Rosetta – The Galilean Satellite, Wake/Lift and Live at Hermann's Bar 21st July
Over at I'm the Most Important Fucking Person in the World they've been running a series on bands that sound like Isis/Neurosis/Cult of Luna, as a response to and criticism of the particularly lazy way that the metal music press like to dismiss such bands as 'just another Cult of NeurIsis clone'. Rosetta would be a perfect candidate for their series, as their sound is quite unashamedly derivative of Isis and Neurosis (and in fact, Aaron Turner, vocalist of Isis, designed the artwork for The Galilean Satellite), but who cares how much they fit into an oversaturated genre when their music is so fucking great?
From their progenitors Rosetta borrow the long track lengths, raw, shouted vocals, a slow cycle of build and release and use of alternating gentle interludes and heavy climaxes. The more unique elements that Rosetta display are dense and frequent use of ambient electronica, an enveloping, spacey sound and a positive, uplifting vibe. Not just the electronics, but also the full sound of the instruments create a much richer soundscape than say Isis, who tend to be somewhat sparse and (at least until their last album) somewhat more purist in their adherence to a standard rock format. Rosetta also have a more uplifting, at times even joyous, emotional vibe to their music, which is a nice point of difference to their post-metal contemporaries and indeed to metal as a whole, which of course tends to be melancholic, when it's not downright depressing.
Rosetta have two full length albums out (as well as a few EPs which I haven't heard). Their first, The Galilean Satellite, is the more conventional post-metal record of the two. The songs are all roughly between ten minutes and a quarter of an hour long and are leisurely arranged, allowing plenty of time for the gradual cycling from peaceful acoustic and ambient passages to the heavy climaxes where they indulge in the genre's signature sound, lumbering riffs belting out a wall of crushing distortion. And of course, it's a concept album. This one is about a man who forsakes the company of his fellow humans and begins a life of isolation on Europa (one of Jupiter's moons, hence the album title), but eventually realises that he can't live without human companionship and returns to Earth. It might sound a little cheesy, but simple stories work best as album concepts and this one is well serviced by articulate lyrics and a powerful delivery. The Galilean Satellite also comes with a companion disc of purely ambient music and while it's a perfectly good album in it's own right it's actually meant to be played synchronously with the album proper. It's very a cool idea, even if Neurosis did do something similar a couple of years back.
Wake/Lift is their second album, and it shifts gears slightly by tightening up the arrangements and putting more focus on melody and riffage at the expense of the ambience, which is neither a bad nor good thing, just a difference. By and large the two albums are pretty similar, and they both rock out something wicked so I'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite.
Now I would never had heard of these guys, but they happened to be doing an Australian tour last month; unusual for an overseas band with so little exposure but most welcome all the same. Fortunately a half page interview in a local free music rag caught a friends eye and after a quick look at their myspace page I was sold.
The gig was at the dark and pokey Hermann's Bar, on campus at Sydney Uni. I was curious to see what kind of crowd a band like this would bring in (if any) considering the relatively sparse attendance for Isis last year. I was heartened to see that there at least was one, and as you'd expect mostly comprised of shy young men dressed all in black, some trailing bored, disinterested girlfriends.
There were three opening bands, and we arrived just in time to see the first close their set with a Celtic Frost cover. Following this mysterious, unnamed band were The Surrogate, from Brisbane who were an easy fit with the headliners in terms of sound and style. They were pretty fucking good too, with a lot of fine technique on display from all four musicians. Their drummer was especially impressive, handling primary vocals while playing. They performed with tons of guts and were very well received. The only bad thing I can say about them is that their guitarist didn't wash his hands after he uses the bathroom.
The final opening band did not go down so well. In fact I felt a bit sorry for them, as after the enthusiastic applause that The Surrogate invited they received total silence at the end of each song. I don't remember their name, which is perhaps just as well because I wasn't very impressed by them. They sounded about halfway between Converge and Parkway Drive: screamy hardcore stuff. The singer did have a good strong voice, but I thought that their songs were kind of straightforward and boring, and their performances lacked the fire that that style of music really needs.
Finally Rosetta themselves took the stage. They were plagued by technical troubles to start with, including no vocals for the first song, and a muddy mix that rendered their spacey wall of sound mostly into a dull roar. Such things are to be expected at a rock show though and Rosetta compensated admirably with an impassioned performance. It's been a while since I had the opportunity to go to a smaller gig, where you can get right up and close to the band (close enough to get a bit of a shower when the vocalist went nuts on the climaxes), and the audience is well behaved but appreciative.
Hopefully it wasn't too expensive for them to come all the way over here and play. I'd love to see them again soon!
Here's the only video of them on youtube, or at least the only one I could find:
We were a much better audience than those guys by the way.
Showing posts with label Hardcore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hardcore. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
A Mouth Without A Heart, An Action Without Meaning
Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works
Poor old Dillinger Escape Plan have had a rough time over the last couple of years. Since the release of the brilliant Miss Machine, both of their guitarists have suffered from muscle problems that prevented them from performing. Fortunately main songwriter Ben Weinman has recovered, but sadly second guitarist Brian Benoit will probably never be able to play again. On top of that the drummer, Chris Pennie, quit the band and for inexplicable reasons joined the dire Coheed and Cambria, a band whose unique blend of all the worst aspects of emo, prog rock and nu metal reveals an artistic capacity for terribleness that is the dark twin of Dillinger's genius.
With all these problems surrounding the recording, it was hard to guess what to expect from Ire Works. It was also difficult to imagine how their sound could be improved from what they achieved on Miss Machine, so it was a question of whether they'd just try and make the same album again or go in a new direction, as well as whether it would turn out to be any good. The answers turn out to be a surprising sort of compromise to the first question and a 'hell fucking yeah!' to the second.
The meat and bones of the album are a number of two minute thrashers in the style that has endeared DEP to their fans over years past. These will be familiar territory to anyone who's heard any of their older albums. Ben's guitars spit out twisted, free time riffs with astonishing technical skill, vocalist Greg Puciato screams with savage intensity and the new drummer, Gil Sharone, is (much to everyone's relief) a perfect fit for the style and if anything his capacity for controlled cacophony is even sicker than Pennie's. Two of these tracks feature guest vocalists, 'Fix Your Face' brings back original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis and 'Horse Hunter' features Mastodon's Brent Hinds. However I can't help but feel that the band is a little tired of this style, they have after all been doing it for a while. There's nothing here that isn't good, but none of these songs reach the levels of greatness found on their older albums. But despite such a slight deterioration of quality on this half of the album, the rest turns out to be well worthwhile.
Ire Works contains a healthy number of surprises that will no doubt offend many old school fans, but which are in fact uniformly brilliant. Dillinger throw their first curveball on track three, 'Black Bubblegum', which as the name suggests is their version of a pop punk song, complete with a catchy singalong chorus. It's followed by 'Sick on Sunday', a weird ambient piece that bursts into metal at the end, and the trio of 'When Acting As A Particle', 'Non Eye Gong' and 'When Acting As A Wave', which are two twin tracks that appear to be the distant descendants of Calculating Infinity's title track, surrounding a short, angry song in the old style.
Not long after that is the brilliant 'Milk Lizard', a heavy song that replaces their usual rhythmic insanity with a bluesy swagger and a soaring chorus. 'Dead As History' is hard to categorise; introduced by acoustic guitar, strings and piano, transforming into a menacing nu metal chugger and ending the same way it started, now accompanied with twee falsetto vocals.
And finally, just when you think that Ire Works couldn't get any better, it closes with 'Mouths Of Ghosts'. You know that feeling you get when you first hear a song and it gives you goosebumps, and you drop what you were doing and stare at the speakers in astonishment? And then you start to cry a little bit? Well that's how good this song is. It features a heavy ending as a powerful, cathartic finish to the album, but the intro shows off Weinman's considerable aptitude on the piano in a melancholy build up that sounds a little like Pink Floyd crossed with Secret Chiefs 3 in their Western film score mode. It's even more of a surprise to hear as a Dillinger song than 'Black Bubblegum' and is one of the best songs they've ever done.
Ire Works is quite easily one of the top three albums of 2007, perhaps the best. Come for the screamy mathcore craziness, stay for the catchy pop and mellow piano noodling.
