“The Time is Now” sounds like a furious Kiss track on steroids, and the New York based The Raygun Girls with their 5th studio are definitively willing to conquer the universe, or at least grinding their audience into the ground. Their music it’s a vivid mixture of hard rock, heavy metal, industrial, goth and punk rock, mainly reminding me of Danzig, while they compare their sound to bands such as Lacuna Coil, Rob Zombie, Killing Joke and Evanescence.
The brand new self-titled album it’s both an ode to the Apocalypse, and a call to Revolution, while the aliens are coming to take over our world.
With contribution from Peter Watkinson of death metal band Abomnium doing lead guitar on two songs, and some original photography work from Oliver Wasow, as well as lyrics from Paul F. Ferguson and Jacinda Espinosa, “The Raygun Girls” it’s the result of 10 years of songwriting, lyric writing, and road experience, and the 11 songs delivering the very essence of this band: powerful, raw, without compromises, loud rock & roll!! Read more The Raygun Girls – The Raygun Girls (2013)
rock
Eels – Wonderful, Glorious (2013)
Honestly, I’m glad that the melancholy and platitudes fueled concept trilogy of “Hombre Lobo” (2009), “End Times” (2010) and “Tomorrow Morning” (2010) it’s closed and hopefully Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E. Other, moved over. Those country-blues flavored, mostly boring and tasteless, self-pity ballads, frankly, were a great disappointment. Sentiments? Well, I have sympathy for those stories of desire, loss, and redemption, but can not shed a tear. Got my own s*it to bear. And nobody shed a tear for me, not even giving a s*it.
I also can understand that there will be no more “Novocaine for the Soul” like, charming, energy full, indie rock anthems, but a little bit of life in some of the songs, here and there, still would be nice to hear.
And “Wonderful, Glorious” it’s at least a return to the sound and style of “Souljacker” (2001) and “Shootenanny!” (2003). We’ve got a couple of sensitive slow takes, a strange mixture of Cat Stevens with Tom Waits, but wearing the undeniable touch and taste of E. Other. On the other hand, we’ve got a few noisier, grungy, indie rock tracks as well. Some of them (“Open My Present” for instance) also reminding me of Tom Waits, eventually mixed with Tom Petty.
Good sign anyway is that the leading single it’s the heavily pounding “Peach Blossom” and not some of the depression bringer ballad. Read more Eels – Wonderful, Glorious (2013)
Tomahawk – Oddfellows (2013)
While the long awaited new Faith No More album still seems to be a dream away, Mike Patton and Duane Denison resurrected Tomahawk out of the blue and “Oddfellows”, the project’s fourth studio album will be released worldwide in January 2013 on Patton’s record label Ipecac Recordings.
Beside Mike Patton (Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Fantômas, Lovage, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Peeping Tom, etc), ex-The Jesus Lizard guitar player Duane Denison, and ex-Helmet drummer John Stanier (currently playing with Battles), Trevor Dunn (ex-Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, etc) player taking the place of Melvins/Cows bass player Kevin Rutmanis.
The 13 brand new songs of “Oddfellows” shows a mature, but still adventurous, willing to explore rock band twisting in and out the borderline between avant-garde and post rock. This is a fever-burned, tensioned, sometimes contorted, sometimes surprisingly chilled and settle down mixture of music. There’s a subtle, but smartly balanced struggle between abstract trips and vivid rock rides with just the right amount of odd and genuine rock energy. “Oddfellows” it’s less furious, less noisier and industrial fueled then their self titled debut in 2001, and the follow up “Mit Gas” in 2003 (the 2007’s “Anonymous” was a different story!!), but still powerful and tensioned throughout. This is 100% Tomahawk with some solid hooks back to Faith No More and a gloomy twist of Peeping Tom flavor. Read more Tomahawk – Oddfellows (2013)
Plymouth Fury – Vaudeville (2012)
With roots back to The Stooges and the grooves and melodies of The Dandy Warhols, merging the fury of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with the straight simplicity of the Danish Surf rockers The Good The Bad, juggling between the rawness of The Velvet Underground and the new blues spirit of The Black Keys, the French Plymouth Fury serve us a hot and noisy, garage flavored rock with resonances to Spaghetti westerns with Tarantino vibe.
The trio, Worzo – guitar and vocals, Will – bass and vocals, and Stephane Kurdijaka – drums, has been formed in 2007 in Paris, and so far they shared the stage with bands such as Division Of Laura Lee, The Elektrocution, The Bombettes, Favez, It’s Not Not, Magic People, TV Buddah and King of Conspiracy. They have one thing on their minds: to burn all those places down! And honestly, this 70’s taste-like, unpolished, straight and noisy rock it’s just perfect for a hell of an evening down in the club! Read more Plymouth Fury – Vaudeville (2012)
Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing (and other stories) (2013)
Third and deadly? The restless guitarist of Porcupine Tree, and beside involved in a million and one projects and collaborations, plus full time mixer, remixer and producer, it’s back with his third solo album which will be released on 25th February 2013. Alan Parsons (best known for his work on Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon”) engineering the album and we’ve got a quite colorful and dynamic mixture of King Crimson, Rush and Jethro Tull. Probably not accidentally, currently Wilson is remixing the back catalogue of King Crimson from 1969–84 into MLP (Meridian Lossless Packaging) 5.1 and new stereo mixes, as well as remixing the back catalogue of Jethro Tull.
