Love or Hate?

Trollheart · 08-24-2015, 05:33 AM

Ok, so as mentioned I'm going to intersperse the album reviews with some single tracks, and here are the ones that were first to get into the queue:

Title: Nuclear War
Artiste: Sun Ra
Genre: Jazz
Taken from: Nuclear War, 1982
Familiarity: I heard a Sun Ra track once. It was awful!
Suggested by: Plainview (who should know better)

Expectations: I doubt I'll like this.

So, this is a track from the album Plainview substituted his own for because he thought I would hate it eh? Makes perfect sense, then, to throw me a track off it. Guess he wants to know if he was right. Well, as I mentioned above I did listen to one Sun Ra track a while back and did not like it one bit. Still, one track does not an artiste make, so who knows what I'll think of this? Okay, well there's a really nice jazzy piano to start off, those gentle jazz drums and then the vocal is kind of in a soul vein, with the chorus going “Yeah!” in the background. Not bad so far. Yeah but it's one of those songs that does not need to be seven minutes long. It's incredibly repetitive, and by the four-minute mark I'm ready to stop listening. I will though, as I promised with the album, listen all the way through. Maybe it'll get better. Maybe not. No it didn't.

Conclusion: It wasn't nearly as bad as I had been expecting, but very much overstretched and while it wouldn't stop me listening to him again I would prefer to hear something that wasn't stretched and drawn out more painfully than William Wallace at the end...

So, Love or Hate? On balance, I can't say I hated it and there were good parts in it so it's a Love.

Chances of looking into the album: 10%

Title: Paranoid Android
Artiste: Radiohead
Genre: Indie Rock
Taken from: Ok Computer, 1997
Familiarity: Have so far heard two Radiohead albums; loved one, hated the other
Suggested by: Plainview

Expectations: Not really sure, could go either way.

Nice little acoustic opening, kind of laidback with a soft vocal. Gets a little more kind of progressive in the second minute. Interesting blindside there: I thought when he sang “When I am king” it was going to continue with “you will be queen” but instead he promised “you will be first against the wall!” Not a love song, then!

Nice bass at 2:07 and synthy goodness too I think.

Was just about to say that for a supposedly angry/bitter song it was very gentle when suddenly around 2:50 guitars punched in and it got a whole lot meaner. Oh, and now at 3:36 it slows right down again, getting into a kind of almost gospel chorus, low and gentle. I'm really enjoying this. Now at 5:50 it's back to the guitars and some really weird phased riffs I think as it all picks up again. Then it suddenly stops.

Conclusion: Now that's how to do a six-minute-plus song and not overstretch it! That had everything; well constructed, well sung, well written, kept the attention, plenty of changes. Pretty excellent all around.

So, Love or Hate? Well it's obviously going to be a Love, isn't it?

Chances of looking into the album: 80%

Trollheart · 08-24-2015, 10:07 AM

Title: A Night at the Opera
Artiste: Blind Guardian
Genre: Power Metal
Familiarity: I've heard Nightfall in Middle Earth

1. Precious Jerusalem: I'm not crazy about the different direction they're going with here. Sort of group vocal, very Queenlike (is this really based on the Queen album or was that guy at Wiki just being lazy?). Decent track but not the sort of power metal thing I'm used to. Heavy enough but a little offputting.
2. Battlefield: Yeah, this is much better. Now we're talking!
3. Under the ice: Yeah, getting better now. The vocal harmonies here are pretty sweet. Great rocking track, plenty of drama and excitement. Now this is Power Metal!
4. Sadly sings destiny: Like the religious references in this. Thought it would be a slower song though. Great all the same. Isn't it a little like the title of the Judas Priest album though?

