As the weather and city are clearing up I’m starting to realize just how long I’ve been sick for. I’ve had the brutal head colds, stomach viruses and even a scare of infestation, but I’m talking about actually being sick. Sick of hearing that everything “Is so great, I love it”. What happened to the line between liking something intrinsically and ironically? How are conversations going from Terrorizer to W.A.S.P.? One’s taste can’t actually be all encompassing. You don’t love it and the memo’s been sorely received. Everything played under the guise of distortion and macabre aesthetic isn’t good you know. Pop is pop and despite the facades and frills, it means nothing. Call me jaded, sure, but I still won’t buy any of it. Give me substance or give me death!
Two Cents and a Dime Bag
Gruesome – Savage Land
If you’re going for a gimmick, you go for it head on. California-based death metal band GRUESOME carefully pulled all the stops to ensure their recognition as Tampa death. It reeks of Chuck Schuldiner all over the package, from the fonts to the production value. Whether or not this is cool to you and worthy of investing your time and energy in what is more or less a tribute band, consider what else is going on. Maybe go read some of the other reviews from this month first. The difference is that GRUESOME isn’t a flavor of the week project. The quartet is stacked with members from long-reigning groups EXHUMED, POSSESSED, MALEVOLENT CREATION and DERKETA, and they’re all still enamored by DEATH. For what it’s worth, Gruesome’s live show will be as legitimate as they come, regardless of how unoriginal the music is supposed to be. And while you can’t re-invent the wheel, these guys go back as far as what they’re biting now, so what’s the difference?
Persekutor – Ice Wars
Has nice artwork. It’s a dangerous judgement call, but it just reminds me of well-informed design majors. This is the laziest, most meandering music I’ve ever heard though, serving as a reminder all you need is recycled creativity turned insight, a little coin, and cool friends. This is the lightest I’ve ever heard music being played. I feel like I’m being Persekuted by my bed. I feel like I’ve been rolling around with untreated Lime. Wait, time to… I think I’ll just meander a solo, seems like the thing to do so I can finish this up. On to my blackened EBM project maaaaan…
Liturgy – The Ark Work
Expectations were low but this is astounding. Piss poor. True shit – how does it succeed? I was thinking I’d go the obvious route and rag on the style, at least being able to maintain that Liturgy’s playing and studio production are worthy of their reputation. Not so much though. All that The Ark Work provides is a cementing link between black metal and screamo. This isn’t a band worth their salt, showing fans they’re not afraid to get soft and intelligent. This is a vanity project with a substance-less fanbase; both whom are finding ways to ride new trends without completely abandoning the last.
Blind Idiot God – Before Ever After
Blind Idiot God has been a name for nearly 35 years but has somehow had the word “post” all over it since its inception. While Justin K. Broadrick was still feeling his oats in Napalm Death, 1987 saw Blind Idiot God’s debut self-titled release; one which was far ahead of its time. There is no set blueprint for what the ambitions of the sound are but if this helps, the group finds ways to seamlessly collide worlds of rock music (or at least the crusted outskirts of party of rock n’ roll) and infuse it with darkened surf, industrial and dub. Unsettling to say the least. Blind Idiot God’s productivity has been mysteriously limited though, and this might be why they never had a chance to grow stale – their ideas never fully realized into regular nuances. This winter, however, we’re offered an idea on where they’ve gone. The meaning of the word “post” to Blind Idiot God has caught up with itself. The newest full length does sound a bit like them trying to reference themselves, but that’s because it’s as clever as ever. The music isn’t easily digested and although from part A to B part there are sensible resolutions, you’re left with a murky recollection of how you ended up where you are. The production is the least unique aspect, but gives the record more listen-ability to anyone whom the composition wouldn’t immediately interest. “Before Ever After” is a great listen for a head clearing drive.
Occult 45 – Human Abhorrence
Occult 45’s new EP is a good example of grind staying rooted under the punk umbrella by not trying to do too much. Between the constant pummeling of bursting blasts, gruff barks and swampy riffs, the 13-minute EP doesn’t allow itself any weak moments. It’s silly to give so much credit to simplicity but the anger sounds sincere and you rarely hear grind without a ton of red flags nowadays. There’s a lot this band didn’t do to cheese up the vibe, so I give Human Abhorrence a B+ in good faith. Substance over style!
Pat Bateman’s Picks
Well, it seems that one of the only people actually twisted and depraved these days is Bateman. He’s been hanging out listening to the heaviest of the heavy all winter to relieve the pressures of all the enveloping “good music.”
Do you like Suffocation?
Suffocation burst onto the scene in 1991 with their Human Waste EP, consisting solely of 6 number one singles. “Infecting the Crypts”, “Catatonia” and “Synthetically Revived” are most pleasing. I was to think that these young Long Islanders would’ve been created on delusions of grandeur, juvenile dreams of the rock n’ roll lifestyle. With all the hype, the 6 chart singles, I expected the album to be a lackluster affair, but within seconds of listening to this debut masterpiece, I understood how jaded I had become. Never has there been a debut so original but cleverly referential. Cohesive, but chaotic! Above all, Suffocation is the most professional a band has ever come out of the gun. A well-oiled machine at a ripe age really. Human Waste is one of the warmest, most complex and altogether most satisfying death metal records the genre has ever had to offer. Frank Mullen himself has a voice that defies belief. Upon first glance of the elegant, beautifully painted cover, one knows that this isn’t going to be a bland affair; the record IS smooth but intense and the riffs and grooves leap across so many boundaries and are so versatile that it’s hard to take in the album on a first listening. But you won’t want to. You’ll want to savor it over many.
Oh, you say you’re already a big fan? Of course, why wouldn’t you be? Where are you going?! Surely you appreciate Sorcerer, the original soundtrack by Tangerine Dream…
Their early work was a little too bleak, too general kraut for my taste. But then Sorcerer was finished and released in 1977. I think this opportunity to work with William Friedkin really helped Edgar Froese and Tangerine Dream come into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole soundtrack has a clear, crisp sound and an underlying minor tonality throughout that gives the film a big boost. They’ve been compared to Vangelis but I think they have a more glossy, cynical sense of humor. In 1974 they released Phaedra!, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is “Mysterious semblance at the strand of nightmares”, a song with so much compositional depth that most people are baffled by it and probably slip right over it. But they shouldn’t because it’s not just about the simple pleasures of blackened conformity and the importance of trends. It’s a personal statement which screams “try one upping me on heavy shit now you stupid fucking bastard!!!”