So, the presence of Theo Travis (flute and saxophone) it’s not really surprising. Travis has made ten albums as leader, composing and arranging most of the material; and he has also worked with Robert Fripp, Gong, The Tangent, Bill Nelson, Bass Communion, No-Man, David Sylvian, Harold Budd, John Foxx, Burnt Friedman and Dave, Richard Sinclair, and Porcupine Tree. But this is a full all star release featuring exclusively well respected and acclaimed musicians. Read more Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing (and other stories) (2013)
Consciousness Removal Project – Tacit (2013)
Consciousness Removal Project it’s a one-man post-metal band from Tampere, Finland. Its only official member Antti Loponen is solely responsible not only for compositions, lyrics and arrangements but also for most instruments and the record production. Although, with the help of a live collective including Arttu Kimmel – guitar, Vesa Ahonen – bass and Artturi Mäkinen – drums, Consciousness Removal Project has also been able to perform live since 2008.
The music of Consciousness Removal Project has been published on the internet for free since 2004. The new album, released on 03 January 2013 and entitled “Tacit” it’s also available for free download (“name your price”) from their Bandcamp page (Click “Buy now” and enter $0 for free download), as well as a limited edition Digipack CD pressing hand numbered with binary digits. Support artists, we need them!!
And the music it’s gloomy, subtle and beautiful. Described perfectly by José at Terrorizer magazine: “It’s not the soundtrack for the eventual apocalypse itself, it’s the soundtrack for sitting on the porch on a quiet evening with a drink, thinking about it.” Read more Consciousness Removal Project – Tacit (2013)
EmptyMansions – snakes/vultures/sulfate (2013)
EmptyMansions it’s the solo effort of Interpol’s drummer Sam Fogarino. Sam Fogarino wrote most of the songs for snakes while on tour promoting Interpol’s fourth and self-titled album, from mid 2009 to late 2011. This is raw sounding, garage flavored, but genuine indie rock, somewhere in the space between dEUS, Eels (in their good old days) and Sonic Youth. As he describe it: lyrically, the songs are the result of he’s reading much postmodern fiction by writers such as Hubert Selby Jr (‘Sulfate’); discovering an appreciation for aerial dance and a fascination with outer-space (‘Lyra’); the TV-drama Justified (‘Up In The Holler’), and Black Francis of Pixies fame (‘That Man’). Musically, Sam drew upon classic heavyweights; Neil Young (The closing track on snakes is a cover of ‘Down By The River’), The Stones, Zeppelin—filtered through his affinity with the likes of Sonic Youth and Pixies. Read more EmptyMansions – snakes/vultures/sulfate (2013)
The Black Widow’s Project – Heavy Heart (2012)
Think of Down and Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society with even more and more intense stoner infusion, add some weight from Kyuss/Queens Of the Stone Age and the right amount of Alice In Chains/Soundgarden flavor to got the essence of what really The Black Widow’s Project it’s about.
The Black Widow’s Project delivered a surprisingly mature and solid debut album filled up with 14 genuine songs, and forged throughout with good-old-fashioned fuzz, powerful riffs, a heavy blend of blues and rock with noisy garage sound.
Formed in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2010 by the lead singer-guitarist Al Castro and the drummer Math Sink, they quickly realize their first EP called “Benefit Of The Doubt” which arouse great interest among the audience and in underground venues. After several lineup changes, Raph Despas joined the band as the bass player which allows them to find an even more powerful and personal sound. Read more The Black Widow’s Project – Heavy Heart (2012)
The CNK – Revisionnisme (2012)
The CNK started as a raw black metal group, named Count Nosferatu in 1996 by Nicolas St Morand (aka Mr Hreidmarr) and Jean-Sébastien Ogilvy (aka Heinrich Von B). They shortly changed their name into Count Nosferatu Kommando. Hreidmarr joined symphonic black metal act Anorexia Nervosa in 1998 and due to he’s busy schedule with his new band, the project was put aside in 1999.
The band’s real rebirth came in 2002, with the release of properly entitled “Ultraviolence Über Alles” album, on the late Kodiak Records label. Merging Rammstein and Slayer, Skinny Puppy and Deicide, The CNK delivered a furious and merciless mixture of death and industrial metal with Laibach flavored gravity.
Due to a lack of steady line-up, CNK wasn’t able to support their album on stage. Then, because of several problems such as the label’s demise, the band was once again put aside in 2003. Read more The CNK – Revisionnisme (2012)
Artifex – Suspension of Disbelief (2013)
If there is a space between King Crimson and Marilyn Manson, that space definitively it’s filled with the Italian Artifex. With roots back to the Psychedelic/Progressive Rock of the 70s and 80s, but with gloomy resonances of the Industrial Rock and Industrial Metal of the 90s, Artifex are building a brand new world out of Hard Rock bricks and modern sounds, electronic layers, but not at least, strong emotions.
Antonio “Mircea” Olivo (voice/guitar/electronics) founded Artifex in 1997, in Bologna, Italy, wanting “to recall that “verve” which had the great bands of the 70s, developing their sound in a modern key through the “balance” between analog and digital.”. The line-up was completed by Francesco Paonessa (drums & machines) and Davide Schipani (bass guitar, synth). By now the band released four self-produced CDs: “Tristis” (1997), “In-Side” (2001), “Artifex” (2003), and an EP entitled “Redux” in 2009.
“Suspension of Disbelief” will be released on 27th January 2013 and it’s a concept album based on the MAN’s emotions, an intermittent and laborious back to basics made of suspension and disbelief as well.
The album also have two special guests: Pat Mastelotto from King Crimson on drums featuring on “Witness of Transition” and Fabrice Quagliotti from Rockets on keyboards and backing vocals featuring on “Electric Lights”. Read more Artifex – Suspension of Disbelief (2013)
