Plankton

It's there. The font is "Budhand", with serif's.

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Trollheart

Cool. Thank you, my friend!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

Dear Justin,

Thank you for your kind gift. Unfortunately, I am no fan of hip-hop as you know, and if I were to try to get into it I don't think I would consider Eminem a gateway artist. It would be, I think, akin to someone trying to get into metal via Cannibal Corpse or Suffocation who had only heard Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. The lyrics were at times hilarious, at others embarrassing, but “Kim” really disturbed me, to think he had a woman make all those scared, terrified sounds. Brrr! I knew “Stan” of course, and “The real Slim Shady” was tolerable, but in general this album (nineteen tracks: thanks!) did not make me feel any better disposed towards this genre. Might I suggest socks next year?

Yours in Christ(mas),
Trollheart

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Trollheart

Having been to Argentina, Israel and Mexico in the last few weeks we're crossing back over the Alps and heading down south towards the Mediterranean, to a place that has become almost the spiritual home of prog. Well, one type of prog anyway. As I mentioned before, Italy is the only country in the world which has managed to create its very own subgenre of progressive rock, and these guys, while perhaps not playing the sort of avant-garde/seventies music usually associated with Rock Progressivo Italiano, are all from that country and so you would have to say that they qualify.


Not a good sign --- Not a Good Sign
The debut self-titled album is only fifty-one minutes long and contains only nine tracks, but there's some real beauty and depth there. Conceived out of various other Italian prog rock projects, none of whom I know so if I threw around names like Yugen, Ske and La Coscienza de Zeno, would they mean anything to you? Well they don't to me so I had no idea what to expect, but this album turned out to be pretty much deserving of its place relatively high up the count.

It opens with two linked tracks, “Almost I” and Almost II”, the first of which has a pounding, driving beat running on frenetic keys and Hammonds and Wurlitzers, with heavy guitar joining in. There's a certain dark doominess running through the music, and with their band name, chosen to reflect their view of how the world is going, that's not too surprising. Doom Prog? Perhaps not quite that bad, but a lot of the album is very melancholy and of a somewhat morose nature. Founder and keysman Paolo Botta does a fine job directing the synths while Francesco Zago on guitars makes sure the hard edge is not lost in the music of NAGS (I know: wonder if they thought about how their acronym would look?) though there is a sort of spacey, jazzy quality to the last few minutes and it becomes obvious now that this opener is in fact an instrumental.

Bold to choose such for the first track, perhaps? Always a gamble. You're a new band, unproven no matter how well known your other bands are in Italy. Are people going to listen to what is almost a seven-minute composition of purely music as your first salvo? It's good, and I guess in a way it serves as a sort of overture to the album, then things get much more relaxed and slightly more upbeat with “Almost II”, riding on a nice lilting guitar line until the soft voice of Allesandro Calandriello puts a shape on the music of NAGS, and what's more, he sings in English, which is always nice if not absolutely essential. The dark tone returns quickly to the music though, however here it is lightened by the clear vocals, then the title track explodes in a panolpy of keyboards and guitars, with Calandriello's voice a little rougher and harsher here.

It's a much heavier song, replete with thumping drumwork from Martino Malacrida and pulsing bass from his rhythm section partner Gabriele Guidi Colombi, but again the keys of Botta hold sway over everything until some truly beautiful piano comes in courtesy of guest musician Maurizio Fasoli. Teaming with lovely acoustic guitar it changes the whole tone of the song, Botta's wailing synth rising to meet the combination as they ascend to the heavens then come right back down on the back of punchy guitar from Zago and crunching percussion.

“Making stills” has a lovely intro on a glockenspiel, this handled by our keysman and giving the tune a very Peter Gabriel feel. A quiet, gentle start, it kicks up halfway with the manic keyboard work of Botta and some rocking drumwork from Malacrida, and seems obviously another instrumental as in the fourth minute it slows down again with the glockenspiel, a nice solo from Zago taking it to the end and into “Witchcraft by a picture”, which gets going with a big hard Sabbathesque groove on the guitar, dark, swirling organ and slow, doomy drumming. The vocal this time comes from another guest, as Sharron Fortnam adds a real sense of class with her angelic voice.

