The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 11-24-2016, 04:05 PM

#OfficeGate

Trollheart · 11-24-2016, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tristan Geoff

The last 300 pages of the Missing Posters thread have all been about you. They haven't shut up about your return since the month after you left.

Needless to say, glad to have you back

lots has happened in the past year.

Hey that's really nice to know. Fair brings a tear to a glass eye.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls

Are you ready to be pressured into producing massive content for MB that all us lazy ****s won't?

That depends. I'm going to be really concentrating on my journals, though I will step outside from time to time. If you're looking however for the likes of "Love or Hate?" to return, I don't see that happening sadly. I've too much to do to devote time to a bunch of albums I may or may not like, and I think I've paid my dues there anyway.

On the question of the journal update, well, stay tuned...

The Batlord · 11-24-2016, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Thanks Chula. Amazing how many people pretend to have missed you, as long as you sign the cheques, huh?

Seriously, thanks. Good to be back.

Mine bounced. I hope the IRA blows up your house.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Hey that's really nice to know. Fair brings a tear to a glass eye.

That depends. I'm going to be really concentrating on my journals, though I will step outside from time to time. If you're looking however for the likes of "Love or Hate?" to return, I don't see that happening sadly. I've too much to do to devote time to a bunch of albums I may or may not like, and I think I've paid my dues there anyway.

On the question of the journal update, well, stay tuned...

But... I literally have a tab open with the album cover to the one I want to rec open at this moment in anticipation.

Oh well, it was a troll rec anyway.

Trollheart · 11-25-2016, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Mine bounced. I hope the IRA blows up your house.

The IRA no longer exist. Like your girlfriend.

And if they did, even they wouldn't dare come into Darndale!

Trollheart · 11-25-2016, 10:20 AM

Time to step into the Unbelievably Stupid and Blinkered World of Young Trollheart again, as I reveal that though I had never listened to this band, I resented them because they were using the name chosen by Marillion for their second album. It was only the second time I had heard the word, so I assumed they had stolen it from Fish and the boys. Of course, it has its origins in the Vietnam War, where it was a GI acronym for Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In. And so we begin the discography of

Album title: Repeater
Artiste: Fugazi
Genre: Post-Hardcore
Year: 1990
Label: Dischord
Producer: Fugazi, Ted Niceley
Chronological position: Debut album
Notes:
Album chart position: Unknown
Singles: None
Lineup:
Ian MacKaye: Vocals, guitar, piano
Guy Picciotti: Vocals, guitar
Joe Lally: Bass
Brendan Canty: Drums

Review begins

With a sort of wailing guitar chord we head into the opening track, “Turnover”, which has a nice sort of midpaced tempo to it, vocals (shared between Guy Picciotto and Ian MacKaye) are this first time out courtesy of the former, with a sort of raw, harsh quality but very understandable. Quite a catchy song really, with a lot of power and aggression but still almost commercial in its feel. Not anywhere near as radio-friendly is the title track, on which the vocals are switched to MacKaye, whose style I don't feel as attracted to. This is closer to what I would think of as punk, whereas the previous track was more indie rock, maybe. This feels very raw, the percussion is kind of hollow, tumbly? I assumed with a title like “Brendan #1” this would be a drum solo. It kind of is, but more an instrumental really. It's quite good, in fairness.

“Merchandise” takes us back into the realm of MacKaye's singing, and has that sharp, snappy punk feel to it. Not feeling it here guys, not at all. Much prefer the more laidback style of “Blueprint”, with its softer guitar intro and the harsh, powerful but somehow more palatable vocal of Picciotto. I really like the riff in this. I see he's on the lead vocal for the next three tracks, which is good, though I have to admit “Sieve-fisted find” (?) sounds more like your other man. Like the guitar in it, but it's again a little bit chaotic. I also don't hear, so far, any piano, though it's credited. Maybe later. Good bassline here but overall I'm not as impressed with this track as I was with the one that preceded it. And “Greed” is just terrible, a total mess. I'm almost wishing for MacKaye to come back. Almost.

Sounds like “Two beats off” might be better. Very simple, acoustic style guitar then electric kicks it up, and a lovely scratchy bassline. Not an awful lot in it though, and “Styrofoam” doesn't do it for me either. It's all just a little too shouty and raw. I was getting into some of the tracks, but overall the album is not winning me over. Think I finally hear the piano on “Reprovisional”, could be wrong though. It's a better track overall than most of the more recent ones, good melody running through it. That brings us to the final track, perhaps appropriately titled “Shut the door”, where things seem to slow down for the first time I think on the album. Oh but it doesn't stay that way. What a surprise. The vocal is pretty manic, and seems to concern someone having accidentally killed someone when he says “She's not breathing! She's not moving! She's not coming back!” so I guess that would be appropriate. Nice bass in the midsection then a pretty cool guitar solo before the end.

