rock

PiL are a band that has always passed me by. I’m not sure why, as they surely spearheaded the post-punk movement along with other bands from the late 70s, such as Wire. The Fall, Killing Joke, and even Christian Death on the other side of the Atlantic. Sure, all of these (PiL included) would go off on their own paths, but at their gestation, the core of their sound was based on weird and angular…

As a Beatles novice, their self-titled double album (or “white album”) is not an undertaking to be scoffed at. Whilst it is long and varied, and sometimes full of perplexing stuff (“number nine… number nine…. number nine…”), I do think it’s the best showcase of Beatles stuff yet, beating our Revolver which currently held my chronological top spot. It reminds me a lot of Sgt. Pepper’s too, in that for all its experimentation, there is…

An excellent collection of tracks and a brilliant place to start with Tarot. Personally, for me, the best tracks come at the beginning (the hat trick of “The Watcher’s Dream”, “Twilight Fortress” and “The Wasp” is unbeatable) but the whole record is incredibly solid and very well produced. Some folks have drawn comparisons to Black Magick SS and whilst I can see that (some passages in particular are very similar) Tarot haven’t a speck of…

I struggled with this one, to the point where it took several goes even just to get through it in one sitting. The previous two Beatles albums are my favourites thus far chronologically so I was surprised to find this one such a slog. I got there in the end however, with multiple listens, and was surprised to find that there’s a lot of “classics” here despite the experimental nature of the tracks in general….

Holy smokes! What a left turn! Straight off a cliff! Holy fuckski! LOL. If I was the ancient Egyptian god Horus I’d be pretty fucking pissed that my eye was on the cover of this dreck. Does Eldritch even know what it is? Is that what the “vision thing” is? Man probably banged a goth girl once who had it on a necklace or something. Cosmic. Anyway… what the fuck is this? Like, I’m two…

Drugs. That’s how I would describe this: Revolver with more drugs. The Indian instrumentation is ramped up, as is the songs about seemingly random shit. It sounds great, though. Production, again with the silly panning of shit, is off the chart. In amongst the madness there are “regular songs” to keep the album grounded. I’m not sure why the album seems to close with a reprise and then comes back with one more song afterward?…

Much more solid than the previous EP. “Walk Away” is like a shot in the arm, but “Poison Door” is probably the better song. The others on the 12″ / compiled version aren’t bad either.

A fairly drab affair out of what I would otherwise consider a classic era of output from this unusual outfit. Neither of the songs really strike me, at least not in comparison to the other absolute belters this band was releasing in 1983. If you’re lazy, the full 12″ 4 track versions of this and the following single/EP, Walk Away / Poison, is available as a bonus disk to some versions of First and Last…

It’s interesting, because of SOM’s murky and unusual beginnings, I was expecting their commercially successful debut to be much more cohesive and brighter. Alas, their first album is a pit of depressing despair; each song – even if not super slow in pace – oozes out of the speakers like molasses. Eldritch’s baritone is used consistently here, a stark contrast to the yelped or barked Adam Ant but on crack cocaine approach of some of…

Revolver is the best Beatles album to date, chronologically. The sound is warm, even, and whilst the record is chock full of bizarre panning nonsense, the songs are for the most part absolutely excellent. Best track is probably “Eleanor Rigby”, which is iconic as we all know. The only thing that sucks about this is the cover art (like what the Jesus creeping shit is that?).

The double single of “Body Electric / Adrenochrome” bridges the gap between the distinct SOM sound and the early post punk efforts nicely. The bass is much more prominent in these tracks, and whilst the vocals are still manic rather than the sultry baritone of later years, this single is very much an enjoyable SOM release.

Sister of Mercy’s first release centres around the single “The Damage Done” and its associated songs. It’s harsh, noisy post punk but again with that rigid drum machine backbone, which stops things from getting too chaotic. It’s pretty good for what it is, but it isn’t unique and is pretty nondescript. If anything it reminds me of Nick Cave’s first band, The Birthday Party.

“Temple of Love” is much jauntier and up-beat, reminding me of the stuff you’d find on albums like Floodland. It’s a change of pace from the more morose and depressing stuff found on the previous few releases, but with that same trademark rigid drum machine sound. “Heartland” is kinda meh and the Rolling Stones cover was so unexpected for me that I honestly don’t know what to make of it.

