Wpnfire? Who's Wpnfire?!'s Journal

Wpnfire · 11-06-2014, 11:02 PM

I retured to that list of albums with great riffs and pulled this out.

Genres: Stoner, Doom, Death
Release: 2008

This is a highly unusual album to describe, which is why I want to review it: I like to think of myself as good at writing description. Anyway, the riffs are all over the place genre-wise: Heavily distorted stoner rock, melodic sludge metal, regular sludge, and epic death/doom. Sometimes, two totally different styles are played right after the other, but it works incredibly well. Speed is never consistent either. One second it is wall-of-fuzz, noise or drone, very slow, edgy riffs, (or very slow, melodic playing!) the next it is bright, more uptempo riffs. The solos are high-pitched and piercing loud, sort of like Quorthon soloing on Blood Fire Death, only more akin to Stoner than black metal.
So the guitar playing is all over the map.

The vocals are nasty, if that makes any sense: guttural, gurgle-y, death metal vocals, sung slowly (nothing like Suffocation), and played low in the mix. It is very easy to forget about the vocals actually. They stand out from the instrumentation, but the instrumentation is usually always changing and is far more interesting to me.

"Bare minimum" describes the drumming pretty well. The drummer is very quiet in the background, and plays in very odd timing, but still in rhythm with the guitars. Like the album, very rarely does the drumming ever speed up.

Acid Witch does not **** around with your attention on this album. No fade outs, sparse intros, and all the songs flow directly into one another. Literally, it is like one giant recording cut into multiple "songs". There is music all the time too, no silence, and the riffs only stop playing for the solos. Even the intro tracks "Intro" and "Beastly Brew" are wall-of-noise.

Last but certainly not least, the sound effects. Bubbling (cauldrons, I assume would be a proper interpretation), the sounds of footsteps in the forest, screams, wolves howling, and many other spooky things provide a limited atmosphere, they are very high quality samples too.

One complaint I have with this album is that it drags on far too long, and that hurts my rating of it. Around track 9 it started to get repetitive.

Favorite tracks: I like all of the tracks, but "Cauldron Cave" is easily the best. An oddly placed organ opens with some atmospheric sound effects played over it open the track, then an equally out-of-place, fiery solo plays before the song descends into full on death/doom straight out of a Coffins album. Sick! Briks, if you are reading this, you should listen to this song. You will maybe like it, I am not sure. It is very short so you will not have to suffer for long.
My other favorite would be "Into the Cave" because it has my favorite riffs on the whole album.

Overall rating: 3/5

Wpnfire · 11-07-2014, 08:41 AM

Changing Direction

Not really a fan of Springsteen's debut. My parents own the complete set of Tracks, and that was one of the first things I listened to once I decided to start exploring the Boss's music around five years ago. I made the mistake of listening to that before I listened to Greetings, and I firmly believe "Growin' Up," "Mary Queen of Arkansas," "Does This Bus Stop," and the other demo tracks that Springsteen re-recorded for the album, are severely lacking compared to the original acoustic demo versions found on Tracks. Springsteen is good at arrangement, but he fails to match the intensity that the acoustic versions that "Growin' Up," for example, provide. Still, they are good songs on their own.

My two favorites from this album are the rapid-fire "Blinded By The Light," and the hypnotic "Lost in the Flood." "Blinded" is one of my favorite Springsteen songs, and is the definition of singable with over 600 words! "Lost in the Flood" is an addicting, progressive lyrical ballad that could be one of Springsteen's most violent (and depressing) songs, lyric-wise. The song ends with a story of a shootout on the city streets of one New York City's lesser boroughs. One of the last lines are:

Quote:

And some kid comes blastin' 'round the corner, but a cop puts him right away
He lays on the street holding his leg, screaming something in Spanish, still breathing when I walked away

"For You," and "Spirit In the Night" are my other favorites, but they pale in comparison to "Blinded" and "Lost in the Flood."

Overall rating: 3/5

11-06-2014, 11:02 PM	#1 (permalink)
Wpnfire Dragon Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Kansas, United States Posts: 2,744	I retured to that list of albums with great riffs and pulled this out. Genres: Stoner, Doom, Death Release: 2008 This is a highly unusual album to describe, which is why I want to review it: I like to think of myself as good at writing description. Anyway, the riffs are all over the place genre-wise: Heavily distorted stoner rock, melodic sludge metal, regular sludge, and epic death/doom. Sometimes, two totally different styles are played right after the other, but it works incredibly well. Speed is never consistent either. One second it is wall-of-fuzz, noise or drone, very slow, edgy riffs, (or very slow, melodic playing!) the next it is bright, more uptempo riffs. The solos are high-pitched and piercing loud, sort of like Quorthon soloing on Blood Fire Death, only more akin to Stoner than black metal. So the guitar playing is all over the map. The vocals are nasty, if that makes any sense: guttural, gurgle-y, death metal vocals, sung slowly (nothing like Suffocation), and played low in the mix. It is very easy to forget about the vocals actually. They stand out from the instrumentation, but the instrumentation is usually always changing and is far more interesting to me. "Bare minimum" describes the drumming pretty well. The drummer is very quiet in the background, and plays in very odd timing, but still in rhythm with the guitars. Like the album, very rarely does the drumming ever speed up. Acid Witch does not **** around with your attention on this album. No fade outs, sparse intros, and all the songs flow directly into one another. Literally, it is like one giant recording cut into multiple "songs". There is music all the time too, no silence, and the riffs only stop playing for the solos. Even the intro tracks "Intro" and "Beastly Brew" are wall-of-noise. Last but certainly not least, the sound effects. Bubbling (cauldrons, I assume would be a proper interpretation), the sounds of footsteps in the forest, screams, wolves howling, and many other spooky things provide a limited atmosphere, they are very high quality samples too. One complaint I have with this album is that it drags on far too long, and that hurts my rating of it. Around track 9 it started to get repetitive. Favorite tracks: I like all of the tracks, but "Cauldron Cave" is easily the best. An oddly placed organ opens with some atmospheric sound effects played over it open the track, then an equally out-of-place, fiery solo plays before the song descends into full on death/doom straight out of a Coffins album. Sick! Briks, if you are reading this, you should listen to this song. You will maybe like it, I am not sure. It is very short so you will not have to suffer for long. My other favorite would be "Into the Cave" because it has my favorite riffs on the whole album. Overall rating: 3/5 __________________ Last.FM My RYM Ratings *My Glitchwave Beta Profile* Last edited by Wpnfire; 01-28-2015 at 12:15 PM.