TRACK LISTING AND RATINGS

Turnover
Repeater
Brendan #1
Merchandise
Blueprint
Sieve-fisted find
Greed
Two beats off
Styrofoam
Reprovisional
Shut the door

Afterword: Not quite what I expected, though to be honest I'm so unversed in hardcore or post-hardcore that I would not really have had a clue what to expect. Little too raw for me, too close to punk maybe. Some good tracks but as you'll see from the ratings above, not that many and there were so many that were simply Meh. Again, it's a debut album so maybe they improved, or, I should say, maybe I'll find them more palatable as the discography goes on, but for now, really not my particular cup of poison at all.

Rating:

Tristan_Geoff · 11-25-2016, 10:27 AM

In On the Killer Taker and Red Medicine are the best Fugazi albums if ya wanna try those out later on.

Trollheart · 11-25-2016, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tristan Geoff

In On the Killer Taker and Red Medicine are the best Fugazi albums if ya wanna try those out later on.

Well I'm doing the entire discography of each artiste in order, so yeah, I will get to them, in due course.

The Batlord · 11-25-2016, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tristan Geoff

In On the Killer Taker and Red Medicine are the best Fugazi albums if ya wanna try those out later on.

This. I suspect he'll think IotKT is too punk, but Red Medicine has a real shot I imagine. Might be his gateway to post-hardcore, if not punk or actual hardcore.

Ol’ Qwerty Bastard · 11-25-2016, 01:06 PM

I'm not sure you'll be a fan of much of their material, but no one can possibly dislike The Arguement.

Trollheart · 11-27-2016, 03:56 PM

Album title: Bathory
Artiste: Bathory
Genre: Black Metal/Thrash Metal
Year: 1984
Label: Tyfon
Producer: Quorthon, The Boss
Chronological position: Debut album
Notes:
Album chart position: Are you fucking serious? A Black Metal album in the charts???
Singles: None
Lineup:
Quorthon: Vocals, guitar
Stefan Larsson: Drums
Rickard Bergman: Bass

Review begins

If there's one thing Bathory are famous for round here, it's for allowing our own Batlord to misread the name on the album and thus come up with his own username. Hey: it's easy to do! Those crazy Gothic letters, eh? Apparently famous by accident, Bathory's breakthrough came when they were included on a Black Metal compilation album after one of the bands had pulled out, and as a result of hugely positive feedback got to record their own album. This was it, and it led to a career spanning twenty years, and changing from Black Metal to Viking Metal (which Bathory are said to have invented) as they became favourites among the extreme metal community.

This was recorded, literally, in a converted garage, so I don't expect any great overall sound, perhaps taking the term lo-fi to its epitome, but let's see how it sounds thirty years on. I've heard some Bathory, but it's been more on the Viking Metal side of things, so this will be my first real acquaintance with their original and much rawer sounds. Cellos? Nope. Flutes? You kidding? Mandolin? Not on your life, mate! And it opens with every sound that has become a cliche in Black Metal: pealing bells, sound of wind and rain, thunder as “Storm of damnation (intro)” kicks us off, very atmospheric and dark, kind of almost atmospheric black metal, and I'm assuming at this point an instrumental. Yep, it is. “Hades” then ramps up the proper black metal influences, but my god (sorry Quorthon!) that production is just awful! I can hardly make out what the guy is singing, and though this is often the case with black metal, that's usually due to the singer's style - screech or growl or hiss or snarl - but here I'm sure I would be able to understand the vocals if I could hear them properly.

The drums sound like someone is hitting tin cans, though at least the guitar is front and centre. Good fast powerful headbanger for sure, giving Slayer a run for their money here, but it's hard to pick out anything specific about the track. Fretwork is excellent, but now it's over and we're into “Reaper”, where at least the drums sound fuller and stronger, and in fact yeah, I can hear the vocals fine now. Well, they come and go. I like this one better than “Hades”; at least I can make out what the song is about here. Not sure if “Necromansy” is meant to be spelled that way (Wiki says it was a mistake due to Quorthon running out of press-on letters, but I guess it's become known as that now) but it rocks nicely, and with somewhat less of an edge than “Reaper”. Some really nice riffs here and a great melody. Fantastic solo at the end.

Didn't Elton John do a cover of this? No? Must be another “Sacrifice” I'm thinking of then.