5. The maiden and the minstrel knight: That was more like I had expected the above track to sound; still quite a lot of power even for a ballad.
6. Wait for an answer: Here's that one about racist crows! Yeah, I really like this one. Great hook. Love the keys.
7. The soulforged: Sort of a celtic feel to this, a real marching, triumphant song.
8. Age of false innocence: Sounds like we have a proper ballad. Piano and synth, soft vocal, introspective guitars. Oh, now it's picking up and is obviously not a ballad. Well, shut my mouth!
9. Punishment divine: Another good heavy track. I will say that much of this album seems a little samey and unadventurous, but then, this is Power Metal after all... Some great shredding here, actually.
10. And then there was silence: Okay, a fourteen-minute closer is asking a little too much. It's good but why does it have to be that long? This album has been okay but nothing terribly special, and I'm really not in the mood for a track that goes on for a quarter of an hour.

End result: A very good album but I'm slightly underwhelmed by it, and I doubt I'd listen to it again. Maybe I would, but at the moment, no. I'd certainly think the words “pretentious” and “overblown” apply here, but then again as I already noted, this is Power Metal...

So, Love or Hate? Still a Love, though.

Trollheart · 08-28-2015, 05:44 PM

Title: Exodus
Artiste: John Zorn
Genre: Avant-garde/Jazz
Taken from: The Dreamers, 2008
Familiarity: Zero, though Frown seldom shuts up about Zorn: even recced one of his albums for Metal Month III!
Suggested by: Well who do you think?

Expectations: It's jazz, so I think I'll hate it and yet I need to be a little open-minded, and a man who can release over half a thousand albums must at some point hit some common ground with the likes of me, so let's be optimistic huh? (Yeah but I'll probably hate it)...

Lovely bass intro, then some quite super guitar, doesn't sound very jazzy to me at all. I kind of think I might be listening to a Plankton ... no, no, it's Zorn alright. Sort of feels a little Carlos Santanaesque. Volume has dropped a little ... oh it's back now. Guess that's the problem with live recordings. Yeah, very Santana in fact. I like the kind of mideastern tinge he puts on the music, fits in with the title if it is meant to mean what I think it is. Great organ solo by the guy with the ZZ beard. That's xylophone there at about 5:02, yeah? Really effective. Where is Zorn by the way? That's him conducting, isn't it? Is that Ribot on the guitar? Hell, even the drum solo is great! Love it when the band all come together around 7:11.

Conclusion: Well was I ever wrong! That was a blast! Really enjoyed that.

So, Love or Hate? This would have to be a Love.

Possibility of looking into the album: Probably still only 60%, but that's not bad considering.

Trollheart · 08-25-2015, 12:39 PM

Title: The eternal beauty of the trees
Artiste: Uaral
Genre: Folk Metal
Taken from: Sounds of Pain, 2005
Familiarity: Zero
Suggested by: mythsofmetal

Expectations: I like a lot of Folk Metal, and the title sounds like it might be a sort of ambient thing, so expectations are in fact quite high.

Nice dark sort of piano to start with, very ethereal, then the guitar bursts through and it's dramatic and stirring. The vocal comes like a wolf or some sort of monster jumping out from behind the trees, spattering the pristine snow with the blood of an unwary traveller, while a sort of moaning chorus carries on behind it. The voice is growling now like a dark echoey demon; not the foggiest what he's saying, but a big wounded roar and he fades out, to be replaced by organ on its own, slow and morose, which takes us to about the midway point of the song. Guitar then kicks back in, powerful and melodic, with what could be flute or maybe some ethnic instrument (this is a two-piece, and again one of them is credited with “all instruments”, so I have no idea how many are used, or what they are). Back comes the snarly vocal, second round as he hunts down his prey and the guitar gets more urgent and insistent, then breaks off into a perhaps mandolin with that softer chanting vocal. Back to the soft piano now to finish as we began, with some nice keyboard work there too.

Conclusion: Yeah, really enjoyed that. As usual, could do without the growled vocal but it kind of added to the sense of being alone in the wilderness and pursued by something horrible that I got, which contrasted nicely with most of the music.

So, Love or Hate? This would be a Love.