Here's 'When Acting As A Particle' and 'Nong Eye Gong' live:
Poor old Dillinger Escape Plan have had a rough time over the last couple of years. Since the release of the brilliant Miss Machine, both of their guitarists have suffered from muscle problems that prevented them from performing. Fortunately main songwriter Ben Weinman has recovered, but sadly second guitarist Brian Benoit will probably never be able to play again. On top of that the drummer, Chris Pennie, quit the band and for inexplicable reasons joined the dire Coheed and Cambria, a band whose unique blend of all the worst aspects of emo, prog rock and nu metal reveals an artistic capacity for terribleness that is the dark twin of Dillinger's genius.
With all these problems surrounding the recording, it was hard to guess what to expect from Ire Works. It was also difficult to imagine how their sound could be improved from what they achieved on Miss Machine, so it was a question of whether they'd just try and make the same album again or go in a new direction, as well as whether it would turn out to be any good. The answers turn out to be a surprising sort of compromise to the first question and a 'hell fucking yeah!' to the second.
The meat and bones of the album are a number of two minute thrashers in the style that has endeared DEP to their fans over years past. These will be familiar territory to anyone who's heard any of their older albums. Ben's guitars spit out twisted, free time riffs with astonishing technical skill, vocalist Greg Puciato screams with savage intensity and the new drummer, Gil Sharone, is (much to everyone's relief) a perfect fit for the style and if anything his capacity for controlled cacophony is even sicker than Pennie's. Two of these tracks feature guest vocalists, 'Fix Your Face' brings back original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis and 'Horse Hunter' features Mastodon's Brent Hinds. However I can't help but feel that the band is a little tired of this style, they have after all been doing it for a while. There's nothing here that isn't good, but none of these songs reach the levels of greatness found on their older albums. But despite such a slight deterioration of quality on this half of the album, the rest turns out to be well worthwhile.
Ire Works contains a healthy number of surprises that will no doubt offend many old school fans, but which are in fact uniformly brilliant. Dillinger throw their first curveball on track three, 'Black Bubblegum', which as the name suggests is their version of a pop punk song, complete with a catchy singalong chorus. It's followed by 'Sick on Sunday', a weird ambient piece that bursts into metal at the end, and the trio of 'When Acting As A Particle', 'Non Eye Gong' and 'When Acting As A Wave', which are two twin tracks that appear to be the distant descendants of Calculating Infinity's title track, surrounding a short, angry song in the old style.
Not long after that is the brilliant 'Milk Lizard', a heavy song that replaces their usual rhythmic insanity with a bluesy swagger and a soaring chorus. 'Dead As History' is hard to categorise; introduced by acoustic guitar, strings and piano, transforming into a menacing nu metal chugger and ending the same way it started, now accompanied with twee falsetto vocals.
And finally, just when you think that Ire Works couldn't get any better, it closes with 'Mouths Of Ghosts'. You know that feeling you get when you first hear a song and it gives you goosebumps, and you drop what you were doing and stare at the speakers in astonishment? And then you start to cry a little bit? Well that's how good this song is. It features a heavy ending as a powerful, cathartic finish to the album, but the intro shows off Weinman's considerable aptitude on the piano in a melancholy build up that sounds a little like Pink Floyd crossed with Secret Chiefs 3 in their Western film score mode. It's even more of a surprise to hear as a Dillinger song than 'Black Bubblegum' and is one of the best songs they've ever done.
Ire Works is quite easily one of the top three albums of 2007, perhaps the best. Come for the screamy mathcore craziness, stay for the catchy pop and mellow piano noodling.
Here's 'When Acting As A Particle' and 'Nong Eye Gong' live:
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Just Remember My Face When I See You In Hell
The Power and the Glory – Call Me Armageddon
Listening, at long last, to the final album in the little package of albums that began by getting me into Converge coincidentally comes at a time when I'm getting a little tired of hardcore. There's something about the earnestness and lack of subtlety that makes it less appealing to me than a good metal album.
Having said that I still liked Call Me Armageddon a lot. Once again these guys are a band that have drunk deep from Converge's well of inspiration (Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon even did the cover artwork), but they do it well and with a few twists of their own to add to the style. Most of the tracks on the album are two minute long volcanic explosions of hardcore brutality with guitars thrashing out the grinding, arrhythmic riffs in the style that Converge made popular aside indecipherably screeched vocals, behind which incredibly powerful drums pummel away like a landslide. The whole effect is one of impressively controlled insanity and it comes as a surprise then that when they segue into the occasional mellow song they display admirable restraint and gentleness.
These guys are a great band who have won me over even though this is not what I am usually in the mood for these days and it's a pity that a quick investigation of their myspace page implies that they may now be defunct.
Listening, at long last, to the final album in the little package of albums that began by getting me into Converge coincidentally comes at a time when I'm getting a little tired of hardcore. There's something about the earnestness and lack of subtlety that makes it less appealing to me than a good metal album.
Having said that I still liked Call Me Armageddon a lot. Once again these guys are a band that have drunk deep from Converge's well of inspiration (Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon even did the cover artwork), but they do it well and with a few twists of their own to add to the style. Most of the tracks on the album are two minute long volcanic explosions of hardcore brutality with guitars thrashing out the grinding, arrhythmic riffs in the style that Converge made popular aside indecipherably screeched vocals, behind which incredibly powerful drums pummel away like a landslide. The whole effect is one of impressively controlled insanity and it comes as a surprise then that when they segue into the occasional mellow song they display admirable restraint and gentleness.
These guys are a great band who have won me over even though this is not what I am usually in the mood for these days and it's a pity that a quick investigation of their myspace page implies that they may now be defunct.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Running the Gauntlet Again and Again
The Blinding Light - The Ascension Attempt
I bagged The Blinding Light's EP a few months back, and I actually feel a little bad about that now. It's one thing to unleash the snark at a substandard release from a bunch of coasting self satisfied millionaires who are capable of far better, and another to do the same to an independent, neophyte band. In the future I intend to apply a more biased double standard.
Even having said that, I did like this album more than the Glass Bullet EP. It's still the same sort of music, similar to Converge but without that band's flair for combining punishing brutality with original songwriting. (Although it must be noted that even though The Blinding Light suffer from the comparison to their forebears they do approach the same level of raw intensity.) On The Ascension Attempt they have more room to try different things, and they have some nice groovy breakdowns and restrained, moody interludes. The heavy stuff is actually pretty catchy and has a lot of grunt too.
However when all is said and done, I'd still much rather listen to Converge.
I bagged The Blinding Light's EP a few months back, and I actually feel a little bad about that now. It's one thing to unleash the snark at a substandard release from a bunch of coasting self satisfied millionaires who are capable of far better, and another to do the same to an independent, neophyte band. In the future I intend to apply a more biased double standard.
Even having said that, I did like this album more than the Glass Bullet EP. It's still the same sort of music, similar to Converge but without that band's flair for combining punishing brutality with original songwriting. (Although it must be noted that even though The Blinding Light suffer from the comparison to their forebears they do approach the same level of raw intensity.) On The Ascension Attempt they have more room to try different things, and they have some nice groovy breakdowns and restrained, moody interludes. The heavy stuff is actually pretty catchy and has a lot of grunt too.
However when all is said and done, I'd still much rather listen to Converge.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
What I Did In My Weekend
Mammal fucking rock edition
Friday:
First up, the opening bands. Furcurve reminded me a hell of a lot of The Murder of Rosa Luxemborg, as they played thrashy hardcore with the spastic rhythms of Converge, but with a vocalist who cooed and minced like Morrisey. They didn't inspire me hugely, but get a half hearted thumbs up for doing something interesting and different and pulling it off well.
Next up were Guns for Glory, who very nearly bored me to death with a long dose of straight up emo. My lovely concert going companion started to get restless and only my confident reassurances that Mammal would make up for it convinced her to stay.
