Between fears and hopes, I have a kind of strange, mixed emotions regarding this reunion. Smells more like fishing for “cookies” (cashing-in), rather then fueled by creative impulses. Don’t get me wrong, I was, and still I an a huge “Badmotorfinger” era Soundgarden fan, but “that” Soundgarden it’s long gone and dead. The following two albums, “Superunknown”, respectively their last release of 1996, “Down on the Upside” were less and less impressive, they chosen to go on a more soft, radio/media friendly path and lost their tooth, their… grunge. While drummer Matt Cameron, bass player Ben Shepherd and guitarist Kim Thayil were quite off the radar since their break-up, singer Chris Cornell was hipper active. After a Beatles flavored solo album entitled “Euphoria Morning” and released in 1999, Cornell joint forces with Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, then-former members of Rage Against the Machine and formed Audioslave.
After three albums, “Audioslave” (2002), “Out of Exile” (2005), and “Revelations” (2006), Cornell left Audioslave in early 2007, resulting in the band’s break-up. He released his second solo album, “Carry On” in June 2007 and the third, entitled “Scream”, produced by Timbaland, was released in 2009. Both to mixed commercial and critical success, but “Scream” stir up lot of discussions and controversy, gathering mainly reproaches from his previous and Soundgarden fans. Read more Soundgarden – King Animal (2012)
Life and Living
Monthly Archives: November 2012
Jah Wobble and Keith Levene – Yin and Yang (2012)
It’s something in the air, and I don’t mean love, this must be the year of P.I.L. (Public Image Ltd). First John Lydon teamed up again with former (and future) PiL members Lu Edmonds, Scott Firth and Bruce Smith and recorded and release the first new PiL album, “This is PiL” after two decades. Then founder PiL members, bassist Jah Wobble and guitarist Keith Levene revisited this year the PiL’s groundbreaking 1980’s album “Metal Box” – which they were the driving forces behind – with several highly-acclaimed shows performing “Metal Box in Dub live”. Now they make a step even further and they decide it record some new material which became “Yin and Yang”, a 10 track journey in the outer limits of Dub and Post-Punk/Modern Rock. Read more Jah Wobble and Keith Levene – Yin and Yang (2012)
Tweaker – Call The Time Eternity (2012)
Tweaker it’s the side project of drummer/programmer Chris Vrenna started after his departure from Nine Inch Nails in 1996. The album, The Attraction to All Things Uncertain, was Vrenna’s “solo” debut in 2001. The following “2 A.M. Wakeup Call” in 2004 also made the debut of guitarist/programmer Clint Walsh as a permanent fixture to the band and featuring a quite famous line-up of guest vocalists including David Sylvian, Will Oldham, Robert Smith, Burton C. Bell, Craig Wedren, Hamilton Leithauser, Buzz Osborne, Jonathan Bates and Johnny Marr.
Tweaker toured select North American dates with Skinny Puppy in 2004 and the live band line-up was consisting of Chris Vrenna (drums, percussion and keyboard), Clint Walsh (guitar and keyboard), Paul Ill (bass guitar and keyboards) and Nick Young (vocals).
There was rumors that Tweaker would release a new album in 2008, although no material surfaced, and in that period Vrenna worked with Marilyn Manson on his 2009 album “The High End of Low”. Read more Tweaker – Call The Time Eternity (2012)
ASIDEFROMADAY – Chasing Shadows (2012)
This is the third album for the French Post-Metal/Sludge band and they deliver a disturbing and noisy mixture of heaviness and gloominess. With roots back both to Sepultura/Soulfly and Kyuss/Monster Magnet, but emerging a Post-Rock/Post-Metal edge and exploring the darkest corners of soul and contorted music, ASIDEFROMADAY merged the vibe of Depressive (Black) Metal with the energy, noisiness and strength of Modern Metal while the seven epic tracks of “Chasing Shadows” it’s a fearful voyage colored with complexity, flavored with raw aggression and twisted ambiance.
This is definitively not an easy-listening, but darkness has its own beauty and ASIDEFROMADAY explore and reveals those aspects step by step. Read more ASIDEFROMADAY – Chasing Shadows (2012)
Slut Machine – From Blind to Blue, EP (2012)
With traces back to Kyuss, Monster Magnet and Corrosion Of Conformity, gathering inspiration through Queens Of the Stone Age from Kyuss and related to Soundgarden and Down, Slut Machine blends perfectly Stoner Rock and Sludge Metal.
“From Blind to Blue” it’s the band third EP and we’ve got four heavy weight Stoner/Sludge hurricanes. Released on 14 April 2012, the EP it’s available for FREE DOWNLOAD.
“Collapse”, the opener track, it’s powerful and pounding, will grind you into the ground with it’s strong riffs and thundering drums. “Cosmic Monster” have some strong Soundgarden resonances and roots back to Heavy Metal. Once you hear it, it’s hard to get rid of it. “(Ain’t) No Way Out” have more heaviness, it roots lead us back to Black Sabbath. The closing “Tornado” it’s a Mississippi flavoured, slow grinding epic. Heavy as the elephant shit, a classic monster build upon bone cutter riffs and pounding drums and an intense, gloomy vibe. Read more Slut Machine – From Blind to Blue, EP (2012)