Also adding her own beauty to the tune is Bianca Fervidi on cello as she takes over from Fortnam and the instrumental passage begins, Fasoli reprising his role on piano as Malacrida kicks up the tempo, turning the song into something totally different and yet recognisable as what has gone before. One of my favourite tracks on the album, and it's finished off powerfully with some squealing synth and sharp guitar, fading out and taking us into “Coming back home”. This is a much more uptempo, almost psychedelic song with Calandriello returning to the mike, while “Flow on” sees the return of Fervidi on the cello with some nice Fender Rhodes opening the song and keeping things fairly uptempo. I hear elements of Spock's Beard, Supertramp and even a-ha here, with Calandriello's vocal at times quite low and soft, though at other points loud and strong. Decent song, if a little unremarkable. Nice interplay between the organ and the cello, and some very effective drumming.

This leaves us with two tracks, both relatively short. The first is “The deafening sound of the moon” which is pretty frenetic with quite a dramatic feel but I have to say it's one of my least favourite tracks here, just tends to wander all over the place looking for something to do. The closer is “Afraid to ask”, bringing back in that soft glockenspiel in tandem with the final appearance of Fervidi's cello and Fasoli's piano. A short track, just over three minutes, it's one more instrumental and closes the album well

TRACKLISTING

1. Almost I
2. Almost II
3. Not a good sign
4. Making stills
5. Witchcraft by a picture
6. Coming back home
7. Flow on
8. The deafening sound of the moon
9. Afraid to ask

This is a good album with some very strong points, and yet at times it lets the listener down I feel. The mixture of instrumentals and vocal tracks makes it a little hard to get a proper handle on, and I don't think Allesando Calandriello is used to his best potential, though the guest vocal from Sharron Fortnam on “Witchcraft by a picture” certainly works. This being the debut, I'm not sure when or if there will be another album by Not a Good Sign, but I have to say though I'd be interested I would not be waiting breathlessly for it.

Not the worst prog album I've ever heard by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly nowhere close to the best. Flashes of brilliance are too often dulled by somewhat pedestrian songs and in my opinion perhaps too many instrumentals. Nothing is too epically long, which is good but then again shows maybe that NAGS don't have the confidence to tackle a really long song on this their first album. I suppose you couldn't blame them.

Still, I did enjoy it and I would award it a fairly mid-table score of 6.5/10

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Trollheart

I think we did weather at one stage, or could have been the sun --- been so long I've forgotten --- but this time I want to take on the raw, unchallenged power of nature and look at songs about storms. Storms in the title, storms in the band name, or storms in the subject. There are a lot of them as it's a popular theme, whether used in its literal sense or as a metaphor, but this section is restricted to a certain number and so I've managed to cut it down to ten. Here they are.

Opening with one of my favourite heavy metal songs that nobody knows, this is Trespass with “Storm child”.

Then changing things completely we have a band who use storm in their name, one of Steven Wilson's many side-projects, Storm Corrosion.


Ever hear of Boy Meets Girl? Ah you have! Not remember “Waiting for a star to fall”? Well this is from the same album, a far superior track in my opinion. It's called “Stormy love”.

Another band with storm in their name, this is Stormbringer

Back to progressive rock, with something from Mostly Autumn, the title track to their album “Storms over still water”.

Speaking of title tracks, here's the one from Ten's “Stormwarning”

And here's ol' Blue Eyes, The Chairman himself, with “Stormy weather”

This is one from Joseph Arthur called “Surrender to the storm”

A classic, and often misnamed blues song, this is Gary Moore singing T-Bone Burnett's “Stormy Monday”, the correct title of which is “Call it stormy Monday (but Tuesday is just as bad)” Not surprising that they cut the title short!

And finish on one more classic, who doesn't know the timeless Doors song?

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Trollheart

Dear Goofle

Thank you very much for your thoughtful gift. You do indeed know something of my taste and I must admit Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat have been a band I have avoided sampling, simply because I did not like the name. I'm glad to say I thoroughly enjoyed this album. I would not choose favourite tracks because there were none I did not like. What did you call this? Darkwave? I feel I should perhaps hear more. May god bless you and yours.

Seasons Greetings,
Trollheart.

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Plankton

One more for your Storm theme:
SoundClick artist: PRDMonstrosity - page with MP3 music downloads

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Trollheart

There are good albums, and there are bad albums. There are great albums and there are awful albums. All four of these are, in some cases unfortunately, not in short supply. But occasionally you come across an album that just almost defies rating. These albums --- and they are very few and far between, as you might expect --- stand out from the crowd. They're perfectly produced. They have no bad tracks. They flow perfectly. The singing is pristine or at least perfect according to the genre of the music. They never get old and we never get tired of hearing them. Some are classics, but many are not. Many, in fact, are undiscovered gems, unearthed either by pure chance or on the strength of a recommendation, and we thank our music gods that we did discover them.