And fortunately they didn't make a liar of me, their set was every bit as energising as the last time I saw them, if not more. I've described them as 'like Rage Against the Machine but upbeat' and I think that's a pretty accurate description. They've got your funk, your metal and your rap and despite sharing Rage's political inclinations they blast their message out with positivity and fun, rather than bitter anger. These guys are a brilliant live act and all four members have that performer's x-factor that grabs your attention and holds it from the second they take the stage. The vocalist especially has the same kind of showmanship that I noted about Mike Patton earlier this year that transfers his energy and enthusiasm straight to the audience. The moshpit was one of the best I've seen in a while, with everyone, jumping, dancing and generally going nuts and having a good time. I've waited too long to go to the Annandale, which has a reputation as one of Sydney's best live venues. One that appears to be justified.
Anyway, brilliant live band. Go see them if you have a chance.
Friday:
- Became an ordained minister. I can now perform marriages and name children in states of the USA that have not passed laws against bullshit internet religions that make anyone who fills out a form an ordained minister.
- Had dinner at Bentleys. Still the best damn food I've tasted in Sydney.
- Had a drink at the Cricketers Arms. I'd stayed out of there until now because of it's reputation as a hipster hangout, but I found that it 's actually full of Irish people, and you can't go wrong drinking with the Irish.
- Visited the Museum of Modern Art. Didn't get to see a lot of it unfortunately, maybe next time.
- More on Saturday night in a second.
- Had breakfast at the NSW Art Gallery (which was pretty good, lovely view of the gardens and the harbour) and had a wander around. It was really great. I liked the modern art but the 19th century paintings totally fascinated me. I've never really been much of a visual arts sort of person but I may have to remedy that with some more visits in the future.
First up, the opening bands. Furcurve reminded me a hell of a lot of The Murder of Rosa Luxemborg, as they played thrashy hardcore with the spastic rhythms of Converge, but with a vocalist who cooed and minced like Morrisey. They didn't inspire me hugely, but get a half hearted thumbs up for doing something interesting and different and pulling it off well.
Next up were Guns for Glory, who very nearly bored me to death with a long dose of straight up emo. My lovely concert going companion started to get restless and only my confident reassurances that Mammal would make up for it convinced her to stay.
And fortunately they didn't make a liar of me, their set was every bit as energising as the last time I saw them, if not more. I've described them as 'like Rage Against the Machine but upbeat' and I think that's a pretty accurate description. They've got your funk, your metal and your rap and despite sharing Rage's political inclinations they blast their message out with positivity and fun, rather than bitter anger. These guys are a brilliant live act and all four members have that performer's x-factor that grabs your attention and holds it from the second they take the stage. The vocalist especially has the same kind of showmanship that I noted about Mike Patton earlier this year that transfers his energy and enthusiasm straight to the audience. The moshpit was one of the best I've seen in a while, with everyone, jumping, dancing and generally going nuts and having a good time. I've waited too long to go to the Annandale, which has a reputation as one of Sydney's best live venues. One that appears to be justified.
Anyway, brilliant live band. Go see them if you have a chance.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Queen's Birthday Emo Kid Amusement Park Extravaganza
Come Together
Luna Park, June 9th & 10th
So last weekend was Queen's Birthday over here (happy fucking birthday you worthless old bag!), and in the interests of getting wasted in new and exciting environments I attended the Come Together music festival.
Some ska band
The festival was held over two days and the venue was Luna Park, site of former concert going shenanigans involving Lamb of God / Killswitch Engage and Nine Inch Nails. The amusement park was actually open while the festival was on and tickets to Come Together were valid for unlimited rides on the attractions, so there was a bit of amusement to be had in seeing drunken metal heads mingling with preschool kids and their families in the queue for the ferris wheel.
Some other ska band. No idea what they're called but they were pretty good.
The venue was well suited to the festival. They split the stage in two and were very efficient at switching between bands, I don't recall waiting more than ten seconds for the next band to start after the last one finished, compared to say the Big Day Out where you are routinely waiting fifteen minutes between bands for say Marilyn Manson to finish throwing a tantrum at his roadies.
Yet another random ska band. I don't think I even stayed to watch any of their gig but took this photo of them sitting on one another's shoulders while playing.
The two days of the festival were fairly clearly divided into 'punk and hardcore' day and 'rock and metal' day. Due to my lack of reading comprehension skills I showed up nice and early on the Saturday only to realise that it was hardcore day and the only band I wanted to see were Norma Jean who were not on until about nine that evening. Since it was punk day the average age of the kids attending was probably about fifteen. I did my best to try and appreciate some of the earlier acts, and some of the ska bands that played were pretty good, but I couldn't stand the little shits in the hardcore audiences, who think they're superior to emos because when they listen to angry music they wave their arms around and pretend to hit each other. I spent most of the day out the back in the bar.
Some pop punk band. They sucked but I liked the way this photo came out.
As well as Norma Jean the other band I made a point of checking out was Carpathian, just because I've heard of them a little and they have a somewhat metal sounding name. They weren't too bad, and they certainly put the metal in metalcore with some brutal riffs, but I almost felt embarrassed standing next to these teenage kids windmilling their arms around in order to work out their frustrations about how unfairly their dad treats them. The band themselves were certainly not averse to encouraging this behaviour; urging “all you little fucking emos" into performing the wall of death and other such behaviour.
Carpathian: it's not a real metalcore concert until the singer calls the audience a bunch of faggots.
Norma Jean were OK but nothing special, and by this stage in the evening I was fairly drunk and cranky, and very sick of teenagers so I went home to coma and get up again for the next day.
Norma Jean: Damned by mediocrity and all day drinking
Sunday was much better. On the way through Luna Park someone recommended Regular John to me and they were playing as I arrived. They were enjoyable, reminding me a lot of The Have, or maybe a kind of grunge Led Zeppelin. It was also weird to notice that suddenly all the kids in Sydney are wearing Seattle style checked flannel. Is this a sudden fashion trend or is it just because it's been getting cold?
Regular John looking regular
Next up were Mourning Tide who were a fucking joke. Enjoyable in a very cheesy way but I sadly suspect that everything I found so funny about them was not intended to be that way. They sounded an awful lot like Guns and Roses only with death metal vocals and seemed to be as much about cock rock posturing as playing music. I felt sorry for Psycroptic, waiting patiently on the next stage to begin as Mourning Tide went through at least three drum fill packed fake endings to their last song.
Mourning Tide. This photo doesn't quite do justice to the posing.
I'd heard good things about Psycroptic, a death metal band from Tasmania, and they were one of the bands I was keenest to see. They played technically accomplished brutal death metal along the lines of Suffocation but I suspect that that style of music is reaching the limits of its appeal to me. It was a decent concert but nothing that really impressed me. I did feel a lot of sympathy for the band, who managed to open up an enormous circle pit that no one danced in, while in front of the stage were a huge, almost entirely female, gaggle of teenagers trying to be metal. “So this is what it has come to.” I thought to myself, “One of the meanest fucking death metal bands in Australia literally reduced to playing for a handful of fifteen year old girls.”
Psycroptic
Psycroptic again. Bonus points for fucking rocking.
Next up were Ink. Their music was uninspiring, they made me think of a more metal version of Linkin Park, but they definitely got points for being the coolest looking band of the day. They also had hot girls in sexy black outfits dancing on stage and throwing giant black beach balls into the crowd. Believe it or not this is actually pretty typical for what passes as goth culture in Australia.
Ink. Believe it or not I forgot to take a photo of the dancing girls.
At this point I went to get something to eat and then of course on the way back I needed a drink...
[Scene Missing]
Some time later I shuffled out of the bar and on a whim decided to see a band I'd never heard of before called Mammal. As it turned out, they were fucking awesome. For some reason Australians seem to have a particular talent for funk metal. The first comparisons that came to mind for these guys were Rage Against the Machine or Faith No More, but on reflection they sound most like what the Red Hot Chilli Peppers would if they didn't suck. At any rate for the first time in two days the whole arena was packed out and going off. Popular opinion has it they were the best band of the festival and I would whole heartedly agree.
Mammal. Rocking.
I was tempted to stick around for Karnivool, but I had a vague feeling that I'd heard them before and didn't like them. I did come back out for Cog, who I did enjoy. They had a vaguely mathy style that for once actually did deserve to be described as mathematical, in a way that even Meshuggah doesn't.
