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The Random Album Club: Week 1
http://www.trollheart.com/retinwaav.png
Title: Movements Artist: Retinwaav Year: 2014 Genre: Progressive Metal/Djent Nationality: American Discography: Two albums Position in discography: First (debut) Post all your comments, reviews etc here for this album only. |
If someone can tell me the difference between djent and post-rock I'd be in their debt, as this sounded more like the latter. Probably not a great choice to have an almost completely instrumental album to kick us off, but then that's the nature of random.
Anyway, while there's nothing about this I hated, I couldn't honestly say there was anything about it that I loved either. It was ok. Being instrumental makes it hard to pick out favourite tracks, and as with many instrumental albums I just really listened to it in the background. Starts off well, but kind of devolves into genericity fairly quickly. I do like the closer though (is that Waits on it? Hardly) as it's not only the only one with vocals (even if they are spoken not sung) but it has a nice atmospheric feel about it that the rest of the album doesn't seem to have. Word to the wise: it's eight minutes long but cuts out around five. Keep listening though, as it either comes back in or it's a hidden track, but there is more. Definitely better than a meh, and if I listened to it a few more times I might get more into it. I'm just not that inclined to. 5/10 |
Somewhat reminds me of the Canvas Solaris album I have, but way less progressive and less metal. Definitely some kind of vaguely progmetal flavored post rock. There isn't immediately any component of the writing here that doesn't seem overwhelmingly familiar to me. They can't be accused of originality, that's for sure. Every pretty guitar lead ringing away in the background, every riff and chord progression... it all feels exceedingly "been there, done that" to me.
I wrote that after only 5 tracks of 13 and if this line is still there when I post, it's because the remaining 8 songs did nothing to better that impression. I'm always paying a lot of attention to how an album sounds in terms of production, mixing, the exact sounds and effects used for each intrument, etc. Sometimes, when the music gets busy, I find that the cymbal in one speaker sounds strikinly much like just a load of soft, static hissing. I can't say it sounds good to me at all. There's more clarity to how other aspects of the music is represented, but there is a certain cold and harsh quality to it that doesn't serve the generally melodic and soft music well. Some more warmth and a less modern metal style production would have served the album well. Sometimes those guitars sound incredibly much like that Canvas Solaris album I own. I said that already, but it really hits me again whenever certain sounds come back. I wonder if there's a whole subset of this genre where everyone has guitars that sound exactly like this. Sometimes tracks bleed into each other without me noticing the shift. At other times, a song will sound like it changes to an entirely different song, but it's just a new segment of the same song. Can't say the compositions seem all that cohesive or memorable. I guess what bothers me the most is how every song has almost the exact same vibe. I guess this is good if you're in a mood where you crave a very specific atmosphere, but it makes for a pretty repetitive album listening experience. Basically, this album is quite listenable, but it really isn't coming close to setting my world on fire. Don't think I have any interest in seeing if that other album is any better. The band doesn't really demonstrate much creativity here, so I guess I don't really feel like their band needs to exist. Yikes! That's harsh, but you know what I mean. They know their way around their instruments, it's just that the material is a bit bland. 5/10 PS: Around 8:30 in track 6, something moderately exciting happened for a moment, but that's not a whole lot to recommend the album by. |
Movements - Retinwaav
Not bad. The guitar tapping kind of reminded me of Michael Hedges, especially on the opener. A fair band can become a good band following the Explosions in the Sky crescendo method. And then notch it up again by keeping it instrumental. Disliked the skit or whatever you want to call it at the end. More ambient and less prog would've served this record better. They're no Rush. Also, keeping the guitar patterns locked in to traditional tonality started to leave me cold. More Tim Hecker, more post-rock crescendo cliches and give me some touches of Gorguts or Flipper or something. Put some garlic in the sauce. Or take that prog thing and bend it. Still, a surprising 3/5 stars. |
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It’s a nice album. The post-rock elements work more favourably for them than their OTT progressive metal moments like Bore. A few moments get too comfortable in Chevelle-esque alt-rock sounds. If Ki was still here he’d be on this album’s nuts like Gary Busey rubbing almonds into his crotch. The album could have been trimmed down by about twenty minutes. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and I would have liked to have seen that because I like looking at clunky new wheels more than looking at ones that are considered perfected, but as they say, it is what it is. And it is a 5/10.