Man, this rockets along like a good thing. Makes Motorhead sound slow and plodding and Slayer lethargic. That missing C in his Letra-set (TM) comes up again for “In conspirasy with Satan” which hammers along on rails of fire, punishing guitar and pounding drums, the vocal evil as all Hell. Another excellent solo, possibly one of the best on the album so far, and into the appropriately-titled “Armageddon” which destroys all before it. Quorthon's voice is a little lower-pitched on this, not a growl or anything close but definitely a lower register. The dark pealing bells return, accompanied by a slowing heartbeat to usher in “Raise the dead” with a Sabbathy riff to open, then it rocks and boogies along like nobody's business, and I think this may be my favourite track on the album. Love this. This is more the thrash metal side of Bathory, I guess. Love the solo.

That leaves us with two tracks, but one really, as the closer is only seconds long. “War” just goes for the throat, taking no prisoners and ploughing a furrow across your brain that will make it impossible for you to sit still again. You have to headbang to this song: it's mandatory. Sure it's simple and almost throwaway, but it's such fun! How can you resist? Then we have as I say a few seconds of ambient noise to close in “Outro” and we're done.

TRACK LISTING AND RATINGS

Storm of damnation (intro)
Hades
Reaper
Necromansy
Sacrifice
In conspirasy with Satan
Armageddon
Raise the dead
War
Outro

Afterword: It's all a little raw and unfocussed for me, and hard to get at any actual real tunes, so hard to praise this album that much. Having said that, it's an impressive debut for something that was pretty much thrown together, and with better production or remastering this could have turned out to be quite an album. As it is, it's a cult favourite and a legend among black metal devotees, so I'm not going to say anything negative about it.

Rating:

11-25-2016, 10:20 AM	#3175 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Time to step into the Unbelievably Stupid and Blinkered World of Young Trollheart again, as I reveal that though I had never listened to this band, I resented them because they were using the name chosen by Marillion for their second album. It was only the second time I had heard the word, so I assumed they had stolen it from Fish and the boys. Of course, it has its origins in the Vietnam War, where it was a GI acronym for Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In. And so we begin the discography of Album title: Repeater Artiste: Fugazi Genre: Post-Hardcore Year: 1990 Label: Dischord Producer: Fugazi, Ted Niceley Chronological position: Debut album Notes: Album chart position: Unknown Singles: None Lineup: Ian MacKaye: Vocals, guitar, piano Guy Picciotti: Vocals, guitar Joe Lally: Bass Brendan Canty: Drums Review begins With a sort of wailing guitar chord we head into the opening track, “Turnover”, which has a nice sort of midpaced tempo to it, vocals (shared between Guy Picciotto and Ian MacKaye) are this first time out courtesy of the former, with a sort of raw, harsh quality but very understandable. Quite a catchy song really, with a lot of power and aggression but still almost commercial in its feel. Not anywhere near as radio-friendly is the title track, on which the vocals are switched to MacKaye, whose style I don't feel as attracted to. This is closer to what I would think of as punk, whereas the previous track was more indie rock, maybe. This feels very raw, the percussion is kind of hollow, tumbly? I assumed with a title like “Brendan #1” this would be a drum solo. It kind of is, but more an instrumental really. It's quite good, in fairness. “Merchandise” takes us back into the realm of MacKaye's singing, and has that sharp, snappy punk feel to it. Not feeling it here guys, not at all. Much prefer the more laidback style of “Blueprint”, with its softer guitar intro and the harsh, powerful but somehow more palatable vocal of Picciotto. I really like the riff in this. I see he's on the lead vocal for the next three tracks, which is good, though I have to admit “Sieve-fisted find” (?) sounds more like your other man. Like the guitar in it, but it's again a little bit chaotic. I also don't hear, so far, any piano, though it's credited. Maybe later. Good bassline here but overall I'm not as impressed with this track as I was with the one that preceded it. And “Greed” is just terrible, a total mess. I'm almost wishing for MacKaye to come back. Almost. Sounds like “Two beats off” might be better. Very simple, acoustic style guitar then electric kicks it up, and a lovely scratchy bassline. Not an awful lot in it though, and “Styrofoam” doesn't do it for me either. It's all just a little too shouty and raw. I was getting into some of the tracks, but overall the album is not winning me over. Think I finally hear the piano on “Reprovisional”, could be wrong though. It's a better track overall than most of the more recent ones, good melody running through it. That brings us to the final track, perhaps appropriately titled “Shut the door”, where things seem to slow down for the first time I think on the album. Oh but it doesn't stay that way. What a surprise. The vocal is pretty manic, and seems to concern someone having accidentally killed someone when he says “She's not breathing! She's not moving! She's not coming back!” so I guess that would be appropriate. Nice bass in the midsection then a pretty cool guitar solo before the end. TRACK LISTING AND RATINGS Turnover Repeater Brendan #1 Merchandise Blueprint Sieve-fisted find Greed Two beats off Styrofoam Reprovisional Shut the door Afterword: Not quite what I expected, though to be honest I'm so unversed in hardcore or post-hardcore that I would not really have had a clue what to expect. Little too raw for me, too close to punk maybe. Some good tracks but as you'll see from the ratings above, not that many and there were so many that were simply Meh. Again, it's a debut album so maybe they improved, or, I should say, maybe I'll find them more palatable as the discography goes on, but for now, really not my particular cup of poison at all. Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