Possibility of looking into the album: 75%

Title: Zold zivitar
Artiste: Gire
Genre: Avant-Garde Metal
Taken from: Gire, 2007
Familiarity: Zero
Suggested by: mythsofmetal

Expectations: Not sure; avant-garde is a very sweeping generalisation and can cover a whole lot of different music, both good and bad in my eyes. However I'm going to trust myths and assume he's picked something he knows or believes I should like.

A whole lot different, with a fast, guitar-driven melody and another scowling vocal, very rapid-fire in the delivery. I suppose the keys are what make it seem more than just straightforward metal; they add a kind of almost new-wave feel to the music. Sort of like if Steve Strange or Phil Oakey suddenly decided to explore metal. Can't say I love it but I don't actually hate it. Yet. It's another six-minuter, so plenty of time for changes as it's only getting into the second minute as yet. Nice keyboard solo. Hate the vocals of course, but when it just goes instrumental it's not half bad. Hitting into a kind of faster, boogie rhythm now, the vocal lower and more understandable, though I'm sure he's singing in his native language so I'd have no chance of making out any words. Four minutes in now. Something like a sitar solo (!) and some nice peppy guitar with what sounds very like violin and we're into minute five. Sort of a celtic flavour coming into it now.

Conclusion: Not really my sort of thing, but I could certainly see some merit in it.

So, Love or Hate? I'd cautiously give this a Love too.

Possibility of looking into the album: 10%

Title: Sovereigns unknown
Artiste: Augury
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Taken from: Fragmentary Evidence, 2009
Familiarity: Zero
Suggested by: mythsofmetal

Expectations: The progressive part sounds fine, but I've heard some progressive death metal and it has never chimed with me. I think I'm expecting not to like this.

Starts with a rolling drum and guitar intro, turns into something of a march, then I'm glad to at least hear vocals I can not only make out but that are in English. There are some death vocals, but they seem to be only incidental, at least in this song. The basic melody is very good, and for some reason reminds me of the likes of Alestorm. I'm sure this isn't pirate metal but it seems to have a few elements of it within its structure. Great work on the guitar. Pretty good song.

Conclusion: Yeah that was okay. Quite good actually.

So, Love or Hate? That makes it three for three Loves.

Possibility of looking into the album: 20%

08-24-2015, 05:33 AM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Ok, so as mentioned I'm going to intersperse the album reviews with some single tracks, and here are the ones that were first to get into the queue: Title: Nuclear War Artiste: Sun Ra Genre: Jazz Taken from: Nuclear War, 1982 Familiarity: I heard a Sun Ra track once. It was awful! Suggested by: Plainview (who should know better) Expectations: I doubt I'll like this. So, this is a track from the album Plainview substituted his own for because he thought I would hate it eh? Makes perfect sense, then, to throw me a track off it. Guess he wants to know if he was right. Well, as I mentioned above I did listen to one Sun Ra track a while back and did not like it one bit. Still, one track does not an artiste make, so who knows what I'll think of this? Okay, well there's a really nice jazzy piano to start off, those gentle jazz drums and then the vocal is kind of in a soul vein, with the chorus going “Yeah!” in the background. Not bad so far. Yeah but it's one of those songs that does not need to be seven minutes long. It's incredibly repetitive, and by the four-minute mark I'm ready to stop listening. I will though, as I promised with the album, listen all the way through. Maybe it'll get better. Maybe not. No it didn't. Conclusion: It wasn't nearly as bad as I had been expecting, but very much overstretched and while it wouldn't stop me listening to him again I would prefer to hear something that wasn't stretched and drawn out more painfully than William Wallace at the end... So, Love or Hate? On balance, I can't say I hated it and there were good parts in it so it's a Love. Chances of looking into the album: 10% Title: Paranoid Android Artiste: Radiohead Genre: Indie Rock Taken from: Ok Computer, 1997 Familiarity: Have so far heard two Radiohead albums; loved one, hated the other Suggested by: Plainview Expectations: Not really sure, could go either way. Nice little acoustic opening, kind of laidback with a soft vocal. Gets a little more kind of progressive in the second minute. Interesting blindside there: I thought when he sang “When I am king” it was going to continue with “you will be queen” but instead he promised “you will be first against the wall!” Not a love song, then! Nice bass at 2:07 and synthy goodness too I think. Was just about to say that for a supposedly angry/bitter song it was very gentle when suddenly around 2:50 guitars punched in and it got a whole lot meaner. Oh, and now at 3:36 it slows right down again, getting into a kind of almost gospel chorus, low and gentle. I'm really enjoying this. Now at 5:50 it's back to the guitars and some really weird phased riffs I think as it all picks up again. Then it suddenly stops. Conclusion: Now that's how to do a six-minute-plus song and not overstretch it! That had everything; well constructed, well sung, well written, kept the attention, plenty of changes. Pretty excellent all around. So, Love or Hate? Well it's obviously going to be a Love, isn't it? Chances of looking into the album: 80% __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 08-24-2015 at 11:10 AM.