The Reptile House is the second EP release from Sister of Mercy, at least chronologically, in early 1983. It is, truly, a masterpiece of dark rock, and reminds me of Killing Joke crossed with Christian Death. The sterile drum machine and prominent bass also reminds me of other dark 80s acts such as Big Black or even Swans (especially with the same baritone style vocals used by both bands) but whilst SOM is perhaps more…

“Alice” and “Floorshow” are both a great start, with the sound of the project in its infancy but also already possessing hallmarks which would continue throughout. They aren’t the strongest tracks by the Sisters, IMO, but the production is highly enjoyable. The re-release of the 1983 12” includes some absolutely fucking fantastic pieces of music, the cheeky “1969” but most importantly the excellent, repetitive, droning, spectral (lol) track “Phantom”, which is easily the highlight here.

A vital exploration of the early SOM singles and EPs, even if it’s missing one or two after 1983. The back to back bangers of Alice, Reptile House and Temple Of Love are reason enough to get into this thing, but the earlier material at the end is also worth checking out for completionists, even if it’s not as good as the first few releases collected here.

Christian Death’s Catastrophe Ballet has, IMO, one of the greatest cover art pieces of all time. I have so many questions about it, and it is also very visually striking. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the music. I appreciate the work of Christian Death and their impact on the scene but honestly, the apathetic vocal style of Rozz Williams (I fully understand that this is the whole point) is so disconnected to the…

Another Beatles album that sounds like how I expected the Beatles to sound. I am now in more firmer territory (no doubt before we go off the deep end with the experimental shit haha). This one is very well produced indeed, but personally I preferred the Help! soundtrack which came not so long before this one. Whilst I find the production is more “present” and warmer here, the songs on the previous record were just…

Hibernaculum is a series of re-recordings of old “classic” Earth “tracks” in the “new” (for 2007) semi-acoustic, washed out western / Americana style Earth adopted from say 2005 onwards (or thereabouts). The songs are given a new life here, and it was the right move to put “Ouroboros Is Broken” at the start. For me, I find that track dominates the very early Earth days and it also dominates here. Hibernaculum gets more “droney” and…

Jelp! Now this is starting to shape up to sound more like what I expected from the Beatles. It helps (lol) that there’s several classic tunes here, including the massively (but understandably) overplayed “Yesterday”. Again, haven’t seen the movie of the same name, but as an album it flows very nicely, better than A Hard Days Night which was good but seemed like a series of unrelated vignettes rather than a cohesive whole. Help! flows…

Listening to the Beatles albums chronologically, I found that Beatles For Sale was the least enjoyable of the lot thus far. It took me a little while to put my finger on it; initially things seemed like they were in their right place; that early 60s rock and/or roll sound that I have come so familiar with now after being 4 albums deep was in full effect, and the production is more grounded, with less…

There’s a lot of songs on this thing but it just flies by. I haven’t seen the movie and have no plans to so unsure how they tie in, if at all. I’m assuming this may be the reason why the songs seem a little shorter than usual? Either way, song quality is up there, as in there’s very few moments where I want to skip forward. Not as many stand outs as the previous…

Yo dawg I heard you liked your rhythm section panned hard left? Say no more, say no more! I suppose quality wise this is on par with Please Please Me and it certainly feels like a “part 2” to that album. The songs here though are not quite as good IMO, I really start to lose my way in the middle with shit like “Please Mr. Postman” and friggin’ “Roll Over Beethoven” (what is this,…

I didn’t expect much for the first record from the Beatles knowing the “roots” in American “rock and roll” (Beach Boys tae fuck) and I expected very traditional full band pop music. I was very much shocked at how much I enjoyed this thing out of the gate. I was also surprised however that I knew a few of these songs, such as Love Me Do and Misery. I also feel that this thing sounds…

A decent selection of tunes, with some interesting ideas (nice to see a prominent return of the synthesizer elements from the earlier days). After a couple of listens though nothing really jumps out.

“Running All Over The Wicket” has the sickest bassline since “Beneath The Waves An Ocean”. Generally though, I struggle to pick stand-out songs here compared to the other FOTL full-lengths. Despite this, I find myself preferring the general tone and production (all of which is a little darker than usual). So, it’s a strange balance for me. I will always no doubt be picking an earlier release over this one, though.

