. 6. This feeling: Channelling Prince here (I know she's female, but the similarities are undeniable); nice soft guitar, easy relaxed rhythm 7. Guess who: Meh, that was just all right. 8. The greatest: Trying too hard on this one I feel. Almost bringing in a punk influence. 9. Shoegaze: This is more like seventies pop/rock, which is ironic given the title. Like this one. 10. Miss you: Yeah, but love this one. Big blues buildup to a superb declaration of powerful, almost angry love. Perfect. 11. Gemini: Another powerful blues-based number, it's the longest on the album and kind of needs to be, to get the full attention it needs and say everything it needs to say. Great organ work on this one but the vocal stands out as both fragile and determined. Kind of flags a little in the middle though. 12. Over my head: Soft and gentle song with a lovely gospel tone, great closer. End result: Yeah, a fine album with some really good tracks. I'm not sure I'd be too interested in going further into their music, but I certainly enjoyed it and can see why it got the acclaim it did. So, Love or Hate? Make this a Love, sure. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018