08-24-2015, 10:07 AM	#2 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: A Night at the Opera Artiste: Blind Guardian Genre: Power Metal Familiarity: I've heard Nightfall in Middle Earth 1. Precious Jerusalem: I'm not crazy about the different direction they're going with here. Sort of group vocal, very Queenlike (is this really based on the Queen album or was that guy at Wiki just being lazy?). Decent track but not the sort of power metal thing I'm used to. Heavy enough but a little offputting. 2. Battlefield: Yeah, this is much better. Now we're talking! 3. Under the ice: Yeah, getting better now. The vocal harmonies here are pretty sweet. Great rocking track, plenty of drama and excitement. Now this is Power Metal! 4. Sadly sings destiny: Like the religious references in this. Thought it would be a slower song though. Great all the same. Isn't it a little like the title of the Judas Priest album though? 5. The maiden and the minstrel knight: That was more like I had expected the above track to sound; still quite a lot of power even for a ballad. 6. Wait for an answer: Here's that one about racist crows! Yeah, I really like this one. Great hook. Love the keys. 7. The soulforged: Sort of a celtic feel to this, a real marching, triumphant song. 8. Age of false innocence: Sounds like we have a proper ballad. Piano and synth, soft vocal, introspective guitars. Oh, now it's picking up and is obviously not a ballad. Well, shut my mouth! 9. Punishment divine: Another good heavy track. I will say that much of this album seems a little samey and unadventurous, but then, this is Power Metal after all... Some great shredding here, actually. 10. And then there was silence: Okay, a fourteen-minute closer is asking a little too much. It's good but why does it have to be that long? This album has been okay but nothing terribly special, and I'm really not in the mood for a track that goes on for a quarter of an hour. End result: A very good album but I'm slightly underwhelmed by it, and I doubt I'd listen to it again. Maybe I would, but at the moment, no. I'd certainly think the words “pretentious” and “overblown” apply here, but then again as I already noted, this is Power Metal... So, Love or Hate? Still a Love, though. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

08-28-2015, 05:44 PM	#3 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: Exodus Artiste: John Zorn Genre: Avant-garde/Jazz Taken from: The Dreamers, 2008 Familiarity: Zero, though Frown seldom shuts up about Zorn: even recced one of his albums for Metal Month III! Suggested by: Well who do you think? Expectations: It's jazz, so I think I'll hate it and yet I need to be a little open-minded, and a man who can release over half a thousand albums must at some point hit some common ground with the likes of me, so let's be optimistic huh? (Yeah but I'll probably hate it)... Lovely bass intro, then some quite super guitar, doesn't sound very jazzy to me at all. I kind of think I might be listening to a Plankton ... no, no, it's Zorn alright. Sort of feels a little Carlos Santanaesque. Volume has dropped a little ... oh it's back now. Guess that's the problem with live recordings. Yeah, very Santana in fact. I like the kind of mideastern tinge he puts on the music, fits in with the title if it is meant to mean what I think it is. Great organ solo by the guy with the ZZ beard. That's xylophone there at about 5:02, yeah? Really effective. Where is Zorn by the way? That's him conducting, isn't it? Is that Ribot on the guitar? Hell, even the drum solo is great! Love it when the band all come together around 7:11. Conclusion: Well was I ever wrong! That was a blast! Really enjoyed that. So, Love or Hate? This would have to be a Love. Possibility of looking into the album: Probably still only 60%, but that's not bad considering. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