The once (and possibly still) elusive companion piece to Various Failures. I never found much value in it myself, because I owned an original copy of The Burning World, but for a very long time, Forever Burned was like the missing puzzle piece for fans who only had Various Failures. You have to remember for a very long time, before all of these recent reissues, the only way to get a lot of Swans was…

Like a transitional album with many elements from Gira’s previous project, The Angels Of Light. I bought the 12″ of this at a Swans show in Cardiff in 2010 and I swear there was like 50 people there. It was crazy seeing them in the following year (We Rose / Proto-Seer era) and how much their sound and audience had developed. I was really gobsmacked! Anyway, My Father… has some incredible songs on it, namely…

An interesting mix of vibes and ideas. From lo-fi beats to the more regular dirging sounds of various instruments such as pianos and guitars and what have you, Disburden Disciple showcases the many ways in which Jarboe can creep the absolute fucking shit out of you. Tidy!

It’s clear that there has always been a streak of influence from Steve Albini in this band’s work (the man also produced an album by Falko’s previous band) but “Prescriptions” is a little too uncanny valley even for me. It’s a tidy song, though. Generally, the rest of this EP is very chilled out; there are no big moments, (as in loud/abrasive), just solid songs played at a more moderate level than some of the…

If anything, the previous two EPs and their extra noisy / unusual songs were a good litmus test for how this would unfold in the form of a full length albums. Several songs from such EPs are reprised, along with a flurry of brand new head scratchers. Honestly, some of this shit is absolutely massive; huge cascading walls of sound crafted from slabs of bass and angular guitars. On paper that sounds like something influenced…

4 songs, 8 minutes, that’s what I’m talking about! Great high quality studio tracks on a short 7” EP. Side A is probably better than Side B but this whole thing is great, with my favourite track being “The Male Gaze”.

After the strange Polymers EP I did not have high hopes for the Man vs. Melody EP. I was therefore very pleasantly surprised by how good it was. “Future Child Embarrassment Matrix” and “He is Not a Hymn” are some of the heaviest FOTL tracks I’ve heard, particularly the former which reminds me of Blackjazz-era Shining of all things. The latter has that Every Time I Die / Daughters kinda anxious heaviness; again not something…

Polymers Are Forever is a short EP from FOTL, released a few years after the previous record and shortly before the band recorded their third album. The first thing of note here is the sheer drop in production quality compared to the first two albums. The Plot Against Common Sense has a similar muffled production but the tracks here seem like demos, if anything. That also seems to make them more experimental, I’d say. FOTL…

I know little of Future Of The Left’s music and have only really been into them because of some friends who enjoy their stuff. This has given me a somewhat lopsided “casual” fandom of the band, where I’m familiar with songs rather than albums (excluding Travels with Myself and Another – that thing fucking rules). Curses is of no exception. If anything tbh, it’s “quirky” late 00s artwork style put me off – but more…

Ozzy Osbourne doesn’t owe us anything, and to be fair, he can do whatever he likes. However, was this really necessary? Outside of the firecracker rendition of “21st Century Schizoid Man” and the hilarious version of “Fire” (Paedofinder General did it better), this album is a total self-wankfest and a chore to get through. The cover of Mott The Hoople’s “All The Young Dudes” (famously written by David Bowie) even has fucking Ian Hunter on…

Do the Brits really do it better? For this kind of RAWK (read: metal) Saxon have got it locked down. From the production, to the riffs, it’s popping off over here on Denim And Leather. The songs are catchy as hell. I’m not suuuuper sold on Byford’s vocals at this point but hopefully they will grow on me. Fire in the Sky!!!!

An interesting one. At first note, it sounds heavier than any of the previous albums, but as the songs progress there’s actually less “metal” here than ever before and more so is just “rock” dressed up in a big sound. It may feel like I’m splitting hairs, but fuck it. Also, Ozzy sounds tired as fuck on this one, like he just can’t be arsed. Production-wise, things are still pretty top-tier but the boxed in…

I have a love / hate relationship with Black Widow. I appreciate the timeline of the releases and their importance in the gestation of heavy blues into metal, and of course some of the more experimental songs that they performed, but there is also a malaise to their music that I guess is like some sort of stoned stupor or hash haze. III is interesting, at least on the surface, but if I stop and…

Steve Earle’s “Feel Alright,” the opening track here, appears in Season 2 of HBO’s critically acclaimed The Wire. I think for that reason, it feels more like a closing track than an opening one, but here it is in its original format, steering us into the smokey world of Steve Earle a la 1996. Steve’s been through some shit. I know nothing about the guy and I’ve only heard this one album, but this guy…

A fresh mix of fuzzy rock and angelic pop. Like Lorde joined one of these several hundred revival blues rock bands that are around right now. It’s an interesting mix, and reminds me of Fleetwood Mac in some regards, and also stuff like Blood Ceremony or Jex Thoth. There is something that really just tells me that Freya’s songs would be better with a piano or even an electronic beat behind them, though. But hey,…

A curiosity of an EP, worth it for the early version (off a M. Gira CD from the past) as well as the acoustic version (which is just harrowing. All are worth hearing, especially if you love the version on To Be Kind. The edit and the live version are pretty pointless, though.

