Agnostic Front – The American Dream Died (2015)

Agnostic Front - The American Dream Died (2015)

Agnostic Front - The American Dream Died (2015) The album begins quoting George Carlin: “The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it” which synthesize perfectly the state of facts and the perception of America today. We might consider it a joke, but it’s a deadly serious issue.
If you ask me, I think the American dream was gunned down in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 PM Central Standard Time on Friday November 22, 1963, but a huge machinery of propaganda made it looks like it was still alive till more recent times. Make no mistakes, we, the citizens of this world, are the victims of manipulation and propaganda both from Vest and from East. I’m living a nightmare because I’m caught in the middle and I was seriously abused by both sides, although believing in the “American dream” kept us alive while the other part made our life a living Hell. Now Hell have no boundaries and it’s hard to tell on which side of the planet the lie it’s bigger…the dream it’s deader. Read more Agnostic Front – The American Dream Died (2015)

The Prodigy – The Day Is My Enemy (2015)

The Prodigy - The Day Is My Enemy (2015)

The Prodigy - The Day Is My Enemy (2015) There are a couple of albums expected to be released this year (2015) I am anxious to listen to. One of them it’s the upcoming Agnostic Front album, the upcoming Limp Bizkit album, the debut album of Black Futures (ex-Subsource) and not at least the 6th The Prodigy album.
The Prodigy promised “violent sound” and a brand new level of sonic aggression. And well, have listen the whole album now for a couple of days and the sound it’s definitively there.
I’m still not sure if there are real songs under the massive sound and if The Prodigy have added anything new to their already fat repertoire.
“The Day Is My Enemy” sound almost exactly as “Invaders Must Die” back in 2009, the structure of the album and the structure of the songs it’s quite similar, but the songs are not that good and memorable. While I still can sing almost each song from the previous album purely from memory, after a couple of days of listening to “The Day Is My Enemy” the only thing which still ringing in my ears it’s “Nasty, nasty!” and that’s not really that good, but it’s more something quite compulsive. Only “Invisible Sun” it’s more stickier, but less radio friendly. Read more The Prodigy – The Day Is My Enemy (2015)

Seasick Steve – Sonic Soul Surfer (2015)

Seasick Steve - Sonic Soul Surfer (2015)

Seasick Steve - Sonic Soul Surfer (2015) Some stories are too good to be true. Imagine a hobo, a man with no past, future, nor present who eventually end up making a blues album and bringing in John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin to play the bass only because he do not knew anybody else playing that instrument. So, yes, I mean no, this could not happen.
Steven Wold (aka Seasick Steve) was born in 1941 in Oakland, California and in the 1960s he started touring and performing with fellow blues musicians. He made friends like Joni Mitchell and since then he has worked, on and off, as a session musician and studio engineer. In the late 80s he worked with several indie label artists around Seattle. In the 1990s he work as a recording engineer and producer, producing several releases by Modest Mouse including their 1996 debut album “This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About”. Read more Seasick Steve – Sonic Soul Surfer (2015)

Waltari – You Are Waltari (2015)

Waltari - You Are Waltari (2015)

Waltari - You Are Waltari (2015) If you’re nostalgic for the 1989–1991 type of, “The Real Thing” era Faith No More, Waltari definitively it’s your type of band and you will devour their 14th studio album released on February 27, 2015.
The band’s name is a reference to the popular Finnish author Mika Waltari, a favourite author of guitarist Jariot Lehtinen.
Waltari was formed in 1986 in Helsinki, Finland, by Kärtsy Hatakka (vocals and bass), Jariot Lehtinen (guitars) and Sale Suomalainen (drums). Sami Yli-Sirniö joined as second guitarist in 1989.
Their first album entitled “Monk-Punk”, was released in 1991 followed next year by the album “Torcha!” (1992) on which Waltari started blending various musical styles into the sound that would become their own although there are strong similarities with the style and sound of Faith No More.
Their previous studio album, “Below Zero” was released in 2009 followed by a cover album entitled “Covers All” in 2011 – and I have wrote about it – read my review HERE.
The new album, “You Are Waltari” was introduced by the single “Digging the Alien” which also got a music video. Read more Waltari – You Are Waltari (2015)

Venom – From The Very Depths (2015)

Venom - From The Very Depths (2015)