They are flawless, impossible to criticise, pure, uncut diamonds in what is often a sea of costume jewellery, or at least relatively inexpensive Argos style accoutrements. They come, as I say, but seldom and when they do they are the more appreciated for it. They take our breath away, make us want to share them with everyone who would appreciate such music, and bring a shaft of light into a boring, dull day, making us see with new eyes and hear with new ears. And suddenly the world is young again, and so are we. If we've spent our hard-earned on these albums we are glad to have done so, to have received not only value for money but a virtual steal. And if we get them for free, then the pleasure is multiplied exponentially. These albums become the cream of our collection, taking the top spot often from older, more listened-to albums, demanding and earning their place at the top of the tree, because they are all, each and every one

Don't expect this section to be too regular. As I already pointed out, these sort of flawless albums come along far too seldom, and I think I can count the Perfect Tens I have heard on the fingers of one, maybe two hands. Even my close-to-favourite album ever, Marillion's “Script for a jester's tear”, though I love it, does not qualify, because there is one track I'm not totally crazy about. It's very hard for an album to achieve this status: it literally has to be perfect in every way, and so few are.

But this one is.

Epicloud --- Devin Townsend Project --- 2012 (HevyDevy)

I should really never have heard this album, so maybe it's fate that I had bought it as a bit of a dig out for Ki, and then some time later noticed it on my hard drive and thought I wonder what all the fuss is about? To be honest, the cover was intriguing anyway so I put it on, expecting to either love or hate it, but thinking I'll give it a few tracks and we'll see how we go. I knew nothing of Devin Townsend prior to this, bar one novelty cover of “New York, New York” which he wrote for the covers/tribute album “Sin-Atra!” which I reviewed some time ago. I had not been impressed, and so was really not expecting that much, but Ki was so adamant about how great this album was, and he's usually on the money.

I find that, personally, with albums --- particularly those from artistes from which I have never heard anything --- that it takes a track or two before I either get into it or give it up as a bad job. If I'm reviewing of course I seldom if ever stop the album, even if I think it is terrible. I like to give a proper review, quality of the music or its effect on me notwithstanding. So there's a warm-up period, where I'm either impressed by the opener, then let down by the second track, album recovers at the third and so on, or it can be that it starts badly but rallies. Of course, the tracks can go all over the place: one good, one bad, next one bad, next one worse, then a good one and so on. I eventually make my decision, and my impression is formed on the basis of how either the bad outweighs the good, or vice versa.

Imagine, then, my surprise when this album kicked off as it meant to go on, with a brilliant opening, as “Effervescent” comes in with an acapella gospel choir, then kicks right into “True north”, a big guitar and a female vocal before the percussion thunders in on the back of mounting roaring guitar then a stupendous double vocal as Devin joins guest vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen, known to fans of Within Temptation among others. The song segues in completely seamlessly from the opening I guess introduction and it's --- yes get used to the word cause I'm going to be using it a lot here --- perfect. Keys from Devin then joins the song as it goes into a sort of progressive vein in the final minute before finishing on a choral reprise of “Effervescent”, making I guess the two tracks kind of one.

A hard, punching rock guitar and striding percussion with touches of post-punk pulls in “Lucky animals”, with a sort of shouted chorus, a vocal from Devin which puts me in mind of the very best of Meat Loaf. When I listened to the album the first time I told myself this is a standout. Little was I to know that this is basically an album of standouts, that each track improves on the next. It's quite amazing really. It piles into “Liberation”, a fast, heads-down rocker with a sense both of Slade and Bowie about it, the former in the vocal and the latter in the guitar riffs. Excellent drumming from Peter Van Poederooyen carries the song along with great energy and purpose, so that when Townsend sings ”Let's rock!” in the chorus, the only real response you can give is “Fuck yeah!” Very Steinmaneaque backing vocals here, and they really complement the overall sound.

Townsend has used a full gospel choir, string section and horn section on this album, and it really shows in the thick, rich, full sound that every track seems to have. I'd almost describe it as a twenty-first century equivalent of the famous Phil Spector Wall of Sound. It just makes you feel like you're at a gig, in a cathedral or something. But then Devin does a total about-face and takes out the acoustic guitar for a soft, gentle ballad as “Where we belong” takes the stage. Utterly incredible that even now, with the tempo right down and the direction so changed that Devin fails to put even a toe wrong, never mind a foot. A powerful, emotional electric guitar takes the chorus as Van Poederooyen crashes in with the percussion, Devin's voice remaining relaxed and soulful as he sings ”I know what it's there for/ I know what it's worth.”