11-27-2016, 03:56 PM	#3180 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Album title: Bathory Artiste: Bathory Genre: Black Metal/Thrash Metal Year: 1984 Label: Tyfon Producer: Quorthon, The Boss Chronological position: Debut album Notes: Album chart position: Are you fucking serious? A Black Metal album in the charts??? Singles: None Lineup: Quorthon: Vocals, guitar Stefan Larsson: Drums Rickard Bergman: Bass Review begins If there's one thing Bathory are famous for round here, it's for allowing our own Batlord to misread the name on the album and thus come up with his own username. Hey: it's easy to do! Those crazy Gothic letters, eh? Apparently famous by accident, Bathory's breakthrough came when they were included on a Black Metal compilation album after one of the bands had pulled out, and as a result of hugely positive feedback got to record their own album. This was it, and it led to a career spanning twenty years, and changing from Black Metal to Viking Metal (which Bathory are said to have invented) as they became favourites among the extreme metal community. This was recorded, literally, in a converted garage, so I don't expect any great overall sound, perhaps taking the term lo-fi to its epitome, but let's see how it sounds thirty years on. I've heard some Bathory, but it's been more on the Viking Metal side of things, so this will be my first real acquaintance with their original and much rawer sounds. Cellos? Nope. Flutes? You kidding? Mandolin? Not on your life, mate! And it opens with every sound that has become a cliche in Black Metal: pealing bells, sound of wind and rain, thunder as “Storm of damnation (intro)” kicks us off, very atmospheric and dark, kind of almost atmospheric black metal, and I'm assuming at this point an instrumental. Yep, it is. “Hades” then ramps up the proper black metal influences, but my god (sorry Quorthon!) that production is just awful! I can hardly make out what the guy is singing, and though this is often the case with black metal, that's usually due to the singer's style - screech or growl or hiss or snarl - but here I'm sure I would be able to understand the vocals if I could hear them properly. The drums sound like someone is hitting tin cans, though at least the guitar is front and centre. Good fast powerful headbanger for sure, giving Slayer a run for their money here, but it's hard to pick out anything specific about the track. Fretwork is excellent, but now it's over and we're into “Reaper”, where at least the drums sound fuller and stronger, and in fact yeah, I can hear the vocals fine now. Well, they come and go. I like this one better than “Hades”; at least I can make out what the song is about here. Not sure if “Necromansy” is meant to be spelled that way (Wiki says it was a mistake due to Quorthon running out of press-on letters, but I guess it's become known as that now) but it rocks nicely, and with somewhat less of an edge than “Reaper”. Some really nice riffs here and a great melody. Fantastic solo at the end. Didn't Elton John do a cover of this? No? Must be another “Sacrifice” I'm thinking of then. Man, this rockets along like a good thing. Makes Motorhead sound slow and plodding and Slayer lethargic. That missing C in his Letra-set (TM) comes up again for “In conspirasy with Satan” which hammers along on rails of fire, punishing guitar and pounding drums, the vocal evil as all Hell. Another excellent solo, possibly one of the best on the album so far, and into the appropriately-titled “Armageddon” which destroys all before it. Quorthon's voice is a little lower-pitched on this, not a growl or anything close but definitely a lower register. The dark pealing bells return, accompanied by a slowing heartbeat to usher in “Raise the dead” with a Sabbathy riff to open, then it rocks and boogies along like nobody's business, and I think this may be my favourite track on the album. Love this. This is more the thrash metal side of Bathory, I guess. Love the solo. That leaves us with two tracks, but one really, as the closer is only seconds long. “War” just goes for the throat, taking no prisoners and ploughing a furrow across your brain that will make it impossible for you to sit still again. You have to headbang to this song: it's mandatory. Sure it's simple and almost throwaway, but it's such fun! How can you resist? Then we have as I say a few seconds of ambient noise to close in “Outro” and we're done. TRACK LISTING AND RATINGS Storm of damnation (intro) Hades Reaper Necromansy Sacrifice In conspirasy with Satan Armageddon Raise the dead War Outro Afterword: It's all a little raw and unfocussed for me, and hard to get at any actual real tunes, so hard to praise this album that much. Having said that, it's an impressive debut for something that was pretty much thrown together, and with better production or remastering this could have turned out to be quite an album. As it is, it's a cult favourite and a legend among black metal devotees, so I'm not going to say anything negative about it. Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018