Cog
Lastly, Shihad. I was surprised to realise just how popular they are over here (and even more so by the number of people who expressed disappointment to me that Blindspott cancelled). It was good to see these guys again, it's been four years since the last time I caught them live, and even then it was only because Fur Patrol were opening for them, having gone a bit dark on Shihad after the Pacifier debacle. But when you're a stranger in a strange land you take your Kiwi rock where you can find it so I rocked on up to the front of the stage for these guys, and had a pretty good time. They're still a good live band, 'Wait and See' and 'My Mind's Sedate' still rock and Jonny Toogood still looks like a cherubic schoolboy. The setlist was weighted towards new stuff, which was decent but not any kind of a return to form. Like a lot of bands these days they seem to want to reinvent themselves as U2. The old songs they played were 'My Mind's Sedate', 'Wait and See', 'Comfort Me' and 'The General Electric'. The first two were the highlights of the set, but I was surprised to find once again that 'Comfort Me' isn't all that bad. Maybe it just seems better in comparison to the rest of the Pacifier album. Anyway, it was a nice set to close out the night.
Shihad
Lastly the headliners were Grinspoon, so I went home. Well actually, to the casino, but that's another story.
Luna Park, June 9th & 10th
So last weekend was Queen's Birthday over here (happy fucking birthday you worthless old bag!), and in the interests of getting wasted in new and exciting environments I attended the Come Together music festival.
Some ska bandThe festival was held over two days and the venue was Luna Park, site of former concert going shenanigans involving Lamb of God / Killswitch Engage and Nine Inch Nails. The amusement park was actually open while the festival was on and tickets to Come Together were valid for unlimited rides on the attractions, so there was a bit of amusement to be had in seeing drunken metal heads mingling with preschool kids and their families in the queue for the ferris wheel.
Some other ska band. No idea what they're called but they were pretty good.The venue was well suited to the festival. They split the stage in two and were very efficient at switching between bands, I don't recall waiting more than ten seconds for the next band to start after the last one finished, compared to say the Big Day Out where you are routinely waiting fifteen minutes between bands for say Marilyn Manson to finish throwing a tantrum at his roadies.
Yet another random ska band. I don't think I even stayed to watch any of their gig but took this photo of them sitting on one another's shoulders while playing.The two days of the festival were fairly clearly divided into 'punk and hardcore' day and 'rock and metal' day. Due to my lack of reading comprehension skills I showed up nice and early on the Saturday only to realise that it was hardcore day and the only band I wanted to see were Norma Jean who were not on until about nine that evening. Since it was punk day the average age of the kids attending was probably about fifteen. I did my best to try and appreciate some of the earlier acts, and some of the ska bands that played were pretty good, but I couldn't stand the little shits in the hardcore audiences, who think they're superior to emos because when they listen to angry music they wave their arms around and pretend to hit each other. I spent most of the day out the back in the bar.
Some pop punk band. They sucked but I liked the way this photo came out.As well as Norma Jean the other band I made a point of checking out was Carpathian, just because I've heard of them a little and they have a somewhat metal sounding name. They weren't too bad, and they certainly put the metal in metalcore with some brutal riffs, but I almost felt embarrassed standing next to these teenage kids windmilling their arms around in order to work out their frustrations about how unfairly their dad treats them. The band themselves were certainly not averse to encouraging this behaviour; urging “all you little fucking emos" into performing the wall of death and other such behaviour.
Carpathian: it's not a real metalcore concert until the singer calls the audience a bunch of faggots.Norma Jean were OK but nothing special, and by this stage in the evening I was fairly drunk and cranky, and very sick of teenagers so I went home to coma and get up again for the next day.
Norma Jean: Damned by mediocrity and all day drinkingSunday was much better. On the way through Luna Park someone recommended Regular John to me and they were playing as I arrived. They were enjoyable, reminding me a lot of The Have, or maybe a kind of grunge Led Zeppelin. It was also weird to notice that suddenly all the kids in Sydney are wearing Seattle style checked flannel. Is this a sudden fashion trend or is it just because it's been getting cold?
Regular John looking regularNext up were Mourning Tide who were a fucking joke. Enjoyable in a very cheesy way but I sadly suspect that everything I found so funny about them was not intended to be that way. They sounded an awful lot like Guns and Roses only with death metal vocals and seemed to be as much about cock rock posturing as playing music. I felt sorry for Psycroptic, waiting patiently on the next stage to begin as Mourning Tide went through at least three drum fill packed fake endings to their last song.
Mourning Tide. This photo doesn't quite do justice to the posing.I'd heard good things about Psycroptic, a death metal band from Tasmania, and they were one of the bands I was keenest to see. They played technically accomplished brutal death metal along the lines of Suffocation but I suspect that that style of music is reaching the limits of its appeal to me. It was a decent concert but nothing that really impressed me. I did feel a lot of sympathy for the band, who managed to open up an enormous circle pit that no one danced in, while in front of the stage were a huge, almost entirely female, gaggle of teenagers trying to be metal. “So this is what it has come to.” I thought to myself, “One of the meanest fucking death metal bands in Australia literally reduced to playing for a handful of fifteen year old girls.”
Psycroptic
Psycroptic again. Bonus points for fucking rocking.Next up were Ink. Their music was uninspiring, they made me think of a more metal version of Linkin Park, but they definitely got points for being the coolest looking band of the day. They also had hot girls in sexy black outfits dancing on stage and throwing giant black beach balls into the crowd. Believe it or not this is actually pretty typical for what passes as goth culture in Australia.
Ink. Believe it or not I forgot to take a photo of the dancing girls.At this point I went to get something to eat and then of course on the way back I needed a drink...
[Scene Missing]
Some time later I shuffled out of the bar and on a whim decided to see a band I'd never heard of before called Mammal. As it turned out, they were fucking awesome. For some reason Australians seem to have a particular talent for funk metal. The first comparisons that came to mind for these guys were Rage Against the Machine or Faith No More, but on reflection they sound most like what the Red Hot Chilli Peppers would if they didn't suck. At any rate for the first time in two days the whole arena was packed out and going off. Popular opinion has it they were the best band of the festival and I would whole heartedly agree.
Mammal. Rocking.I was tempted to stick around for Karnivool, but I had a vague feeling that I'd heard them before and didn't like them. I did come back out for Cog, who I did enjoy. They had a vaguely mathy style that for once actually did deserve to be described as mathematical, in a way that even Meshuggah doesn't.
CogLastly, Shihad. I was surprised to realise just how popular they are over here (and even more so by the number of people who expressed disappointment to me that Blindspott cancelled). It was good to see these guys again, it's been four years since the last time I caught them live, and even then it was only because Fur Patrol were opening for them, having gone a bit dark on Shihad after the Pacifier debacle. But when you're a stranger in a strange land you take your Kiwi rock where you can find it so I rocked on up to the front of the stage for these guys, and had a pretty good time. They're still a good live band, 'Wait and See' and 'My Mind's Sedate' still rock and Jonny Toogood still looks like a cherubic schoolboy. The setlist was weighted towards new stuff, which was decent but not any kind of a return to form. Like a lot of bands these days they seem to want to reinvent themselves as U2. The old songs they played were 'My Mind's Sedate', 'Wait and See', 'Comfort Me' and 'The General Electric'. The first two were the highlights of the set, but I was surprised to find once again that 'Comfort Me' isn't all that bad. Maybe it just seems better in comparison to the rest of the Pacifier album. Anyway, it was a nice set to close out the night.
ShihadLastly the headliners were Grinspoon, so I went home. Well actually, to the casino, but that's another story.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
What A Sea To Swim In
Norma Jean - O God the Aftermath
Norma Jean was recommended to me as combining the technical insanity of Dillinger Escape Plan and the intensity of Converge. That's a reasonable description but it doesn't tell the whole story. Their music leans far more in the direction of Converge, and while there is some rhythmic wildness going on it's nowhere near the level of Dillinger. What sets these guys apart from the other hardcore I've been listening to is that they contain an element of pop punk (or at least pop hardcore), which surprisingly enough I quite liked. Against all expectations it fits well when a Converge like thrash riff suddenly segues into a more conventional metalcore chorus, with soaring vocals and straight up punk riffs.
