Tag: black sabbath
Normalization is the worst thing that could happen to a Nu Metal band. Back in the 00's everyone whined about bands 'selling out', but they were concerned with the band's image rather than quality. If a band decided to sing more and perhaps tone down the noise, it was wrong because it was accessible. Whether it lead to good music or not didn't matter. So all the critics going hammer missed out about bands dropping elements, turning their vision more and more narrow.
The 00's were surreal times, and pretty awesome. You could listen to Lostprophets without feeling guilt and overly serious EDM didn't dominate the airwaves. A wave of loud rock bands rose, deciding that genres are silly. You can have funky rhythms, rapping, Dream Pop atmospherics and coherent screaming – sometimes all in the same songs. They weren't afraid of being danceable or loud or poppy. "Eyeless", a full-on rant with Jungle elements was considered unoriginal. It was unoriginal compared to, what, exactly? Long guitar solos and lyrics against Jesus Christ?
When Disturbed and Papa Roach dropped their quirks, it was a bummer but not too much. They weren't too good at working with them anyway. Slipknot, however, are the band that suffered the most from the normalization. They didn't distill their quircks into an accessible sound that still had shades of a unique personality. Korn still sounded out-of-place when they made "Make Me Bad". Slipknot obviously read all the reviews that whined about how Machine Head does something other than an overly serious Pantera and decided, 'hey, we'll do it too!'
Why would anyone want to listen to "Gemataria" over "Eyeless"? What is it about the former that makes it more fun, more aggressive, catchier, more creative, more anything positive? Slipknot was so bizarre in their noisy rants that were somehow friendly to Rock radio. You would expect that the music would still have a shed of personality. If Slipknot makes ordinary music, it should at least sound like they're playing the genre on their own terms.
Instead, it sounds like a creative band trying desperately not to come off weird, like a dude trying to hide his Slipknot shirt underneath a suit & tie. "All Hope is Gone"'s chorus breaks into a Hip-Hop beat, and the chorus can be adapted into a Hip-Hop song. Since Corey displayed good rapping skills, nothing prevents him from breaking into a full Rap verse. It would be bolder to end the album with pure Breaks and rapping. The groove that drives it comes less from Pantera, and sounds more like the Funk-influenced ending of Prong's "Cut-Rate".
Elsewhere, "This Cold Black" and "Wherein Lies Continue" are more embarrassing examples of how hard Slipknot are trying to fit in. The latter has a slow groove that's not danceable. It's only 'heavy' in the sense that it's not pleasant to the ear if your musical vocabulary consists of Backstreet Boys and the one Michael Jackson everyone knows. Imagine a Groove Metal track you're supposed to brood too, rather than dance to. If you can imagine that, you need not ever listen to the song – or the whole album, actually. You'll also desperately need something to make you forget this image. The former of these two track is the banding slamming their instruments seriously. There are no fun, catchy lyrics like 'fuck you all, fuck this world'.
Really, people, why must anger be serious and dramatic? Vulgarity is informal. It mixed so well with Nu Metal because it gave it a lightness, a bouncy fun aspect to the music. Vulgarity makes the anger less serious, and the tracks more akin to venting than making grand philosophical statements involving fear and trembling. "Gematria" is limp and anemic, the band slams but can't come up with anything truly hard-hitting. Spitting poetry about America being a killing name is so hilarious over these theatrical, brooding metal riffs. "We'll burn your cities down" is the one highlight of the track, because Slipknot used to sound like they want to burn cities down for the fuck of it. Corey sounds more serious than angry, and you're only allowed to be serious with Nu Metal if you're weird enough.
Slipknot could've have justified their new, 'no fun allowed' approach since they were one of the few Nu Metal bands with an artistic bent. Vol. 3 didn't suffer from it. In fact, it justified it by having fragile atmospheric ballads like "Danger – Keep Away" and weird noises during party tracks like "Pulse of the Maggots". Nothing here is as brave and progressive like "Three Nil", a track that was as angry as it was experimental as in was contemplative. It sees Slipknot utterly unrestrained by either Pop or Metal structures. Corey never once touches the conversational tone of that song, and no song has its unique, ever-changing structure except "Gehenna". It's an interesting song, at least, which counts for something in an album so lacking in spark or imagination.