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The Random Album Club: "Maaligawe Ma Rejini" by Sujatha Attanayake
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Title: Malligawe Ma Rejini Artist: Sujatha Attanayake Year: Genre: Dunno Nationality: Not sure: Sri Lankan? Discography: Shrug Position in discography: Double shrug Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/7mhaT...8N?si=zCX0UcB7 |
The Random Album Club: "Parasitic Decay" by Placenta Powerfist
https://www.metal-archives.com/image...26297.jpg?3916
Title: Parasitic Decay Artist: Placenta Powerfist Year: 2014 Genre: Brutal Death Metal Nationality: German Discography: One album Position in discography: First (duh!) Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/63Edm9YqeWexGBqshKzCaq YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U59-F5SSXXc |
Before listening:
Don't have much experience with Djent, so I suppose this will be somewhat of an introduction to that sub-genre. The avg. rating from RYM isn't especially impressive, but since it's only got 3 ratings, I suppose it's very possible that those 3 people just don't know ****. After listening: I found this album moderately enjoyable. Right off the bat they present us with some satisfying use of harmony, especially on "Diapason", but it is indeed accurate to say that throughout the album it does sort of devolve into average, dime-a-dozen prog metal fare, especially on the wannabe epic "Bore", though there are some quite good parts in the mid-section of the track, as well as some very pleasant ambient parts, which also recur elsewhere on the album. On a similar note, I think it's nice that they keep a variety of dynamics in mind (a concept that in a general sense seems to be lost on many a metal band) and juxtapose distorted and clean guitar tones. The latter is used especially successfully on the tracks "Nisus Woes" and "Often the Echoes". As for the Djent aspect present here; the "mathiness" and use of odd time signatures in their compositions brings some excitement to many of the tracks, though one sometimes gets the impression that it's done to impress the technically minded listener, something I personally resent. At least nobody can say they don't know their craft FWIW. The fact that all the tracks play attacca (without interruption/silence between tracks) is a nice touch and gives a good sense of continuity and cohesion to the album. As does the re-introduction of certain musical motifs and riffs on different parts of the album. ...or maybe some of their riffs just sound kind of samey... I don't really feel like putting in the effort to verify or debunk that statement. Lastly, I especially liked the more ambient (or pseudo-post-rock-y) parts of this, especially on the last track (both the faux-ending and the true ending). I actually think this artist could do a pretty decent ambient project if they put their mind to it. But for now I guess they're complacent to reside in the realms of somewhat middle-of-the-road prog metal. Oh well. In summation: Nothing revolutionary, but I could see myself re-visiting certain parts of this album from time to another. I'll chalk it up to a "like". 6/10 |
The Random Album Club: "Cloud Walking" by Will of the Mountain
http://www.trollheart.com/willof.jpg
Title: Cloud Walking Artist: Will of the Mountain Year: 2016 Genre: Progressive Metal/Post Rock Nationality: Costa Rican Discography: One, I think Position in discography: So this would be the debut, then. Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/3Fq7AOrwd7UO3egShj1xb6 YouTube Link: None |
Middle of the road is exatly what I feel this is. I don't think anyone will argue that they aren't talented musicians, but it would certainly help if they had a bit more of an idiosyncratic style. Some ideas of their own. I feel like I've heard everything on this album before, played by other bands. It's nice enough, but...
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The Random Album Club: "2013" by Vive La Fete
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Title: 2013 Artist: Vive La Fete! Year: Uh, 2013? Genre: Electronic Nationality: Belgian Discography: Eight albums Position in discography: Eighth Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/7dQWuG6zZgdF6oDMq8gNJG YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoTLLvOvvLk |
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Dunno; I just threw a thread together for every album that has been suggested yet. Apart from that demo, which appeared neither on Spotify nor YouTube. |
A made a YT playlist of this in case someone doesn't have Spotify:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...hbSvqfRRYBqVmL haven't listened to it yet btw |
I'm pretty used to this sort of thing even though death metal of varying stripes was never really something I truly loved. These days, I don't really listen to any death metal except a rare bit of Nile. I'm completely over music that only tries to be aggressive. Now, melodic death metal is something I can still appreciate, but this constant grinding, gurgling, chugging and bass drum blasting... It gets boring really, really fast.
Oddly enough, I wouldn't say I didn't at least somewhat enjoy this for what it was, but I can't see myself wanting to listen to this album or anything like it outside of when I'm just checking stuff out. At least this record doesn't sound as sterile as a lot of death metal albums do (I refuse to call it slam. It's death metal. I don't care about the tiny difference) and there's a fair amount of rumbling bass to keep it from sounding too flat. Is it heavy? Yes, but it's also the same thing over and over again for 27 minutes straight. I'm not sure what prompts a band to release this sort of thing? Going out and playing this stuff live I can understand, but did they really feel like they had anything at all to add to the genre by releasing cookie cutter death metal album #8924717287? Same ****, different cover. No, wait, the cover is the same as thousands of other DM records as well. It gets the job done. That's not high praise, but it isn't a bad album for what it is. 5/10. Would have been a 4 if it wasn't for the above averagely meaty production. |
Before the first song was over I checked to see how long the album was. 53 minutes... ugh...