This album took a little while to grow on me but I've come to really like it. The song names are a bit precious (each one is prefixed by a cute portmanteau, such as 'disconnecktie' or 'bayonetwork') and the lyrics, while reasonably eloquent, are typical emo bullshit with a dash of Jesus love, so the Wildebeest Asylum official recommendation is to stay away from the lyrics book in order to preserve maximum enjoyment of the album, but despite that there's some very fine musicianship and songwriting on display here.
Norma Jean was recommended to me as combining the technical insanity of Dillinger Escape Plan and the intensity of Converge. That's a reasonable description but it doesn't tell the whole story. Their music leans far more in the direction of Converge, and while there is some rhythmic wildness going on it's nowhere near the level of Dillinger. What sets these guys apart from the other hardcore I've been listening to is that they contain an element of pop punk (or at least pop hardcore), which surprisingly enough I quite liked. Against all expectations it fits well when a Converge like thrash riff suddenly segues into a more conventional metalcore chorus, with soaring vocals and straight up punk riffs.
This album took a little while to grow on me but I've come to really like it. The song names are a bit precious (each one is prefixed by a cute portmanteau, such as 'disconnecktie' or 'bayonetwork') and the lyrics, while reasonably eloquent, are typical emo bullshit with a dash of Jesus love, so the Wildebeest Asylum official recommendation is to stay away from the lyrics book in order to preserve maximum enjoyment of the album, but despite that there's some very fine musicianship and songwriting on display here.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Mediocre Music In Brief
Listed in ascending order of shittiness.
Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake
Ashes of the Wake is Lamb of God's most recent album before the mainstream breakthrough Sacrament. It's a perfectly decent record but I have absolutely nothing to say about it. The riffs are rhythmically complex and very catchy (and are a lot more metal than Sacrament) and it's delivered with respectable technical precision by all members of the band, but after I'm finished listening to it I'm just left with an underwhelming feeling of 'Meh. It was OK'.
Burzum – Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
My Burzum listening schedule is still fairly haywire. I've skipped one of the older ones, meaning that this is the third album, and therefore one of the mid-period classics. However I'm still not that impressed. For the first half an hour it's a total bore, retreading the same old stripped down riffs, ghastly vocals (his voice cracks like a school boy at one point during 'Inn i slottet fra drømmen') and grungy production that I found endearing but ultimately lacking substance on the first Burzum album.
Having said that I do really like the fifteen minute ambient closing track 'Tomhet' (Emptiness), which makes me hold off a little before judging this guy to be the most overrated musician this side of The Edge.
Fats Domino – This is Fats
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die Number 5
Like the last album in this series, Louis Prima's The Wildest, this is a soft jazz album, but while I found a lot about The Wildest to enjoy, This is Fats was just a total bore. It's completely gutless with no swing or bite. Some of the later songs perked up my ears a little but by and large this is a dull affair.
Next up, Duke Ellington. My expectations are high.
The Blinding Light – The Glass Bullet EP
This came into my collection along with Converge's Jane Doe and Old Man Gloom's Christmas so I was half expecting yet another major musical revelation. These guys play fast, intense hardcore very much in the vein of Converge, and with a hint of Dillinger Escape Plan's rhythmic insanity. But despite being so similar to bands that I love, for some reason this EP does absolutely nothing for me. I'm at a loss to explain why, since it contains so many elements that have been proven to light my aesthetic fire in a big way, but even with a mere twenty minute running time I found the whole disc to be a serious chore to sit through.
Lamb of God – Ashes of the Wake
Ashes of the Wake is Lamb of God's most recent album before the mainstream breakthrough Sacrament. It's a perfectly decent record but I have absolutely nothing to say about it. The riffs are rhythmically complex and very catchy (and are a lot more metal than Sacrament) and it's delivered with respectable technical precision by all members of the band, but after I'm finished listening to it I'm just left with an underwhelming feeling of 'Meh. It was OK'.
Burzum – Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
My Burzum listening schedule is still fairly haywire. I've skipped one of the older ones, meaning that this is the third album, and therefore one of the mid-period classics. However I'm still not that impressed. For the first half an hour it's a total bore, retreading the same old stripped down riffs, ghastly vocals (his voice cracks like a school boy at one point during 'Inn i slottet fra drømmen') and grungy production that I found endearing but ultimately lacking substance on the first Burzum album.
Having said that I do really like the fifteen minute ambient closing track 'Tomhet' (Emptiness), which makes me hold off a little before judging this guy to be the most overrated musician this side of The Edge.
Fats Domino – This is Fats
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die Number 5
Like the last album in this series, Louis Prima's The Wildest, this is a soft jazz album, but while I found a lot about The Wildest to enjoy, This is Fats was just a total bore. It's completely gutless with no swing or bite. Some of the later songs perked up my ears a little but by and large this is a dull affair.
Next up, Duke Ellington. My expectations are high.
The Blinding Light – The Glass Bullet EP
This came into my collection along with Converge's Jane Doe and Old Man Gloom's Christmas so I was half expecting yet another major musical revelation. These guys play fast, intense hardcore very much in the vein of Converge, and with a hint of Dillinger Escape Plan's rhythmic insanity. But despite being so similar to bands that I love, for some reason this EP does absolutely nothing for me. I'm at a loss to explain why, since it contains so many elements that have been proven to light my aesthetic fire in a big way, but even with a mere twenty minute running time I found the whole disc to be a serious chore to sit through.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Split Your Guts With Blood And Thunder
Mastodon – Leviathan
Like Blood Mountain that came after it, Leviathan is a hardcore (as in punk) concept album with a mythic aspect. However unlike Blood Mountain's opaque and difficult to interpret story, Leviathan is based on the novel Moby Dick, which makes a surprisingly good accompaniment to their brand of spastic yet epic metal.
Musically this album is not quite to the standard they achieved with the next album but it's still very good. Where Blood Mountain schizophrenically leapt from genre to genre, Leviathan stays on a pretty even keel of powerful, chugging hardcore throughout, save for the occasional country or jazz flourish. The riffs are still fucking brilliant, but in composition the songs on this album don't live up to those of their successor, and about midway through the album I usually start to feel a little unsatisfied by the failure of the music to progress meaningfully beyond one incredibly mean riff after another.
It doesn't help that the two standout songs on the album come at either end of it. Leviathan opens with the stunning 'Blood and Thunder', three minutes of the meanest fucking riffs you've ever heard arranged perfectly to create the toughest, most menacing sensation you'll ever associate with an 19th century novel. It sets a high standard which unfortunately isn't matched until the second to last track, the quarter hour epic 'Hearts Alive' which ebbs and swells over it's ponderous running time before erupting into a mighty climax, complete with an orgasmically triumphant guitar solo.
For the technically minded there's plenty of nice guitar work and drumming to be admired. While it's not as good as Blood Mountain it's still a very worthwhile purchase as the songs all stand really well on their own. It's just a bit unfortunate that the album as a whole suffers from a little too much homogeneity. Still, it really made me want to read Moby Dick!
Like Blood Mountain that came after it, Leviathan is a hardcore (as in punk) concept album with a mythic aspect. However unlike Blood Mountain's opaque and difficult to interpret story, Leviathan is based on the novel Moby Dick, which makes a surprisingly good accompaniment to their brand of spastic yet epic metal.
Musically this album is not quite to the standard they achieved with the next album but it's still very good. Where Blood Mountain schizophrenically leapt from genre to genre, Leviathan stays on a pretty even keel of powerful, chugging hardcore throughout, save for the occasional country or jazz flourish. The riffs are still fucking brilliant, but in composition the songs on this album don't live up to those of their successor, and about midway through the album I usually start to feel a little unsatisfied by the failure of the music to progress meaningfully beyond one incredibly mean riff after another.
It doesn't help that the two standout songs on the album come at either end of it. Leviathan opens with the stunning 'Blood and Thunder', three minutes of the meanest fucking riffs you've ever heard arranged perfectly to create the toughest, most menacing sensation you'll ever associate with an 19th century novel. It sets a high standard which unfortunately isn't matched until the second to last track, the quarter hour epic 'Hearts Alive' which ebbs and swells over it's ponderous running time before erupting into a mighty climax, complete with an orgasmically triumphant guitar solo.