The highlights are only "Psychosocial", "Vendetta" and "Butcher's Hook". They don't reach the heights of Slipknot's older material except for "Psychosocial" – a fist-pumping stomper that tries to put a serious face, but still cares more about the party than grand statements. The other songs see Slipknot letting loose for a while. "Vendetta" may seem normal, but not because Slipknot are trying to be normal, but because they felt like kicking a straight-forward rocker. "Butcher's Hook" sounds more like something out of Vol. 3 and has some fantastic atmospherics. DJ Starscream has always an important rib of Slipknot. His odd sounds made them sound more dangerous than any metal riff can, and the intro to the song is more intense than any Thrash Metal record.
Slipknot deserve so much more. While at first they seemed like they were Nu Metal's most brutal band, they were also one of its weirdest. Even at their worst they sounded off-kilter and actually dangerous, like a band who can't contain themselves. On this album Slipknot restrain themselves, and if this doesn't sound awful to you consider this. "Danger – Keep Away" is an extremely soft ballad where the band jumps into its idea with full conviction. It has no build-up, just pure ambiance and creepy lyrics. Slipknot are unrestrained even in their soft songs. Nothing here sounds as dangerous or intense or authentic as that one. Here, they try to please those morons who whine about Machine Head being unoriginal since they expanded their sound. Such people you don't want at your party, and you don't want this album either (except "Psychosocial", that's Prong-level of party starting).
2 butchers out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on March 24, 2017 Categories music, reviewTags 36 crazyfists, 3lyn, 3rd strike, 40 below summer, adema, adrenaline mob, album, album review, all hope is gone, amatory, american head charge, anger, angry, angst, avenged sevenfold, before i forget, black label society, black sabbath, black tide, bloodsimple, bullet for my valentine, chevelle, cky, clawfinger, coal chamber, corey taylor, crazy town, danzig, dark, dark new day, darkness, dead by sunrise, death metal, deftones, demon hunter, device, digital summer, dio, disturbed, dope, downthesun, drowning pool, dry cell, dry kill logic, earshot, egypt central, element eighty, emil bulls, endo, eths, exilia, faith no more, five finger death punch, flaw, fozzy, frustration, godsmack, groove metal, hard rock, head, heavy metal, helmet, hip-hop, horror, hunter, ill nino, industrial metal, insolence, iowa, iron maiden, judas priest, king 810, kittie, kontrust, korn, left behind, limp bizkit, linkin park, lordi, lostprophets, love and death, machine head, manowar, marilyn manson, megadeth, melodic metalcore, metal, metalcore, metalheads, metallica, motograter, motorhead, mudvayne, mushroomhead, music, music album, music review, my plague, my ruin, nonpoint, nothingface, nu metal, one minute silence, otep, p.o.d., papa roach, pleymo, pop, pop music, powerman 5000, primer 55, probot, psychosocial, rage, rammstein, rap, rap metal, rap rock, reveille, rob zombie, rock, rock music, saliva, scar the martyr, scars on broadway, serj tankian, sevendust, skindred, slipknot, snot, soil, soulfly, spineshank, spit it out, static-x, stereomud, stone sour, stoner metal, stuck mojo, switched, system of a down, taproot, teen angst, the gray chapter, the union underground, thrash metal, tool, tracktor bowling, tremonti, trustcompany, unloco, vendetta, vent, venting, vermilion, volbeat, wait and bleed, white zombieLeave a comment on Slipknot – All Hope is Gone
It's amazing how you can both capture a sound perfectly and have no idea what to do with it. The problem with Humbug isn't that it's a departure. They didn't sounded too excited about the Dance-Punk sound in the previous album anyway. The problem isn't necessarily the lack of hooks because plenty of records can survive without hooks.
The problem is they're playing a form of psychedelia that relies on melodies. Psychedelic music is often melodic and accessible. It uses weird sounds along with an easy melody to make something both weird and accessible. That's why "Tomorrow Never Knows" is so popular (or at least covers of it).