I can tell already what's going to sink this ship for me: The useless singer. Lady, you're no Jane Birkin, Francoise Hardy, Donna Summers, whatever-the-ladies-in-Abba-are-called. Her voice is limp and has no body to it. Her careful approach could work if she was expressive, sexy or anything else, but she's just weak and vaguely out of tune. Sometimes she even finds a way to make some incredibly annoying sounds with her mouth ( after the 12:40 mark of the album). I don't know why so many bands get singers that can't sing. I'm just picky that way. In any case, this genre needs a good singer. You can't just moan and pose your way through a disco record. The music is mostly lame and cheesy. Sometimes it surprisingly starts sounding a bit fuller and nicer, but this really isn't anything to write home about. Everything after this point is written after the album is over: Well into the album, something really unexpected starts happening. Things go quiet. There's some piano in the background. Some sound effect. It's mostly just some mild atmosphere building. Then some tinny, fake sounding jazz rounds things off and ends with a DJ talking and another bite sized piece of music. Not rally a point to any of it, but it did mean the album was a good 20 minutes shorter than expected, so I'm not complaining. I don't listen to disco, but I can't imagine this is anywhere near the best the genre can do. Very, very weak music in my irrelevant opinion. 2/10. Profoundly unimpressive. |
I travelled to Sri Lanka and thought it sucked in context too. Annoying album tbh.
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I don't see the similarities with the molam album at all. This I found highly enjoyable and entertaining, much to my surprise, given Mord's review above. She's a decent singer, unlike much of (imo) the molam gang, and though the album is 16 tracks long I never felt it was time to skip or just stop listening. Nothing brilliant, nothing I'd necessarily listen to again, but nothing I wouldn't listen to again, if you know what I mean. The only time I cringed a little was her attempt to "rock up" the song "Pawee Giya Ma" as if she was some sort of female Elvis: that was terrible. But the instrumentation sounded - dunno if it was - mostly quite ethnic, she can sing and the melodies were catchy and sort of poppy. Very palatable, and very listenable.
Quite surprised: I'll give this a good 8/10. |
Nobody will be in the least surprised, I'm sure, to hear I got nothing out of this. I try to give all metal a decent chance, but this is just garbage. Started off well, with the spoken intro, then three, two one ... run program Standard Brutal Death Metal v 1.1! Vocals unintelligible as per, guitars occasionally break out into a decent solo here or there but generally just bludgeeon you into unconsciousness, and well, not much more to be said. At least it went by quickly.
1/10 |
Maybe it was just the effect of listening to this after suffering through Parasitic Wotsit, but I really enjoyed this. Sure, it's nothing special or clever, but it's catchy and listenable. I'd disagree that she can't sing; disagree strongly. I'm sure there are "stars" in pop today who sing much worse. She's no virtuoso, no, but she can hold a tune and for me, has a sort of bouncy, almost innocent, even childlike tone. She just seems to be enjoying herself.
Nothing really stood out to me as great, but the same is true for bad tracks. Overall a very enjoyable listen and I would certainly consider hearing more of their work. 7/10 easily. |
I'd say I really enjoyed this album. Sometimes it's hard to form your opinion based on one listen, but with five albums to be listened to this week (six, if you include the basic Album Club one too) I really don't have the time for or luxury of multiple listens. What I did hear on my first and only listen was a very competent band with some great vocalists (like the switching of male and female vocals) and some fine ideas. When you consider they're Costa Rican too, that kind of puts it a little more into perspective, as this sounds, to me, as good as any American or British prog metal band. Also not too long: eight tracks and none monsters. Can't pick out a favourite but I did really like the opener and also "Starlight". When I get time, I may very well listen to this again.
A solid 8/10 from me. |
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This obviously isn't anywhere as cool as Frowny's SE Asian pick but this has pretty solid Bollywood sound working for it. It's an ocean of a genre. . . whatever it's called
Three Stars. |
Can someone remove the poll please, if that's possible? Thanks.