A soul-shredding guitar solo that almost sounds like a mandolin, but surely cannot be, as the song heads towards its passionate conclusion, and the wheel turns again, as “Save our now” kicks up the tempo and plunges us directly into a screeching guitar riff which then pulls in strong percussion and bass as Devin goes all pop, but somehow it's okay. You could really hear this playing on the radio, it's just that good. Van Giersbergen is back to lend her voice to proceedings, then the choir are in full flow for the chorus, and Anneke's contributions really help to make the song.

We're over halfway through the album now, so where's the tipping point? Most albums have a track at which the record peaks, and the next is not so good as the quality begins to deteriorate. Some rally at the end, some don't, plunging the album into a disappointing ending and making us wish it could all be like the ones before. But this one has no tipping point. There is not one single bad track on it, and as I listened, rapt and in disbelief, the first time, I kept expecting to hear the “downer” track, the one that would make me think okay, that was not so great but the rest has been brilliant up to now so I can forgive him one slip. No forgiveness is required. Devin keeps the quality at the very highest level right to the final note, and that's a rare thing. “Kingdom” rides on a heavy, machinegun guitar and pounding drumwork, with a growled vocal from Devin and a melody that so closely mirrors “Save our now” in ways that it's hard to realise we have passed from one track to the next. Seamless is definitely high in Devin Townsend's vocabulary.

The choir takes the song in the third minute --- it runs for just over five --- but Devin comes back, more powerful and passionate as the track begins to wind up. Is there time to catch your breath? There is. A spacey, rolling synth presages soft acoustic guitar as “Divine” gives us the album's second, but not last ballad, Devin knocking it right back down with a gentle vocal and a simple tune that somehow just fits in here perfectly. I would say “Grace” is a standout, but as I said they're all standouts. A simple acoustic guitar and a lovely vocal from Anneke soon develops into a full-blown effort from the choir, backing the band as the track, masquerading for a minute or so as a ballad, shows its true colours and pounds out of the traps, a rolling, thundering drumbeat and shattering guitar work metamorphosing it into a heavy tough rocker with an amazing chorus. It's also the longest track here, at just over six minutes.

The power and passion in this song simply has to be heard to be believed; it's almost epiphanic, and Van Giersbergen turns in a star performance on the vocals. There's not a whole lot in the lyric, to be fair, but even at that the song does not sound one second overstretched. The acoustic guitar returns in the last minute, to lead the song into its thundering conclusion. And you're just getting over the power of that when you're hit by the out-and-out thrash metal of “More!” It's almost like a different album, but it seems Townsend can turn his hand to anything, and this is fast and loud and frantic and as heavy as any metal band you care to name. A fast delivery on the chorus sets up a fist-pumping, chest-thumping shout of the title. You can feel the sweat rolling off, and indeed Devin is right: ”We want more!”

And we get it. “Lessons” is a short track, just barely over a minute, but employs some truly beautiful classical guitar and spacey floating synthwork to create a song that needs to be longer, but of necessity isn't, as we slide into “Hold on”, another soft ballad that develops the themes touched upon in “Lessons”, then powers up on heavy guitar with lovely keyboard arpeggios, tinkly piano and strings. Finally, breathless and exhausted, we arrive at the closer. Deep organ skirls and sweeps us into “Angel”, again carrying on the main melody of the previous track, so that it, and “Lessons” all sort of merge together as a closing trilogy. Another powerhouse performance from the choir, with every bandmember giving their all, not least of which is Devin, who also brings in a reprise of “Save our now” and carries this basic melody through six glorious closing minutes, in a fashion that in lesser artistes might be seen as a ploy, covering up for inadequacies in the song, but here it's just perfect. Although every song on this album deserves that honour, this strikes me as the only way to end this phenomenal juggernaut that pretends to be an album, but is so very much more. There's an unexpected acapella by the gospel choir --- well, it's accompanied by a solo piano and I think bass but it's almost acapella, and it, believe it or not, reprises “Effervescent” and brings down the curtain in the very finest style possible.

TRACKLISTING

1. Effervescent!
2. True north
3. Lucky animals
4. Liberation
5. Where we belong
6. Save our now
7. Kingdom
8. Divine
9. Grace
10. More
11. Lessons
12. Hold on
13. Angel

You know something? I never ever do this, but there's a special edition of the album that contains --- wait for it --- almost a whole other album. Another ten songs, and they are as good as the thirteen I've just reviewed. So in a break with tradition I'm going to review that album too, sort of separate but still a part of this review.