This is not the Heavy Psych that blasts off to outer space. It's closer to "Planet Caravan" and Monster Magnet's ballads. These songs were brilliant because their sound enchanted already great melodies. "Planet Caravan" would've been nothing if the melody wasn't sound so close to the lonely Bluegrass style.
"Crying Lightning" is the best song here for that reason. It's one of the few here that actually has a chorus. The fact that it progresses and reaches a conclusion is just a bonus. It has a catchy melody that benefits from the sound. Turner drops words like 'twisted and deranged' which are perfect for this music.
Everything else, however, tries too hard to be ominious. The band is obsessed with beeing spooky. Turner stopped being a sex-mad smug asshole. Maybe it has something to do with erectile dysfunction. On "My Propeller", he lets us know in the climatic bridge that he can't get hard. Such issues affect a man, especially one who bragged about having sex with girls he doesn't like.
That song sums up the album well. It has no chorus. The chorus has Turner whispering "have a spin of my propeller" not in a sexy manner. It's as if he's standing behind your back in a haunted house. It sounds pathetic because it's such an obvious technique to make you look scary.
Or maybe it's actually about drugs. That's a better explanation of the rest of the songs. They sound druggy in a good way. The guitar licks and rolling drums in that sound like a calm before the storm. They can't keep the atmosphere for long. It's not even good enough for the song which saved by its catchy climax.
There are other tricks, many of them impressive and none of them are enough. "Pretty Visitors" has tempos shifts and thudding drums that are coming after you. The sound effects in "Secret Door" are supposed to fit the title, but too bad the melody is uninspired. Turner doesn't even sound like he's singing an actual melody but just mumbles things.
The sound fails mainly because it doesn't serve the songs. The end of "My Propeller" and "Crying Lightning" would sound much worse in any other sound. Instead of sounding seductive, Turner sounds like a desperate and perhaps dangerous addict on the latter song.
On all the other songs, it just makes for a 'huh, that's cool' reaction. They sound like demos, ideas that are worth attempting but are so new to the band that they're only worthwhile for a B-Side compilation. The lack of confidence isn't just because the band moved from the loud Dance-Punk. It's because they have no idea what to do with the sound, even if it sounds cool.
Smack in the middle of this album you get the gorgeous "Cornerstone". It's a ballad that's closer to "505". The band has a fuzzy relationship with ballads. Turner is too arrogant to get them right but when they get it, they made brilliant ones. "Cornerstone" is one of those. It's sad that this song got buried here. "Crying Lightning" at least makes everything around it worth attempting. "Cornerstone" should've been on the better next album.
It's an interesting album and a stepping stone for the band. Their later albums proved they still got it in them and they were just confused. I'm sure this sounded worse when it came out. Albums like these are either a death sentence or a stepping stone to a new era. The Monkeys haven't outdone their debut (and probably never will), but this sounds much better in retrospect, when you know they got over this confusion.
2.5 cornerstones out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on February 20, 2016 Categories music, reviewTags album review, arctic monkeys, black sabbath, blues, blues rock, britpop, classic rock, dance punk, franz ferdinand, garage rock, hard rock, i am kloot, manic street preachers, music, music review, oasis, party, pop, pop music, pop rock, popular music, post punk, psychedelia, psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, punk, punk pop, punk rock, queens of the stone age, razorlight, rock, rock music, stoner rock, the kooks, the shins, the strokesLeave a comment on Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
Megadeth – Dystopia
For a long while, I thought metalheads were stupid.I read reviews in metal sites where bands were called unoriginal for mixing genres. Then they'd give five stars to a Thrash band that keeps it 'true to their roots'. I really hoped I was just stereotyping because I was an idiot.
"Super Collider" is a great song. It's ridiculous Stadium Rock that's fun, melodic and would go well with a beer. Since it was 'radio rock' the fans got angry and so we get the obligatory back to basics album. There isn't a single song here as fun or with as much personality as "Super Collider".