Here's the next one that came up. Seriously. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._cover_art.jpg https://open.spotify.com/album/4AF1M7bGCFL3LHCtXUUXw5 |
To whoever changed the poll (probably Frown) thanks. Appreciate the joke too. :thumb:
On we go. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._cover_art.jpg Title: American Dream Artist: LCD Soundsystem Year: 2017 Genre: Synthpop (correct me if I'm wrong) Nationality: American Discography: Four albums Position in discography: Fourth How weird is it that this, of all albums, came up on the random link? Weird, right? Well, now that we've established that, and agreed how weird it is (it is weird, isn't it? Just, you know, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah: weird) what's it like? My own experience with LCD Soundsystem is limited to the recommendation of our own JTF in the late and lamented "Love or Hate?" thread, and I don't believe I was too impressed with the one he recced - I think it may have been This is Happening? Not sure. Anyway, right from the off I'm pretty impressed here. I note influences of 80s new wave bands like Human League, Visage and Depeche Mode, while I can also hear Talking Heads, Bowie and Eno in some of the tracks. I love the opener, the second track is a little more meh for me, but I have yet to hear anything I don't like. "Change Yr Mind" sounds a lot like Bowie's "Fashion" (isn't that the guitar riff from it there?) but manages not to sound like a ripoff of it. Like this album so far. Favourite tracks: "Oh Baby", "How Do You Sleep", "Tonite", "Call the Police" "American dream" .. pretty much all of it really. Great album. Note: Personally, I'm sick of scoring out of ten so I'm reverting to a system I trialed on the now-defunct 1001 Metal Albums You Must Hear Before You Die journal. It's pretty self-explanatory, and nicely visual and immediate: the faster the speedometer hits, the more I like the album, and vy-see ver-see. Yeah yeah: they're shit graphics. What do you expect from me? Eat glass. :D (If anyone wants to use them, I'll link you in.) This one gets http://www.trollheart.com/speed9.jpg |
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I made a RYM account and got this: https://open.spotify.com/album/1kSjiB7DQZYkP1Td78lUVC
Triaxis - Key to the Kingdom https://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.co...d8e04fdf98.jpg Genre: Power metal/heavy metal Year: 2009 Nation: UK What is it? A bunch of pretty straight forward of fairly minimalist power metal (as far as power metal goes, anyway). There's not any pseudo operatic pretensions or wild neoclassical wankery here. Just some pretty basic riffs and driving rhythms topped with some fairly straight forward vocal melodies. Production wise, it has the sound of an album produced for not a lot of money. The guitar riffs and drums have a sort of small room ambiance to them. The bass guitar comes through quite loud and clear, unlike a lot of metal made since... the beginning of the 80's, really. The vocalist is a woman with a fairly plain voice. She doesn't have a lot of range but she does have a good command of tones and a fairly forceful voice. Not the most characteristic voice though. She sounds like a woman that could comfortably sing some bluesy hard rock music. Any good? A lot of the riffs and vocal melodies aren't exactly winners. Sometimes something memorable happens, but mostly it is a pretty vanilla offering. It isn't bad, really. I kind of like the lead guitars most of the time they appear. A lot of the verses are just somewhat heavy power metal riffs without any frills. I like the album better when it gets a bit more ornate. Decent solos with some feeling to them and a nice sort of sound that I can get behind. The way the solo's sound can best be described as a pretty prototypical "metal" vibe. That kind of sums up the album, really. If you replaced the vocalist with a stereotypical metal dude with high pitched squeals in his arsenal, this would be American Style Power Metal 101. Rating It's allright. I can't see myself returning to this repeatedly, but it's well made and fun enough for what it is. It's just unambitious and kind of lacks in the memorability and personality department. 6/10 An album that comes to mind as a much better example of something similar, done way better is the album Helion Prime by the band of the same name. |
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I'll give this a shot later and see if I have anything different to say than you do, but generally, power metal is as power metal does. I don't go looking for any great revelations even from the best PM bands out there. Occasionally I'm surprised, but very seldom. The subgenre leaves very little room for any sort of experimentation or variety. Doesn't mean I don't like it, I just kind of know what to expect going in, and usually that's what I get. |
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Title: Key to the Kingdom
