Greek black metal pioneers Rotting Christ have certainly evolved over the years. Starting out as a grindcore band in the late eighties, the sound gradually has grown into black metal, and from that into a more eclectic take on the genre. It’s this eclecticism which makes Rotting Christ into what is easily one of the more interesting bands in the genre these days. The last few albums by the band have seen them move gradually into a more melodical, mystical sound, with 2010’s Æalo getting about as far from the black metal roots as you would think the band could get, especially with the haunting Diamanda Galás cover Orders from the Dead rounding that one up. Turns out we were all wrong, as Κατά Τον Δαίμονα Εαυτού is probably the most eclectic album the band has released to this date. Continue reading
Lola Montez – Kolaveri Di (2013)
Wearing clean socks to a punk concert? If such a question doesn’t grab one’s attention, well, there must be something wrong with you. Nevertheless during the previous Strudelfest, people who indented to visit the showcase of Lola Montez were actually asked wear a fresh pair. So be warned, expect the unexpected. The band, named after a famous Irish dancer from the seventieth century, consists of four members: Dutchmen Floris van Bergeijk (guitar), Daan Vroon (drums), Joram Tornij (bass) and the German vocalist Ariadna Rubio Lleó. Naturally new bands play on small scale events to make a name for themselves. Lola Montez did so since 2010 and simultaneously worked on their first full length album which they released last February. To mark this special moment, the band decided to break away from common standards and released Kolaveri Di in a former horse breeding farm in the shadow of Utrecht (The Netherlands). Next to this the albums artwork is also worth mentioning. The front and back cover is remarkably artistic and cardboard case is sewed together by hand, making each disk an unique product. Once more Lola Montez grabs one’s attention. And now that they have, it’s time to hear if they can live up to this. Continue reading
The Joy Formidable – Wolf’s Law (2013)
From the first moment I saw them on Conan O’Brien’s talkshow Conan, giving away an electrifying rendition of Whirring, I knew The Joy Formidable were something special. The indie rock band debuted in 2011 with The Big Roar, a record stuffed to the brim with a blistering mix of noise, dreamy pop melodies and shoegazing, and although the album suffered slightly from some pacing issues (especially the latter half of the record has the tendency to trudge a bit), it was a very promising start for the Welsh threesome. Continue reading
Sacred Steel – The Bloodshed Summoning (2013)
There used to be a time when German true metal formation Sacred Steel were much maligned for what they were doing by the international press. The lucicrously traditional brand of heavy metal was too old-fashioned for a lot of people, the vocals of metal siren Gerrit P. Mutz were (and are) definitely not for anyone, and each and every record the band put out was immediately relegated to whatever type of album-of-the-month-lists magazines were sporting at the time. However, that was a long time, and a lot has happened since. Continue reading
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away (2013)
It goes without doubt that Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are not to be shunned by anyone who values dark and romantic music. Formed from the ashes of The Birthday Party (1983-1985) the band released multiple albums and is renowned for their noir perception on love and the world. Continue reading
Helloween – Straight Out of Hell (2013)
I can still remember the first time I heard of Helloween, and the particularly German brand of power metal. It was somewhere in 1996 and the band had just released The Time of the Oath, the second album with vocalist Andi Deris after the departure of frontman Michael Kiske. A metal and rock programme on Dutch music channel TMF was showing the video for first single outing Power and I was absolutely taken by the catchy chorus, the speedy metal and the twin guitar solos. I had started getting into old school heavy metal a few years before, and this was right up my alley. However, I do remember thinking, ‘this will never last. I’ll love this now, but I know I will have grown tired by it by the next studio album.’ Because that’s almost always the way things go with things which catch on immediately, isn’t it? Continue reading
Bad Religion – True North (2013)
With sixteen albums under their belt and a career spanning over three decades, the American punk rock band Bad Religion is nothing short of an institute. From an impressive run back in the old days with classics like Against the Grain, Generator and Suffer, to the mainstream success of the nineties (and the release of some truly mediocre work in a Brett Gurewitz-less line-up) and the subsequent return to Epitaph Records, the band has seen some incredible highs as well as a few lows, and are still around to underline the fact that no, punk is not dead at all. Continue reading
Adam Green & Binki Shapiro – Adam Green & Binki Shapiro (2013)
New York impudence interweaved with warmth from California, it seems like a mad idea, but at the same time it’s interesting enough to be worth an experiment. Continue reading
Matthew E. White – Big Inner (2013)
Lately there has been a lot of fuss on the internet about Big Inner by Matthew E. White. In essence it is about this: ‘is it possible for a bespectacled white guy with long hair and a full beard to combine soul, funk, late fifties R&B, psychedelics and folk-gospel….?’ Indeed, there we are, left in a state of total confusion about what some already call ‘the first great album of 2013’. For the archives I have to adjust this last remark. Big Inner was formally released in the United States during the end of summer of 2012. The album was quite successful and appeared on various best of 2012 lists. Although borders don’t seem to matter in the highly interconnected society of today, a global release this January was still necessary for the rest of the world to get acquainted with White’s work. Now this semantic discussion is out of the way it’s time to talk about the man himself and his music. Continue reading
Yo La Tengo – Fade (2013)
First thing I did when Yo La Tengo announced their new album was to give the ‘murdering record’ another spin. I’m pretty sure that some purists will hate me at some level for doing so. But the fact remains, I did it. Carefully and humorously slaughtering about thirty classic pop and rock songs is just something I dig. Of course it goes without saying that Murdering the Classics (2006) is not representative for their impressive discography. For quite some time now Yo La Tengo are unanimously accepted to by leading in the indie rock scene. It was the couple Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley who formed the band in mid-ninety eighties naming it after a baseball related anecdote. Since then Yo La Tengo consequently released various highly acclaimed albums. I Can Hear the Heart Beating as one (1997), And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000) and Summer Sun (2003) are probably the best known records coming from Hoboken (USA). Their last record with the generic title, Popular Songs (2009) was met with mixed reactions by the critics. This January their new album, Fade was released. Continue reading
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