Mustain is an old guy. He didn't hide it on "Super Collider". He sounded like an old guy celebrating rock music and the joys of making money off telling teenagers about how religion is bad. It sounded both honest and refreshing even if you never heard a
Megadeth song before.
Here, he's just pulling cliches out of his ass. I already heard this record back when it was called Countdown to Extinction. It was just as overly serious then but the band sounded young. There was charm in how seriously they played their music.
You don't hear this spark in this record. It sounds so calculated. Can you get more cliched than "Fatal Illusion" or "Death From Within"? These are the most hackneyed Thrash titles. There's a tiredness all over the record, even though the band tries hard to hide it.
They still sound good. In fact, I'm sure many of these songs would work well live. The riffs are loud and the drums bang hard. Mustaine may sound old but he sure tries. Sometimes, he hits the spot like on "The Emperor" (which is the most lighthearted song here. That's not a coincidence). It's charming to see how they try hard to make something profound in "Poisonous Shadows". We even get an instrumental track in "Conquer or Die", which isn't interesting but at least it's not an acoustic interlude. Maybe it will work well in a movie.
It's so serious though. Do people really enjoy listening to chugging riffs, squeaky solos while stroking their beard? Stupid lyrics can be a lot of fun, but not in this context. This is a very serious album. You may make a mistake it's just fun thrashing, but then you get to "Post American World". That's the kind of brooding I expect from The Smiths or Joy Division. The thing is, sparse arrangements sound well when brooding. Shredding doesn't brood.
I might have taken the whole 'apocalypse' theme seriously, but it's been drilled to our heads already. The only apocalypse so far is an apocalypse in the arts. The theme of 'apocalypse' is now boring. Still, it could have been fine if it was fun. This is music for first-person shooters and action films. It's all pounding drums and chugging riffs. The only way you can be apocalyptic with this music is by adding something, like how Ministry's guitars sound like chainsaws.
Mustaine sounds grave though. He sounds worried about the upcoming dystopia (Which we've been warned about from time immemorial). There's no fun to be had here. It's not even the venting that Ministry had on their Bush albums. Mustaine sounds like he hopes to change the world using guitar solos. All he does is give people a reason to make fun of metal.
Or maybe he's just tired. He wanted to sing anthems now that he's got tons of money. The fans wanted tostroke their beards while thinking 'this is deep. It's not about girls'. So he gave us a record full of dull lyrics about how the thread is real.
It's a shame because there's talent here. There are some really good hooks and most of the record sounds energetic enough. The band doesn't sound like they're at the end, but more like they're not interested in this type of music. "The Threat Is Real" would have been better if it was about telling people to fuck off.
Some have criticized Mustaine's 'conservative' lyrics. The irony is bigger than Jupiter. There are hundreds of bands making songs against America. Bowie had a song called "I'm Afraid of Americans". Mustaine says vaguely that he doesn't trust a huge wave of immigrants and suddenly he's xenophobic and racist. Okay, the lyrics to "Post American World" are stupid, but I've heard far worse xenophobia from oppressed groups.
It's a fun record, but mostly pointless. It's overly serious in a genre that's not meant to be serious. "The Emperor" is great and so is a few other songs, but why go back to this? I can get the same effect by listening to Prong or Five Finger Death Punch or Superjoint Ritual or Texas Hippie Coalition, only without the bullshit lyrics and seriousness.
2 super colliders out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on January 23, 2016 January 23, 2016 Categories music, reviewTags 2016, anthrax, antrhax, apocalypse, apocalyptic, armaggedon, bass, black sabbath, dave mustaine, drum, dystopia, dystopian, end of the world, fallout, five finger death punch, groove metal, guitar, guitar solo, hard rock, megadeth, metal, metallica, music, new music, pantera, political, politics, post apocalyptic, progressive metal, rock, rock music, speed metal, stadium, stadium rock, superjoint ritual, texas hippie coalition, thrash metal4 Comments on Megadeth – Dystopia
The Doors – The Doors
I wonder if people who think 'music isn't as good as it used to be' are taking the same drugs the Doors were into. You don't have to go too far into modern times for this to sound dated. A year after this came out Iron Butterfly dropped "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". It was the same year the famous version of "Just Dropped In" was released. How did this stick in people's consciousness?