Artist: Triaxis Year: 2009 Genre: Heavy Metal Nationality: Welsh Discography: Three albums, one EP Position in discography: First (debut) album First of all, let's get one thing straight: this ain't Power Metal. Firstly, there are no keyboards. No. None. No keyboards at all. What's a PM band without keys, huh? Secondly, the sound the band appear to be going for is more Iron Maiden-lite than Stratovarius, Blind Guardian or any other Power Metal band you wish to name. It's a pity the new vocalist isn't on this, if only for her name: Angel Wolf-Black! Seriously. Well, it's not her real surname, but that's unpronounceable, for me anyway. They also later recruited a female bassist, but again she's not here. The singer we do get is Krissie Kirby, and I'd say she's up to the job, but really nothing special, as MicShazam pointed out. My other main gripe with this album - I think it's actually quite decent - is that the tracks are generally too long. Only one under five minutes, and the closer is almost eight. That's not a problem, per se, but these songs frankly aren't good enough to be stretched to lengths like that. They're ok, but a little pedestrian. 3-4 minutes would have been better. There's some good guitar work, but it's hard not to see the ghost of Smith, Murray and even Gers here in nearly every solo or extended instrumental part. Do we get the obligatory ballad? Yeah, the last one, also the longest, "The King and the Geisha" (what?) is their slow song. It's decent enough I guess and a good closer. Okay, i posted this before I had finished listening to it, and it seems it speeds up halfway but, you know, I don't care. Again, eleven tracks for an album that just is not that interesting is too long, and it becomes a bit of a slog to get through the whole thing. Does it change much/any over the course of those eleven tracks? Hmm, seems not. I thought for a moment there "Lord of the Northern Sky" was going to be something different, but it quickly devolved into just another pumping metal track. Yawn. This is their debut so maybe they got better, dropped the Maiden influences and struck out for their own signature sound, or at least some sort of individuality, but I'm not impressed enough to check any further. It's a good album, but that's about it really. Oh dear: even the start of "Submission" is basically ripped off from "Out of the Silent Planet". Sigh. It's okay as an album, just nothing that I haven't heard before, and not an album I'll be telling you you need to listen to. Cos, you know, you don't. http://www.trollheart.com/speed6.jpg |
I agree that there's some Iron Maiden in there, but Stratovarius isn't the only way to do power metal. I'd say there's a sliding scale that starts with heavy metal and ends with power metal.
I'm not one to nitpick genres, but lots and lots of bands that are more Maiden than Stratovarius gets labelled power metal. I'd say Stratovarius and Dragonforce represent the decidedly more frilly and over the top corner of the genre. Lots of bands are in the opposite end, Mastercastle, Pharaoh and Helion Prime, for example. At least that's how it seems other people define it and I'm not one to argue. When in doubt: Just look after whether there's a constant, fast bass drum underpinning most of the songs. If there is, it's power metal! But yeah, the band above are kind of borderline. RYM said power/heavy, but I just don't know anymore. What is the actual definition of power metal? |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_metal
I just personally feel it's not PM unless there are keyboards and a much more symphonic, often orchestral feel to the music. There's nothing to say that's right, but I'd definitely categorise this more as traditional heavy metal than anything else. One thing we can agree on though: it's pretty bog-standard fare, yes? As for the definition, I guess we need to ask the Oracle, when he drags himself out of his pit. Yo! Batty! Your expertise is needed here! |
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Title: Woman Mother Earth Sky
Artist: Roberta Chevrette Year: 2003 Genre: Folk Nationality: American Discography: Two albums Position in discography: First (debut) Female folk acoustic acts are ten-a-penny, so why is everyone (apparently) raving over this one? Not sure to be honest. It's decent music but nothing that, so far (only three or four tracks in) makes me really sit up. She plays the guitar well, but it's a little annoying that there's no information on her either on Wiki or Discogs, and nothing really on RYM either. Searching on Google brought me to the bio of a chemist, Dr. Roberta Chevrette, and it took some filtering before I could find out who the hell this was. Honestly: if you want to be known, get your ****ing information out there, you know? It's very frustrating, digging through pages of irrelevancies to try to find out who the **** this person is? Sort of puts me in a bad mood, which isn't the best frame of mind when reviewing a new album. Anyway, there appear to be Country/Bluegrass influences on this album, which gives it a nice rustic feel, kind of stripped down as it were. "Restless" is the first track that really stands out to me, bringing in the influences mentioned above. After that I begin to wilt a little; it's getting quite boring now. It's not that it's necessarily bad, it's just all a little too much the same. I don't see why anyone's repping her: nothing new here. So far anyway. Oh Christ! Now she thinks she's Gil Scott-Heron. I'm almost ready to bail at this point. Okay, "Can you hear this" is quite nice, soft and haunting with some really nice flute. Yeah, next one's good too. Maybe I'll hang around a little longer, see where this goes. "Indulge" is good, getting somewhat of a slightly harder edge as the album goes on. Oh dear, another spoken word piece again. Sigh. These really don't work, not for me anyway. Feels like she's trying to be edgy just to be edgy. Oh, and the delayed echo is really ****ing annoying too. All right, maybe it was clever how the two voices suddenly merged into a double-one, but I still don't see it. "Enlightenment" just annoys me even more. What the **** is this? Really losing interest, and patience, now. "Bending" is better, and we're near the end now, but it's been a bit of a struggle. Not really for me. http://www.trollheart.com/speed4.jpg |
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