08-25-2015, 12:39 PM	#4 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: The eternal beauty of the trees Artiste: Uaral Genre: Folk Metal Taken from: Sounds of Pain, 2005 Familiarity: Zero Suggested by: mythsofmetal Expectations: I like a lot of Folk Metal, and the title sounds like it might be a sort of ambient thing, so expectations are in fact quite high. Nice dark sort of piano to start with, very ethereal, then the guitar bursts through and it's dramatic and stirring. The vocal comes like a wolf or some sort of monster jumping out from behind the trees, spattering the pristine snow with the blood of an unwary traveller, while a sort of moaning chorus carries on behind it. The voice is growling now like a dark echoey demon; not the foggiest what he's saying, but a big wounded roar and he fades out, to be replaced by organ on its own, slow and morose, which takes us to about the midway point of the song. Guitar then kicks back in, powerful and melodic, with what could be flute or maybe some ethnic instrument (this is a two-piece, and again one of them is credited with “all instruments”, so I have no idea how many are used, or what they are). Back comes the snarly vocal, second round as he hunts down his prey and the guitar gets more urgent and insistent, then breaks off into a perhaps mandolin with that softer chanting vocal. Back to the soft piano now to finish as we began, with some nice keyboard work there too. Conclusion: Yeah, really enjoyed that. As usual, could do without the growled vocal but it kind of added to the sense of being alone in the wilderness and pursued by something horrible that I got, which contrasted nicely with most of the music. So, Love or Hate? This would be a Love. Possibility of looking into the album: 75% Title: Zold zivitar Artiste: Gire Genre: Avant-Garde Metal Taken from: Gire, 2007 Familiarity: Zero Suggested by: mythsofmetal Expectations: Not sure; avant-garde is a very sweeping generalisation and can cover a whole lot of different music, both good and bad in my eyes. However I'm going to trust myths and assume he's picked something he knows or believes I should like. A whole lot different, with a fast, guitar-driven melody and another scowling vocal, very rapid-fire in the delivery. I suppose the keys are what make it seem more than just straightforward metal; they add a kind of almost new-wave feel to the music. Sort of like if Steve Strange or Phil Oakey suddenly decided to explore metal. Can't say I love it but I don't actually hate it. Yet. It's another six-minuter, so plenty of time for changes as it's only getting into the second minute as yet. Nice keyboard solo. Hate the vocals of course, but when it just goes instrumental it's not half bad. Hitting into a kind of faster, boogie rhythm now, the vocal lower and more understandable, though I'm sure he's singing in his native language so I'd have no chance of making out any words. Four minutes in now. Something like a sitar solo (!) and some nice peppy guitar with what sounds very like violin and we're into minute five. Sort of a celtic flavour coming into it now. Conclusion: Not really my sort of thing, but I could certainly see some merit in it. So, Love or Hate? I'd cautiously give this a Love too. Possibility of looking into the album: 10% Title: Sovereigns unknown Artiste: Augury Genre: Progressive Death Metal Taken from: Fragmentary Evidence, 2009 Familiarity: Zero Suggested by: mythsofmetal Expectations: The progressive part sounds fine, but I've heard some progressive death metal and it has never chimed with me. I think I'm expecting not to like this. Starts with a rolling drum and guitar intro, turns into something of a march, then I'm glad to at least hear vocals I can not only make out but that are in English. There are some death vocals, but they seem to be only incidental, at least in this song. The basic melody is very good, and for some reason reminds me of the likes of Alestorm. I'm sure this isn't pirate metal but it seems to have a few elements of it within its structure. Great work on the guitar. Pretty good song. Conclusion: Yeah that was okay. Quite good actually. So, Love or Hate? That makes it three for three Loves. Possibility of looking into the album: 20% __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018