I can understand why, but it's not a flattering reason. The Doors sound like the protoypical 'classic rock' album. It's a little loud, it has sex in it and some psychedelia to give it an edge. It has some long songs and it sounds very important. That's the difference between "Light My Fire" and that Iron Butterfly song. Iron Butterfly just got a banging bassline and rode for 17 minutes. The Doors were sure they discovered new frontiers.
Maybe they did back then. The record has some charm in how big it is and how much it thinks of itself. Every song is deliberate, revolving a clear idea. The sequencing makes perfect sense. The first is a fast-paced rocker. The second is a macho pick-up-women song. The third is a weirder psychedelic ballad. The band wisely chooses these songs to introduce people to basics. "Light My Fire" comes later, after you're used to the band to show you they can be weird.
Of course, 'weird' back then meant long songs and free improvisation. "Light My Fire" just sounds like an ordinary rock song with a jamming session. It works there because finally the band lets out all the energy they have. Add an extra minute or so to that section and the song wouldn't be any worse.
The difference between that song and everything else is that it's less caught up in making a statement. Compare it to "The End" (which sounded way better when I saw Apocalypse Now). "The End" doesn't justify its length. The band tries hard to let you know this is the climatic ending with drum rolls, a serious atmosphere and Jim Morrison telling you it's the end. The result is just showing off, but no energy or fun or substance. On "Light My Fire", they just bang their instruments.
The album is part of the era before Rock was divorced from its rock influence. It's no wonder artists were so confused. Only later artists like Black Sabbath and Five Horse Johnson knew how Blues worked and combined it with loud guitars. The band thinks being theatrical equals to being bluesy. The cultural appropriation debate is pretty stupid, but not as "Back Door Man". It's better than Led Zeppelin's attempts, but it sounds the guys heard some Blues on the radio and made a song based on a few parts.
Even at their best, it's just serviceable classic rock to play in bars so no one would get offended. There's nothing really annoying about "Soul Kitchen" or "Break On Through". They're pretty catchy and fun, but they don't have that attitude that made "Just Dropped In" so successful.
Psychedelic Rock can work in two ways. Either the band sounds like they're off in another dimension, or that they make a melodic, pleasant song with weird sounds. The Doors only try the former on "The End" and "End of the Night". Neither of them are weird enough, but the latter is good enough to make it the blueprint for the next album. When they try the other method, they make some pleasant music but nothing like the Zombies or Monster Magnet or "Planet Caravan". The worst are the songs where their sense of self-importance comes through. "Take It As It Comes" is the sort of Classic Rock crap that ignorant listeners think is 'meaningful'.
I heard that Morrison's lyrics are supposed to be a big deal. I hear nothing attention-grabbing. No lyrics are bad or good. What exactly is a soul kitchen? I don't know, but the song doesn't make me care to find out. It's easy to assume Morrison just wants to have sex with that woman. Weird lyrics that don't make sense are a lot of fun. Even if the lyrics were moronic, I would've enjoyed them. Morrison's lyrics are just various ways to tell a woman he wants sex without the vulgarity. It's less impressive on record.
There are some fun songs here, but what's the point? The psychedelic parts are rudimentary and you're better off with their next album, or any of Monster Magnet's psychedelic works. If you enjoyed the bluesy stuff here, check their own L.A. Woman or Black Sabbath. The Doors sound excited here. It does make these ideas sound new, but everyone – including the band – improved on this.
2 doors out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on November 12, 2015 Categories music, reviewTags album review, alcohol, aldous huxley, bars, bass, beatles, beer, black people, black sabbath, blues, bob dylan, brave new world, classic rock, classics, cooking, crystal, doors, doors of perception, drink, drinking, drugs, drums, dystopia, feminism, guitar, hard rock, iron butterfly, iron maiden, jim morrison, kitchen, led zeppelin, los angeles, lyrics, monster magnet, music, philosophy, pink floyd, poem, poetry, psychedelia, psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, pubs, religion, rock music, rolling stones, satan, satanism, ship, singing, soma, soul, the who, whiskey, whisky, woman, womenLeave a comment on The Doors – The Doors
I almost wish she was the center of the film
"Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?"