For the technically minded there's plenty of nice guitar work and drumming to be admired. While it's not as good as Blood Mountain it's still a very worthwhile purchase as the songs all stand really well on their own. It's just a bit unfortunate that the album as a whole suffers from a little too much homogeneity. Still, it really made me want to read Moby Dick!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Our Eagles Become Our Vultures
Converge – You Fail Me
You Fail Me comes chronologically right after Jane Doe and right before No Heroes, and there's not a lot to say about it that I didn't say in either of those posts. It's all about brutal, raw hardcore, with a bit of arrhythmic craziness thrown in.
That said, out of those three albums You Fail Me is probably my favourite, mainly because there are a few more departures from their typical style. If there's one thing I look for in a good album it's dynamism. You can write the ten best brutal death metal songs in the world, but if they all do more or less the same thing they won't make for a great album. You Fail Me contains a few gentler acousticy tracks, most notably 'In Her Shadow' which undergoes a very cool rhythmic transition at the halfway point from maudlin to impassioned. The title track is worth mentioning too, a slow, grinding song that's just a wee bit doom metal and which also makes a nice break from their usual style.
Of course, an equal part of this album's goodness comes from the fact that the songs in their typical hardcore style are fucking great too. Just about every one is a classic, but I'd have to give a nod to 'Drop Out' as being exceptional above the rest. It just plain rocks.
You Fail Me comes chronologically right after Jane Doe and right before No Heroes, and there's not a lot to say about it that I didn't say in either of those posts. It's all about brutal, raw hardcore, with a bit of arrhythmic craziness thrown in.
That said, out of those three albums You Fail Me is probably my favourite, mainly because there are a few more departures from their typical style. If there's one thing I look for in a good album it's dynamism. You can write the ten best brutal death metal songs in the world, but if they all do more or less the same thing they won't make for a great album. You Fail Me contains a few gentler acousticy tracks, most notably 'In Her Shadow' which undergoes a very cool rhythmic transition at the halfway point from maudlin to impassioned. The title track is worth mentioning too, a slow, grinding song that's just a wee bit doom metal and which also makes a nice break from their usual style.
Of course, an equal part of this album's goodness comes from the fact that the songs in their typical hardcore style are fucking great too. Just about every one is a classic, but I'd have to give a nod to 'Drop Out' as being exceptional above the rest. It just plain rocks.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
A Busy Few Months
Not featured: Lamb of God... apparently it came in the mail months ago but I can't find the fucker. Lets hope I do by April 29th!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
In the Next War We Shall Bury the Dead in Cellophane
Old Man Gloom – Christmas
This album was a completely random discovery encountered during my mission to illicitly download some Converge. Much to my astonishment I was completely blown away by how brilliant it was. A quick wikipedia search revealed the source of the awesomeness; Old Man Gloom is a supergroup of sorts boasting the presence of, among others, members of Isis and Converge. Fuck yeah.
This album alternates minimalist ambient tracks with heavy hardcore songs, and the contrast is quite striking. The ambient tracks are moody and disturbing (but great), the best example being 'Something for the Mrs.', in which an unpleasant sounding male voice recites absurd but unsettling nonsense about religion and war over a brooding ambient soundscape. These tracks are in the main the ones that stay with you after listening to the album. Like all the best ambient music it's beautiful but laden with sadness and regret, and in this case with a little disquieting menace.
The heavy tracks are brutal and angry, but nowhere near as affecting as the quiet ones. Fortunately they make up for it with sheer rock-your-face-off brilliance. The best track is 'The Volcano', which is a genuine revelation to listen to. The preceding ambient track fades into a quiet but menacing guitar riff, which is soon complemented by the meanest fucking bass figure ever written, boasting what is the most pants-creamingly crunchy bass guitar tone I've ever heard. After a decent few minutes of this it erupts into screamy hardcore bliss, with riffs so fucking awesome that they'll melt your face. If you like heavy music, run, don't walk, to soulseek and download 'The Volcano' by Old Man Gloom. Best song I've heard all year.
This album was a completely random discovery encountered during my mission to illicitly download some Converge. Much to my astonishment I was completely blown away by how brilliant it was. A quick wikipedia search revealed the source of the awesomeness; Old Man Gloom is a supergroup of sorts boasting the presence of, among others, members of Isis and Converge. Fuck yeah.
This album alternates minimalist ambient tracks with heavy hardcore songs, and the contrast is quite striking. The ambient tracks are moody and disturbing (but great), the best example being 'Something for the Mrs.', in which an unpleasant sounding male voice recites absurd but unsettling nonsense about religion and war over a brooding ambient soundscape. These tracks are in the main the ones that stay with you after listening to the album. Like all the best ambient music it's beautiful but laden with sadness and regret, and in this case with a little disquieting menace.
The heavy tracks are brutal and angry, but nowhere near as affecting as the quiet ones. Fortunately they make up for it with sheer rock-your-face-off brilliance. The best track is 'The Volcano', which is a genuine revelation to listen to. The preceding ambient track fades into a quiet but menacing guitar riff, which is soon complemented by the meanest fucking bass figure ever written, boasting what is the most pants-creamingly crunchy bass guitar tone I've ever heard. After a decent few minutes of this it erupts into screamy hardcore bliss, with riffs so fucking awesome that they'll melt your face. If you like heavy music, run, don't walk, to soulseek and download 'The Volcano' by Old Man Gloom. Best song I've heard all year.
Friday, March 23, 2007
No One Will Break Your Fall
Converge – Live in Sydney, 22nd March
Well as it happens the concert scene was a little quiet while I was internetless, so there's nothing exciting that I've been gagging to post about, but we're straight back into it this week with Converge, on their first ever Australian tour.
I was surprised that they were playing at such a small venue, a little student bar at UNSW, and for so cheap. Only $30! I thought they were much more popular than that. (They certainly deserve to be more popular than fucking Satyricon.) The t-shirts were reasonably priced too, I'm not much of a band t-shirt wearer but for $20 I was persuaded to get one.
The lighting actually was this dim, it's not just my camera
The crowd was very uni, and to be honest I was far from being in the mood to be surrounded by screaming, giggling first years. On the plus side, my first hand reporting has now confirmed my hypothesis from last year. Hardcore chicks are hot.
These guys ran around the stage so much that it's hard to get a photo of them that doesn't look blurry
The opening acts were OK. First up were Hospital... uh... something something... as you can tell they really made an impression. They were OK but they really were basically a crappier version of Converge, only with beards. Next up were '4 Dead', who didn't impress me much but sure got the mosh pit going and had plenty of stage antics and energy. One of the guitarists wore a Converge t-shirt. I've found that Sydney is pretty bad for “You're the guy wearing the t-shirt of the band you're going to see. Don't be that guy.” but this is the first time I've come across a case of “You're the guy wearing the t-shirt of the band you're opening for. Please don't be that guy.”
The guitarist opens with an extended intro to 'Plagues'
But on to Converge. The setlist is pretty hard for me to remember, even with the vocalist introducing most of the songs by name, but among the songs played were:
Plagues
No Heroes
Eagles Become Vultures
The Broken Vow
Vengeance
A bunch of short, brutal tracks. I think I heard at least parts of 'Drop Out' and 'Hope Street'
A bunch of old stuff that I didn't know
Heartless
Concubine
The encore was 'The Saddest Day', another old song that I didn't know, but judging by the crowd reaction a genuine fan favourite.
Yep. I'm afraid these are the best photos I got
The band delivered with all the energy they have on record, and stuck pretty close to the way they sound on their albums. The moshpit was fucking crazy and a good time was had by all. The vocalist was a really great frontman, delivering all the hardcore clichés ('believe in yourself', 'look your enemies in the eye and tell them that you're better than they are') with real passion, which I guess makes them not really clichés any more. One thing he said did stick with me, “This song is about the worst person I have ever met. This world is standing at a crossroads; you can choose to be a demon or a king or a queen,” which I thought was really cool (they then proceeded to belt out an awesome version of 'Concubine' to close the set), but it made me think. So often hardcore bands make political intimations, but they rarely come out and say what side they are actually on. With most bands you can assume they're lefties, but hardcore and black metal as genres sometimes have definite right wing tendencies, so you can never be sure. If I were to guess I'd say Converge were lefties but I honestly don't know. Anyway, it's interesting that hardcore bands often keep their political allegiances close to their chests. I'd guess that maybe they feel that no matter what they are, they're going to alienate half of their fanbase...