All of these tracks are shown as being demos, and the first one, “Believe” does sound slightly unfinished, though less so than some demos I've heard. It's an acoustic (at the moment) slow ballad with a low vocal , nice trickling percussion and great backing vocals, stripped down compared to a lot of the main album but still with its own character and definitely its own power. In the hands of another artiste, a song like “Happy birthday” would be a cause for worry, but not here. Like King Midas of myth, seems everything the T-man touches turns to pure gold, and again we have a superbly crafted mid-paced rock/pop song with Anneke taking the main vocal while Devin delivers some fine guitar to accompany her.

“Quietus” then channels The Cars at their best, with a lowdown, dirty guitar groove and a dark, menacing vocal that's almost muttered. Some great basswork here and some freaky synth too, gets very funky in places. A mix of uptempo blues and rockabilly starts off “Heatwave” with what sounds like upright bass and a kind of metallised vocal, reminds me of Elvis or Duane Eddie. “Love tonight” is another track that would be well at home on the radio, even in the charts, and yet retains for all its poppiness its sense of heavy, thanks to the amazing guitar sound. Vocal's a little muddy but then these are demo versions so you have to forgive that.

Really though, if these are just demos you have to wonder what the final product would/will sound like when finished. Few if any of these need any polishing up as far as I can hear, and could be slapped on an album of their own as they are. “The mind wasp” is a bit strange, sort of a tribal thing going on and a vocal that is very hard to make out but still interesting, while “Woah no!” fires everything off on all cylinders with a nasty violent guitar and an almost death metal vocal from Devin --- guess this is what he sounded like with Strapping Young Lad, eh? --- which then brings in lush keyboards and a great anthemic chorus. “Love and marriage” streamlines things a little after that, with another rocker but more restrained this time, a softer more manageable vocal with the song mostly driven on guitar, and the longest song on the extra disc --- longest overall really --- at over seven minutes blasts a killer guitar riff alongside a vocal that's fairly close to the one in “Grace” as “Socilaization” almost ends the second disc, breaking down into a kind of arabic theme with some gorgeous piano in the last two minutes.

And the album closes on “Little pig”, with a soft quiet walking bass, jazzy drums and a slow piano that reveals itself as a sort of folk/Country hybrid with a gentle vocal, a final contribution from Annele van Giersbergen. A sort of Pink Floyd vocal choir as in the likes of “Dark side” and “The Wall”, and we're out, leaving me for the second time somewhat speechless. These were supposed to be bonus tracks, which are usually not often of the highest calibre, but I could have listened to this as a separate album in its own right and still come away praising it to the heavens.

TRACKLISTING
1. Believe
2. Happy birthday
3. Quietus
4. Heatwave
5. Love tonight
6. The mind wasp
7. Woah no!
8. Love and marriage
9. Socialization
10. Little pig

It's pretty amazing how even a disc of extra tracks just adds to, rather than endangers, this album's rating of ten out out ten. There's still nothing I would rate as even approaching weak, and far from annoy me as bonus tracks do, this disc just made me want more. Since listening to this the first time I've downloaded all Devin Townsend's discography (though of course as usual I have yet to listen to any of it) and bought his new albums. He's definitely made a convert of me, and a fan.

Thanks again to Ki for the introduction; fate can move in mysterious ways certainly, and I'm glad that this particular path drove me towards this incredible album, and showed me that sometimes, if you're very lucky, perfection can be achieved.

As I said at the beginning, a totally flawless album. A true perfect ten.

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Trollheart

Dear Urban

Thank you for introducing me to Canterbury and, as you would no doubt say, real prog via the album “Bananamour” by Kevin Ayers. Now I have to check out some Soft Machine. Loved this. Thought the opening track was like some weirded out Floyd effort that combined Meddle and Dark Side. Religious. Absolutely loved “When your parents go to sleep”. Super album. Thanks again.

Bah Humbug to you,
Trollheart

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Anteater

I coulda sworn I've encouraged you before to listen to Ocean Machine: Biomech (among others) as far as Townsend goes. Oh wellz: I'll have to give Ki kudos for finally getting you to take the first step into Heavy Devy land.

As usual, keep up the excellent work my friend. I picked up that Bram Stoker album Cold Reading based on your review of the music and I gotta say...magnifico!

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