There's a reason why the film ends with the riff from the famous Black Sabbath song but without the lyrics. Black Sabbath's song described a flawed and conflicted person. He might be interesting, but nothing we'd hope to be. The same thing can't be said of Iron Man's Tony Star. Black Sabbath said about their character that nobody wants him. You couldn't find a more unfit description for Tony Stark
If this was just a dumb superhero film, I might have forgiven that. It wouldn't work well as one anyway, though. There isn't enough violence and the characters aren't insane enough. Too many moments hint that the creators wanted to make this an important superhero film. The nature of weaponry is an obvious theme. The creators understand a superhero should be a symbol for some idea, not just a human with superpowers.
A time before duckface
Tony Stark's suit leaves little room for exploration, though. It's not a Medabot. Medabots symbolized toys as weapons, and were an exaggerated portrayal of violent toys. It's not a Terminator, which was a weapon with the appearance of a human being. Tony Stark's suit is just a means to save people and instigate the final action scene.
There is something about how weapons can be harmful in the wrong hands, but that's an idea that goes nowhere. The film never asks if there is more to do with weapons other than attack other human beings or if weaponry (and violence) is a part of being human.
No hair, no heart?
The people who represent the bad way of using weapons are evil clowns. The Ten Rings are just a gang of mooks who are like the bandits from Borderlands without the humor. As for Obadiah, he was stuck under Tony's shadow and for some reason we're expected to dislike him for his evil deeds. No matter how hard the film tries to make Obadiah look like the devil, his story remains more interesting psychologically.
Obadiah's development happens off-screen, but his is a story that can never get old. He's a man stuck under another's shadow who felt like he never got what he deserved. This is a common sentiment and the fact Obadiah still lives a kickin' life makes it even better. Even as a villain, these ideas could've been explored. Why Obadiah wants Stark's place so much? Why can't he be content with still being stinking rich? They say no matter what you do there's always someone better than you. What if there's only one person who's better than you?
This is a sci-fi film, in case you didn't notice
Obadiah's motives have nothing to do with these. He's evil so there will be someone to fight with (and also because he's not as pretty). These so-called motives are here to put a cover that a film is serious and that its villains have motives.
Tony has some sort of arc, but it barely qualifies as a cheap psycho-drama. His development happens in 20 minutes. After spending some time in a cave and seeing that people shoot each other in real life, he develops a desire to save the world. That's all that happens. It doesn't affect anything else. He's still a womanizer and he still loves being funny.
He was a selfish person in the beginning. That was why we saw him have sex with a lot of women and being told he has nothing because he doesn't have a family. You'd think that such a person would change dramatically along with his desire to save the world. You don't have to make a complete 180-turn. Impmon became less of a bully but he still retained his sarcastic personality. Tony doesn't become anything new but is just given a desire to save the world.
Allow me to be cynical, but that's because the film wants to keep Tony's coolness. The beginning isn't meant to satire the lives of the rich and famous. It's meant to portray them as cool, charismatic and living an ideal life. Tony may have given up selling weapons, but no way will he give up the cool lifestyle of casinos and having sex with anyone he wants. Even if the rich truly live such perfect lives with no problems at all, isn't it insulting? Most people will never live this way, so why dangle the carrot?
Tony aims for Chris Martin's ex
The seriousness of the film is ridiculous when you look deeper, but there's a good side to this. The storytelling is so focused that it feels much shorter than it is. No scenes are unnecessary. There are no extra characters that don't serve some purpose later. Action scenes don't clog the film with incoherent explosions. In fact, there are few of them and even in those scenes they don't go full retard. They're not a series of endless explosions but a collection of set-pieces that build up to a conclusion. It's not one of the best action scenes ever, but it's purposeful.