You can't really tell from this picture but that's the vocalist crowd surfing
Anyway the concert itself was great. Not up to Tool or Isis standards but fucking great all the same. These guys seem to genuinely want to do the best for their fans, as demonstrated by their reasonably priced merchandise, the constant, genuine stage banter and the way the vocalist stuck around after the last song and shook the hands of everyone in the front row. The highlight of the set for me was 'Concubine' (I was hoping for 'Grim Heart/Black Rose' but that was always going to be a long shot), but I didn't know much of the old stuff (although the audience clearly did). I hope these guys come back again soon when I've had time to consume a few more of their albums.
Well as it happens the concert scene was a little quiet while I was internetless, so there's nothing exciting that I've been gagging to post about, but we're straight back into it this week with Converge, on their first ever Australian tour.
I was surprised that they were playing at such a small venue, a little student bar at UNSW, and for so cheap. Only $30! I thought they were much more popular than that. (They certainly deserve to be more popular than fucking Satyricon.) The t-shirts were reasonably priced too, I'm not much of a band t-shirt wearer but for $20 I was persuaded to get one.
The lighting actually was this dim, it's not just my cameraThe crowd was very uni, and to be honest I was far from being in the mood to be surrounded by screaming, giggling first years. On the plus side, my first hand reporting has now confirmed my hypothesis from last year. Hardcore chicks are hot.
These guys ran around the stage so much that it's hard to get a photo of them that doesn't look blurry
The guitarist opens with an extended intro to 'Plagues'Plagues
No Heroes
Eagles Become Vultures
The Broken Vow
Vengeance
A bunch of short, brutal tracks. I think I heard at least parts of 'Drop Out' and 'Hope Street'
A bunch of old stuff that I didn't know
Heartless
Concubine
The encore was 'The Saddest Day', another old song that I didn't know, but judging by the crowd reaction a genuine fan favourite.
Yep. I'm afraid these are the best photos I got
You can't really tell from this picture but that's the vocalist crowd surfingTuesday, February 27, 2007
They All Lack Taste Sometimes
Soundwave Festival – Sydney Park 25th February
I must admit I have been a bit disappointed by the increasing lameness of the Big Day Out over the last few years. While the two headliners this year were among my favourite bands, the whole festival experience didn't come close to living up to all the fun I had in those first few years of attendance (ah the memories... Korn, Marilyn Manson's naked arse, Courtney Love's naked breasts...) where the whole day was excitement from beginning to end. I assumed my greatly lessened enthusiasm was just because I'm getting older and crankier, but judging by how much Soundwave reminded me of the first few times I went to the Big Day Out, and by how young the kids there were, I must conclude that the Big Day Out is just getting crappier.
The Big Day Out in Auckland has always been a bit of an alternative affair, mostly populated by goths, metallers and general freaks, whereas the Sydney one was horrifyingly mainstream; twenty thousand bimbos in bikini tops and big sunglasses, and twenty thousand douchebags wrapped in Australian flags. Soundwave on the other hand was a giant sea of black t-shirts. I felt like I fit in a lot better.
Of course, after sweltering in the heat all summer Sydney decided to treat us all to a massive downpour (massive by New South Wales standards of course, in Christchurch it would've been considered 'a bit showery') and for the first time in almost nine months I actually felt cold. I was actually quite surprised that so many people braved the weather to attend. The last time it rained like this here (in June) the CBD practically emptied out. One of the weirdest moments of the day was hanging out in the bar area when the rain peaked at it's heaviest and everyone (including myself) ran and packed in under the limited sheltered area by the bar. For some reason everyone just started screaming their heads off for no reason. It was totally random but funny as hell.
Blindspott
Anyway. The music. Out of a half hearted sense of dutiful nationalism I went along to the first band on the secondary stage, Blindspott. The last couple of times I saw these guys I was not too impressed, but god bless them they did all right by our little island nation on this occasion. And it turns out that the Aussie meatheads who sit there cracking sheep jokes for the first half of the set are the first to rush into the moshpit when they crank out 'Nil By Mouth'. Fancy that.
Just like at the Big Day Out the drink queues were insanely long. I was quite keen to see Flyleaf, solely because I saw a music video of theirs once and their vocalist is a tiny little chick who does crazy death metal vocals, but I spent the whole forty minutes they were playing trying to get a drink, only just getting out in time to hear the last chord of their set. That fucked me off pretty bad, and I think the organisers should have planned better for the incredible amount of drinking that was inevitably going to happen. I shit you not there were actually guys crowd surfing over the queue into the bar (where they were immediately set upon by bouncers, but it was entertaining nonetheless). Funnily enough this doesn't happen back home. Is it because Kiwi's drink less or because concert organisers over there are more scared of what might happen if a whole bunch of munters run out of beer? Discuss.
MxPx: featuring the rain. (The rain sounded better)
The rest of the afternoon was completely forgettable. I made a point of seeing MxPx, on account of having heard their name before, and was fairly disgusted. I thought the Blink 182/Green Day pop punk fad was dead and had been buried (by its more worthless but more entertaining offspring emo) but apparently there are still some dumb kids out there keen on this shit. And the less said about the shitty indie rock acts that played the main stages for the majority of the day the better.
Parkway Drive
Hatebreed
Later in the evening I visited the little stage to see the hard shit. Parkway Drive were OK, I've never heard them before but I enjoyed their set. It was a good warm up for Hatebreed, who didn't play for nearly long enough but were just as awesome as the last time I saw them. Despite the downbeat lyrical content of their songs these guys just look like they're having shitloads of fun on stage. The moshpit wasn't as mental as the insanely huge death pit they started up at the Big Day Out in 2005, but it was still pretty fun. Violent, but with a good vibe.
Hatebreed again: you can't really tell from this photo but there's all sorts of crazy shit going on behind me.
Suicidal Tendencies
I missed Terror, on account of being in the drinks queue again, but returned in time to see Suicidal Tendencies, who were pretty fucking awesome. I hadn't really heard them before either but they were also a hardcore band but with a bit of a hip hop influence and plenty of flashy metal guitar wankery. I liked it. They were great performers with an impassioned and entertaining frontman and the crowd was very into it.
The Deftones. As you walk/ onstage.
I left Suicidal Tendencies set early to get a good spot for the festival's headliners, the Deftones. After much thoughtful deliberation on their performance I have upgraded them from a 'crap live band' to a 'not terribly good live band'. Sure there's no way that munting out and screaming along to 'Be Quiet and Drive' and 'Passenger' could not be fun, but they just don't seem to have a lot of energy or even much interest in performing, especially compared to some of the outstanding concerts I've had the good fortune to see already this year. Their setlist was a bit surprising too. Mostly Adrenaline and White Pony material with not a lot from the new album and nothing at all from the self-titled:
Chino Moreno: Still fat.
Now for my big bitch. The moshpit sucked. Maybe I've just been spoilt by gigs like Tool and Isis, where I was actually able to stand at the front and enjoy the show without having crowd surfers kicking me in the head every ten seconds, or those like Suffocation or Hatebreed, which manage to be very violent while still being fun for those of us who don't enjoy kicking people in the back, but it seemed to me that the mood in the moshpit was quite ugly. Afterwards someone told me that ten minutes into the set (before I had made my way up to the front) he'd seen some dude getting (deliberately) stomped on for a couple of minutes in the moshpit, and I could believe it. Anyway, I felt the aggression rubbing off on me and I was starting to get pissed off and not enjoying myself, so I moved back and managed to get a good photo! That's karma for you.
OMG it looks like an actual photo taken by an actual photographer with an actual camera
While the Deftones were not all I hoped they would be I saw more than a few good bands and more importantly I had a good time hanging out with randoms and not so randoms in a social setting that I felt far more at home in than at the Big Day Out (punk assed teenage kid wrapped in Aussie flag count: 1). Here's hoping there'll be a few more festivals like this here before the year is out.