A great live album, and one of the few that I personally own. There are some great takes here, and the sound is fairly clear, but the additional demos are lacking somewhat. In regards to the album itself, it stands in the shadow of We Rose… which came before it and was much more prominant with a full pressing release (not just limited), and it also stands in the shadow of the monumental The Gate…

I am beyond shocked that after 13 years of writing about music mostly full time I have yet to touch on the epic that is Swans’ Time Is Money (Bastard) single. One of my favourite songs ever, if only for it’s intense and unforgiving drum attack. The title track is all drums, reverb, snarling vocals and not much else. Truly uncompromising and terrifying music. They don’t make ’em like this no more!

In a word: punishing. I suppose you could say that Cop is more focussed than Filth, and I also suppose that this kind of “focus” on sheer brutality would continue into the Young God EP and the more precise mixed-electronic works of Greed, Holy Money and the singles associated with those albums. Cop however, is like a bunch of New York’s most experimental and uncompromising musicians accidentally stumbled upon sludge / doom metal. The cuts…

This was my first CD purchase when it came to Swans, and I played this thing to death. It was a great introduction, I think, to the worlds of both Swans and World Of Skin (even though the Skin tracks are credited to Swans here, confusingly). I don’t like some of the Young God reissue covers, but the Children Of God one is pretty simplistic and effective, IMO.

When I saw this thing on the shelf at the local Woolworths, I mistook it for new Stones stuff and immediately bought it and took it to my dad at his place of work. He seemed very confused, even annoyed that I had shown up at his place of work to give him a CD, and he quickly ushered me the fuck outta there not giving a second look at the fucking CD, which hurt…

This CD stayed in our family car for about a decade, and we listened the absolute death out of this thing. CD1 is essential Stones, IMO – as are a few of the classics at the start of CD2, but it starts to fall off after that as the later decades material is shoehorned in. I mean, I get it; they wanted this to be a retrospective of all the eras (but there’s plenty missing).

An interesting entry into the Candlemass discography. Chapter XI is noticeably different from the series of Messiah-led albums that preceded it. Yes, even outside of that evolving sound, Chapter XI is a huge leap forwards (or perhaps sideways) into a more “modern” sound, at least for the time. I’m reminded of some of the more straight forward efforts of Tony Martin’s Sabbath days, such as Cross Purposes. I’m not sure if this has held up…

You must understand that this review is from someone going in blind to the world and legacy of The Fall. At the time of writing I know them as a revered and extremely prolific British band that are held in quite a high regard. I Am Kurious Oranj is indeed a kurious listen and first impressions remind me of early XTC or even Killing Joke in some ways, but my comparisons are mostly trite, I’m…

I’m probably going to catch some shit for this but Space Ritual has always been one of those albums that I *thought* I loved, rather than an album that I genuinely loved. I have slowly come to terms with that in recent months. There may be some correlation between me accepting this and the lack of cannabis in my life for nearly a decade. Is there a chance that there is a correlation between the…

I can’t speak for the original live album / EP but the “compilation version” of Demone’s Love For Sale is a test of patience. The recording quality isn’t so bad but the songs are bland and grating on the nerves, which is a real shame.

Wow, imagine being able to make stoner / doom / prog / jam style music and to NOT make it boring as shit! Come on in Robot God, sit down, you can stay a while.

The main problem Goat have is that they will never be able to top their debut album, World Music, which is wall to wall, front to back, banger to banger – a total classic. Requiem is much the same as Commune before it in that it is an absolute pleasure to listen to; the production is glorious as is the various instrumentation (in particular the percussion) but none of the songs hit home with the…

Gorgeous, bright, vibrant, incredible, exciting, exhilarating – these are some of the words I would use to describe the absolute aural treat that is Pawn Harts. I’m no prog guy, as you can probably tell, but this was an incredible experience.

More refined and streamlined than the Gluey Porch debut, and infinitely more punishing for it. Ozma is a dry heave in direct blunt force heaviness (with some mandatory Melvin’s groove, of course). That’s more like it!