Pepper Potts is also a unique character to see in such a film. It's been a while since we had a female side kick that could be worthwhile without packing heat. She's not developed, but the script never lets her fall into cliches. She never becomes pure eye candy, or a woman whose character is passed off as strong because she kills people. She almost ended up as an empty character, but Paltrow's performance gives her a humanity everyone else lacks. Everyone is charismatic enough, but Paltrow is the only one who plays like her character can star in a variety of other stories.
Guitars also make constant apperance in the musical score. It's a bold decision. It's not the most uncommon element yet but it's still rare compared to cliched orchestras. This adds some punch to many scenes. If the only point of Tony's character is that he's cool and macho, add some macho guitars to go along with it.
Iron Man became popular because it's a well-constructed film. All the professionals in the film industry and I still see a lot of incoherent stories. Simplicity is rarely a death sentence in films, especially when you want to make some easy fun. Iron Man's attempts at depth aren't convincing, but it's fun enough.
3 cool suits out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on November 7, 2015 November 7, 2015 Categories cinema, reviewTags 2008, a head full of dreams, action, afghanistan, after forever, age of ultron, america, anime, ant man, avengers, bad, batman, black panther, black sabbath, black widow, captain america, chris martin, classic rock, coldplay, comics, criticism, dc comics, doctor strange, fallout 4, game of thrones, ghost stories, graphic novel, guardians of the galaxy, guitar, guitars, guns, hand of doom, hawkeye, hulk, infinity war, iraq, iron man, joker, joss wheadon, marvel, marvel cinematic universe, maxim, medabots, military, missiles, obadia, one punch man, paranoid, playboy, quicksilver, riff, robert downey jr., rock music, rockets, sci fi, science fiction, sex, shit, spiderman, stoner metal, stoner rock, sucks, superhero, superman, thor, ultron, usa, violence, viva la vida, war, war pigs, weaponry, weaponsLeave a comment on Iron Man (2008)
Shinedown – Threat to Survival
All the talent in the world won't help you if you don't have an idea what you want to be. "Cut the Cord" is a brilliant rocker and nothing here sounds like it. It's the one song where Shinedown lets loose and just let themselves rock.
Shinedown have been moving away from Post-Grunge ever since Amaryllis. Trying to find new sounds after mastering your comfort zone is great, but Sound of Madness isn't a transcending masterpiece. It's just a really good Hard Rock album full of hooks that makes you hope that they got more hooks in store.
Shinedown never sounded like they needed a makeover, and so far it's not convincing. They're not adding new sounds, but just removing the Post-Grunge antics and replace them with empty stadium boomings. Stadium Rock can be a lot of fun, but there's no fun in tracks like "It All Adds Up".
The sentimentality of "How Did You Love?" can be tolerated in an otherwise more fun record. Here, it sounds like Shinedown are believing their own bullshit. Imagine if Nickelback wanted you to think "Gotta Be Somedy" is a profound song. There is nothing profound or deep about Hard Rock. That's the whole point of the genre.
There's an attempt to chuck guitar riffs and drums for textures and some atmospherics. What they hope to achieve with these atmospherics is unclear. The atmosphere is never distinct. There are no sounds to uncover with repeated listenings. When Linkin Park threw away guitars, they piled a lot of other noises that made their melodies and rapping stick out more. Shinedown has few riffs here, and a lack isn't an impressive achivement.
On songs that Shinedown are supposed to master, they sound clueless. They proved they could make a beautiful ballad without guitars with "Through the Ghost". They just kept a small string section and vocals. "Misfits"'s musical backdrop sounds like it's supposed to be an epic closer, but the vocals sing intimate lyrics. "Dangerous" is supposed to be a sequel to "Cut the Cord", but there are no riffs and the lyrics are too serious. Being dangerous isn't very dangerous anymore. Society loves dangerous people. That's why James Dean is a sex symbol.
Nothing here is bad. Shinedown got enough melodies to the album pleasant enough. It's even refreshing how the album is more focused on the melodies rather than making noise. Still, the end result sound too lifeless. There some songs to put on the playlist, but it Shinedown's future doesn't look so bright.