I must admit I have been a bit disappointed by the increasing lameness of the Big Day Out over the last few years. While the two headliners this year were among my favourite bands, the whole festival experience didn't come close to living up to all the fun I had in those first few years of attendance (ah the memories... Korn, Marilyn Manson's naked arse, Courtney Love's naked breasts...) where the whole day was excitement from beginning to end. I assumed my greatly lessened enthusiasm was just because I'm getting older and crankier, but judging by how much Soundwave reminded me of the first few times I went to the Big Day Out, and by how young the kids there were, I must conclude that the Big Day Out is just getting crappier.
The Big Day Out in Auckland has always been a bit of an alternative affair, mostly populated by goths, metallers and general freaks, whereas the Sydney one was horrifyingly mainstream; twenty thousand bimbos in bikini tops and big sunglasses, and twenty thousand douchebags wrapped in Australian flags. Soundwave on the other hand was a giant sea of black t-shirts. I felt like I fit in a lot better.
Of course, after sweltering in the heat all summer Sydney decided to treat us all to a massive downpour (massive by New South Wales standards of course, in Christchurch it would've been considered 'a bit showery') and for the first time in almost nine months I actually felt cold. I was actually quite surprised that so many people braved the weather to attend. The last time it rained like this here (in June) the CBD practically emptied out. One of the weirdest moments of the day was hanging out in the bar area when the rain peaked at it's heaviest and everyone (including myself) ran and packed in under the limited sheltered area by the bar. For some reason everyone just started screaming their heads off for no reason. It was totally random but funny as hell.
BlindspottAnyway. The music. Out of a half hearted sense of dutiful nationalism I went along to the first band on the secondary stage, Blindspott. The last couple of times I saw these guys I was not too impressed, but god bless them they did all right by our little island nation on this occasion. And it turns out that the Aussie meatheads who sit there cracking sheep jokes for the first half of the set are the first to rush into the moshpit when they crank out 'Nil By Mouth'. Fancy that.
Just like at the Big Day Out the drink queues were insanely long. I was quite keen to see Flyleaf, solely because I saw a music video of theirs once and their vocalist is a tiny little chick who does crazy death metal vocals, but I spent the whole forty minutes they were playing trying to get a drink, only just getting out in time to hear the last chord of their set. That fucked me off pretty bad, and I think the organisers should have planned better for the incredible amount of drinking that was inevitably going to happen. I shit you not there were actually guys crowd surfing over the queue into the bar (where they were immediately set upon by bouncers, but it was entertaining nonetheless). Funnily enough this doesn't happen back home. Is it because Kiwi's drink less or because concert organisers over there are more scared of what might happen if a whole bunch of munters run out of beer? Discuss.
MxPx: featuring the rain. (The rain sounded better)The rest of the afternoon was completely forgettable. I made a point of seeing MxPx, on account of having heard their name before, and was fairly disgusted. I thought the Blink 182/Green Day pop punk fad was dead and had been buried (by its more worthless but more entertaining offspring emo) but apparently there are still some dumb kids out there keen on this shit. And the less said about the shitty indie rock acts that played the main stages for the majority of the day the better.
Parkway Drive
HatebreedLater in the evening I visited the little stage to see the hard shit. Parkway Drive were OK, I've never heard them before but I enjoyed their set. It was a good warm up for Hatebreed, who didn't play for nearly long enough but were just as awesome as the last time I saw them. Despite the downbeat lyrical content of their songs these guys just look like they're having shitloads of fun on stage. The moshpit wasn't as mental as the insanely huge death pit they started up at the Big Day Out in 2005, but it was still pretty fun. Violent, but with a good vibe.
Hatebreed again: you can't really tell from this photo but there's all sorts of crazy shit going on behind me.
Suicidal TendenciesI missed Terror, on account of being in the drinks queue again, but returned in time to see Suicidal Tendencies, who were pretty fucking awesome. I hadn't really heard them before either but they were also a hardcore band but with a bit of a hip hop influence and plenty of flashy metal guitar wankery. I liked it. They were great performers with an impassioned and entertaining frontman and the crowd was very into it.
The Deftones. As you walk/ onstage.I left Suicidal Tendencies set early to get a good spot for the festival's headliners, the Deftones. After much thoughtful deliberation on their performance I have upgraded them from a 'crap live band' to a 'not terribly good live band'. Sure there's no way that munting out and screaming along to 'Be Quiet and Drive' and 'Passenger' could not be fun, but they just don't seem to have a lot of energy or even much interest in performing, especially compared to some of the outstanding concerts I've had the good fortune to see already this year. Their setlist was a bit surprising too. Mostly Adrenaline and White Pony material with not a lot from the new album and nothing at all from the self-titled:
- Korea
- Knife Party
- Be Quiet and Drive
- My Last Summer
- Beware
- Engine Number 9
- Root
- Hole in the Earth
- Xerces
- Passenger
- Kimdracula
- Bored
- Back to School
- Change (in the House of Flies)
- 7 Words
Chino Moreno: Still fat.Now for my big bitch. The moshpit sucked. Maybe I've just been spoilt by gigs like Tool and Isis, where I was actually able to stand at the front and enjoy the show without having crowd surfers kicking me in the head every ten seconds, or those like Suffocation or Hatebreed, which manage to be very violent while still being fun for those of us who don't enjoy kicking people in the back, but it seemed to me that the mood in the moshpit was quite ugly. Afterwards someone told me that ten minutes into the set (before I had made my way up to the front) he'd seen some dude getting (deliberately) stomped on for a couple of minutes in the moshpit, and I could believe it. Anyway, I felt the aggression rubbing off on me and I was starting to get pissed off and not enjoying myself, so I moved back and managed to get a good photo! That's karma for you.
OMG it looks like an actual photo taken by an actual photographer with an actual cameraWhile the Deftones were not all I hoped they would be I saw more than a few good bands and more importantly I had a good time hanging out with randoms and not so randoms in a social setting that I felt far more at home in than at the Big Day Out (punk assed teenage kid wrapped in Aussie flag count: 1). Here's hoping there'll be a few more festivals like this here before the year is out.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
I Just Want To Go Blind
Converge – No Heroes
As previously reported, Converge are pretty fucking awesome. In anticipation of their concert next month I've bought their most recent album No Heroes. It's mostly similar in style to Jane Doe, fast, angry and brutal, with some of the most hair raisingly intense vocals I've ever heard (seriously, how can this guy still talk?!), but there is a little more variation in tone and mood here, even stretching to the point of including a ballad or two (with a different vocalist mind you).
Most of the songs are quick one or two minute blasts so intense and both rhythmically and tonally fucked up so that your brain barely has time to say 'What the fuck was that?' before it's on to the next one. The exception being the ten minute centrepiece of the album 'Grim Heart / Black Rose', which starts out as a sad, relatively gentle ballad and ends with an almighty build up to a good, hard, solid rock out, featuring some virtuoso drumming.
Unfortunately while No Heroes is much slicker in terms of production and a bit more sophisticated in composition it just doesn't quite match the intensity of Jane Doe. Still it's no disappointment and the new tracks will hopefully go down a treat live.
As previously reported, Converge are pretty fucking awesome. In anticipation of their concert next month I've bought their most recent album No Heroes. It's mostly similar in style to Jane Doe, fast, angry and brutal, with some of the most hair raisingly intense vocals I've ever heard (seriously, how can this guy still talk?!), but there is a little more variation in tone and mood here, even stretching to the point of including a ballad or two (with a different vocalist mind you).
Most of the songs are quick one or two minute blasts so intense and both rhythmically and tonally fucked up so that your brain barely has time to say 'What the fuck was that?' before it's on to the next one. The exception being the ten minute centrepiece of the album 'Grim Heart / Black Rose', which starts out as a sad, relatively gentle ballad and ends with an almighty build up to a good, hard, solid rock out, featuring some virtuoso drumming.
Unfortunately while No Heroes is much slicker in terms of production and a bit more sophisticated in composition it just doesn't quite match the intensity of Jane Doe. Still it's no disappointment and the new tracks will hopefully go down a treat live.
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