Venom - From The Very Depths (2015) Venom is definitively one of the most influential metal bands of all times and they were genre founders with their first two albums, “Welcome to Hell” (1981) and “Black Metal” (1982). Their third album, “At War with Satan” (1984) left some serious marks on me too with it’s 20 minutes long title track. it was a semi-concept album that tells the story of a war between Heaven and Hell where the latter side wins. Cronos – bass guitar, vocals; Mantas – guitar and Abaddon – drums had major influence on the development of heavy metal and contributed to the creation of other sub-genres such as thrash, speed, death and power metal.
In 1985, Venom released their fourth album entitled “Possessed” which was not as successful as their previous albums. Dunn then left the band to pursue a solo career.
Their fifth album, 1987’s “Calm Before the Storm”, moved away from Satanic themes in favor of “sword and sorcery” material and it was even less successful than Possessed. As result Lant, Clare and Hickey all left Venom which left Bray as the only group member.
As many other fans I lost touch with Venom as many other exciting bands flourished on the scene. Read more Venom – From The Very Depths (2015)

A Swarm Of The Sun – The Rifts (2015)

A Swarm Of The Sun The Rifts 2015

A Swarm Of The Sun The Rifts 2015 This is the second installment from the Swedish duo A Swarm of the Sun and it will be released on January 30, 2015.
About many musical pieces I heard that people said it’s dark, but trust me, this is actually very dark, dense and depressive. It’s really overwhelming. You have to be in the right mood – state of the mind – to get through of it and enjoy it.
A Swarm of the Sun find their own path of music and their very own sound. It’s a massive wall of sound with subtle elements and a great balance of delicate emotions and pressuring density.
Erik Nilsson and Jakob Berglund – the core members of the band brought in drummer Karl Daniel Lidén to build up this sonic landscape based on smart layering and twisted melancholy. Heaviness and emotions are merged in this nine songs and the result it’s disturbing as an exorcism. In the official promo release they mention that “The Rifts reflects on various implications of a very specific, profound and personal struggle” – and it’s actually really came out of their music, literally you can feel some sort of deep sadness and shattering pain.
The music it’s expressive in a quit realistic way that it simply take you to some other place and bury you there in the end and it take effort to crawl back to the reality of your living-room. Read more A Swarm Of The Sun – The Rifts (2015)

John Zorn – The Song Project Vinyl Singles Edition (2014)

John Zorn – The Song Project Vinyl Singles Edition (2014) This is not an album, but a treasure with the characteristic of a dynamite: it will explode right in your face in the very moment when you will push play.
Although there is a solid line-up of gifted singers such as Jesse Harris or Sofia Rei, the crown belongs to the genius of Mike Patton. He’s really something and he is brilliant, sparkling and unique each and every time, with each song he reveals another shade or dimension of his unlimited possibilities to approach and perform a song. It’s both admirable and completely disarming.
But the release feature a whole army of outstanding musicians conducted by the man who put all this “atoms” and “elements’ to work, the Magus John Zorn. Marc Ribot – Guitar; Trevor Dunn – Bass; John Medeski – Organ, Piano, Fender Rhodes; Kenny Wollesen – Vibes, Joey Baron – Drums and Cyro Baptista – Percussion are the solid foundation of these sonic buildings. Read more John Zorn – The Song Project Vinyl Singles Edition (2014)

L’Effondras – L’Effondras (2014)

L'Effondras - L'Effondras (2014)

L'Effondras - L'Effondras (2014) Post-rock it’s a vast and vague space and definition, fancy sometimes, abstract and elitist/exclusivist, but unfortunately mostly shallow, quite selfish and meaningless. Instrumental bands and albums scar me as David Bowie is afraid of Americans.
L’Effondras – actually ☉ – it’s a French instrumental trio and when I first watch a recording of one of their live performances posted on YouTube my first thought was early (Barrett era) Pink Floyd. So, it’s not really that “thing” called “djent” – or whatever – and – fortunately – it’s not that bored to death thing called quite elegantly shoegaze (or shoegazing). Although, there’s a little bit of both worlds in their music, but they manage to combine all those elements smartly and efficiently. Read more L’Effondras – L’Effondras (2014)

dNeau & mSelv – Junior Spirit (2014)

dNeau & mSelc - Junior Spirit (2014)

dNeau & mSelc - Junior Spirit (2014) A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Music with roots back to the 70’s and 80’s, a wide and vivid space where disco meet psychedelic flavours and funk collide violently into acid pop. Grooves and feelings are drifting into the unknown in a quite disturbing after-hour trip. You take off on the wings of the sound, but you don’t know where you will landing. If you close your eyes and turn up the volume, you can fly. Or just simply you will falling up.
My personal favorites are the Bowie-feels-like “Chinoise” and the hypnotic title track, but there is a piece of cake for everybody who’s willing to listen!
Buy and support independent artists!! Read more dNeau & mSelv – Junior Spirit (2014)