2.5 black Cadillacs out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on October 2, 2015 Categories music, reviewTags 3 doors down, album, album review, bass, black sabbath, classic rock, default, disturbed, drums, fuel, guitar, hard rock, hinder, lynyrd skynyrd, music, new album, nickelback, post grunge, rock music, shinedown, southern rock, threat to survival, three days graceLeave a comment on Shinedown – Threat to Survival
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
I avoided this album for a long time on purpose. All the metalheads I knew were the most boring people to discuss music with. People whose musical world consists of Ed Sheeran, Rihanna and Coldplay are much better. At least they wouldn't be afraid of the occasional bass drop or rap verse. Metalheads were so dull, generic and stupid that I couldn't imagine their music to be any good. Dull, generic and stupid people probably listen to dull, generic, and stupid music.
It's a hard album to avoid though. It haunted me like whatever's haunting the protagonist in the title-track. It's especially hard when you're into Stoner Rock, and consider Monster Magnet to be one of rock's greatest achievements. Eventually, I caved in and wondered why no one told me about how this record sounds sooner.
It sounds as influential as you heard it is. If you're into the slower genres, its influence is more apparent. More than the birth of Heavy Metal, it sounds like the birth of Stoner. Sneak "Electric Funeral" in a playlist full of Electric Wizard, Sixy Watt Shaman and Kyuss and no one would notice the band playing it is from the 70's. What's far more interesting though, is that it doesn't sound like a heavy metal record at all.
After playing some doomy riffs, Ozzy sings with that very familiar way of stretching syllables. I completely forgot that between the verses there are distorted guitars. By the time they turn it down again and Ozzy does his thing, I had to admit this doesn't have that much to do with Heavy Metal. Paranoid is, at its heart, an American Folk record. It owes more to Dock Boggs and Blind Willie than anything. It's a reinterpartation of the genre.
The reason it still sounds as brilliant today – aside from containing great melodies – is that Sabbath understood their source material better than anyone else. Death was a day-to-day reality in the Old Weird, but try to listen to "Oh, Death" again. It's such a different era. It sounds alien and scary. Folk music wasn't easygoing, but looked at tough subject matters in the eye.
Led Zeppelin tried to made a theater of it all. They tried to make big, loud music out of a genre that gained its strength from a banjo pluck and one powerful line. They worked against the style they're interpartating. They turned up the volume and exaggerated everything, but it never had the emotional punch.
Sabbath knew that Folk Music was very dark. All they did was enhance the darkness with distortion, and some drums. How different is "Hand of Doom"'s lyrics to Dock Boggs' "Oh, Death" or "Country Blues"? Ozzy may have been more opaque and updated his subject matter to nuclear apoclypse and sci-fi, but he didn't work against the genre. The addiction he talks of in "Hand of Doom" is the same alcoholism folk singers been singing about. The title-track has a higher tempo, but the lyrics are the same thing as "Man of Constant Sorrow".
Even "Planet Caravan" fits the concept. It's weird and sparse, which is how folk music sounds like today. The Old Weird now looks like an alien planet to us, so actually singing about space travel makes sense. It's far more deserving to be called Space Rock than anything by Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd's songs sounded like they had space, but didn't express what outer space felt like. Leaving planet Earth must be a pretty intense emotional experience. "Planet Caravan" has the wonder, the loneliness and the vastness of space in one song. The vocal effects are a brilliant touch.
People who are into guitars probably already own this. It will be forever considered a pioneering Heavy Metal record, but it will also always stand above the genre. Is there any follower of Black Sabbath that tried to replicate this album's purpose? Most bands borrowed Black Sabbath's noise and darkness. None of them were familiar with folk music and why it works, not even bands from that era. Even Monster Magnet, one of the greatest rock bands ever took a very different direction.
4 paranoids out of 5
Author The Brain in the JarPosted on August 6, 2015 Categories music, reviewTags album, album review, american folk music, apocalypse, banjo, black sabbath, country, death metal, dock boggs, electric wizard, folk, folk rock, heavy metal, iron maiden, metal, monster magnet, occult, ozz osburne, sci fi, science fiction, sixty watt shaman, stoner metal, stoner rockLeave a comment on Black Sabbath – Paranoid