Although the title of the latest Lips suggests otherwise, there is actually nothing to be afraid of. That is, if you’re familiar with their work during the last few years. If so, take a breath and keep your calm because once more the band shifts their paradigm, this time to weighty ambient. The well-known theatrical freak pop seem to be a thing of the past, for The Terror is breathtaking hypnotizing, subdued and hazy at the same time. But above all, it’s almost impossible to deconstruct for those who lost their interest in the band since Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002). If this is the case, feelings of fear are in place, for an unpleasant surprise will probably await you. Continue reading
Tag Archives: review
Avantasia – The Mystery of Time (2013)
Avantasia’s The Metal Opera, released all the way back in the dark age (2001), is still one of my favourite modern power metal albums. Edguy frontman Tobias Sammet managed to capture just about anything that makes Teutonic power metal into such a joy (the rolling double bass drums, the epic choruses, the choirs, the optimism), got a few if not all of my favourite vocalists of the time and released an absolutely smashing record. Deciding that enough wasn’t enough, der Tobi released a follow-up the next year, an album much in the same vein, featuring largely the same cast. After that, everything changed. Continue reading
David Bowie – The Next Day (2013)
This review very nearly went unwritten. I have an immense love for David Bowie, and sometimes, when you love something a lot, it can get extremely difficult to write something, because you feel you’re either too critical or too fanboyish in your lavish praise for a new work. Then there’s the fear of just not getting it right, because what do I really know about the artist in question in the end? Surely there are other people out there hitting nails on the head whilst I am muddling along trying to exude the proper words and struggle to write a coherent piece? You read other, well-written reviews and think to yourself that you will never be either as elaborate or effective in your descriptions and you just want to give up. It’s on those days that I sometimes miss writing for an established magazine, where one did not have the luxury of waiting until an album was out and being beaten to the bush, but had to write your article weeks before it actually hit the streets, all because I’m at my very best when confronted with deadlines. On the other hand, Sounds from the Dark Side gives me the chance to let an album gestate and sink in for a while without any pressure from anyone, and if I decided not to do a review after all, there would be no harm done. You probably wouldn’t even miss it. When you love something a lot, though, you want to share it with the world, and you have to get it off your chest one way or another. Continue reading
Rotting Christ – Κατά Τον Δαίμονα Εαυτού (2013)
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
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