Sounds like a decent bit of psych that was recorded into a music box or something, but then it got dropped so it’s all fucked up and wonky; not so fucked up that it won’t play anymore but fucked up enough so that everything sounds broken and slightly off-kilter. Oh, also you are on acid. That’s what this Ancient Order single sounds like.

The title of this record carries such a high reputation one could be fooled into thinking that this is one of the classic Maiden albums. You would of course, be wrong. Fear Of The Dark is a puzzling affair where the first and last tracks (especially the last!) are great whilst the rest of it is an ocean of bad rock music. Like, I’m sorry but what the fuck is Bruce doing with his voice?…

Nice split. The Gates are really solid, with excellent production and a down to earth 70s kinda sound with just the right amount of added flair. The Behrosth side is a little more unstable, which arguably allows for more exploration and expermentation in the black metal meets occult rock style. With both their similarities and also their differences, these two bands match each other perfectly for this split.

I’m not entirely sure what to call this whole subgenre of “Black Magick SS worship”, there simply must be a better name for it? Anyway, Berosth, in their recent release of Oasis, if you’ll forgive my heathen anglicisation, is a solid example of how to operate in the genre. Black metal is mixed with kooky occult sounds and a little dollop of Uriah Heep, and voila, she lives! Oasis has the benefit of also being…

Salisbury didn’t resonate with me as much as the debut, with it feeling – if anything – like something of a side-step. The incredible organ playing seems toned back and the vocals are ridiculous in parts. That being said, the production, being clear yet deep with an analogue warmth, is fantastic, and the final (title) track is seriously epic. The band seem to let loose here; organs, flutes, choirs, solos for days. It saves the…

Few bands come out the gate with a debut as strong as Magic Moss. Oddly, it’s the b-side which shines the most here, with “We Are the Ones” being a bluesy, psych-heavy romp through an upbeat soundscape of 60s/70s swagger, fuzz and rushes of organ sounds. Production is excellent; warm, balanced and with a decent soundstage. Recommended!

A great album, but one that is sometimes dragged down by the tedium of tracks such as “Come Away Melinda” or “Lucy Blues”, which really affects the pacing in the middle. It is a crying shame because this thing bolts out the door with its opening track, “Gypsy”, a song that is easily one of the greatest rock songs of all time. In fact, this album is worth it for “Gypsy”’s organ performance alone. Side…

I’m not an expert on early British psych / rock music, but Return To The Sabbat is the supposed original version of the Black Widow debut. I am incredibly glad that it saw the light of day however because this archival recording from the dying embers of the 60s is head and shoulders above anything else that I have heard under the Black Widow name. Granted, I have not heard it all at this point…

Feel good hard rock / proto heavy metal is the order of the day. I’ll be honest with you, I was not aware of the sheer age of the original recordings when I listened to this thing. I am blown away, in that regard. The production should have been a give away, really. The guitars are ear-piercingly thin, but their distorted jangle gives this thing it’s charm, along with the loose feel of the drums…

Excellent quality show. Even better than the perhaps more commended “When Death Called ‘89” from earlier in the same tour. Sure, there are a few audible artefacts on the recording, but it’s a small price to pay for what is an excellent line-up performing songs from all eras of Sabbath (Gillan and Hughes aside lol). As with other boots in this era, it’s a pleasure just to hear Cozy playing Ozzy and Dio era stuff….

The best thing about this particular live recording is hearing Cozy Powell play with the band in the arena space; for his three albums with the band his time on the road with them was often fairly limited for various reasons. Hearing his super awesome interpretations of the fills on tracks like “War Pigs” is a real treat. Quality is pretty good here, although there is like a flutter effect that’s appeared on the tape,…

Wow, this get’s off to a shaky start! The drumming on “Black Sabbath” is so bad (not to mention Ozzy’s appalling singing) that I almost gave up before I started. I’m glad that I did stick with the whole record though, because I missed out on the Birmingham shows in person and felt like I had missed a momentous event in history. However, having consumed this entire live album several times, I don’t feel like…

Quite possibly one of – if not the – greatest live album that I have ever heard. The fact that I’ve been listening to Sabbath for over 20 years and have never stumbled upon this recording until this week is nothing short of embarrassing. I feel like I have unlocked some sort of secret. Anyway, the release itself is phenomenally good. The production, for a 1975 live recording, is absolutely fantastic. I’m not sure how…

Stunning LP from St Vincent. I’m not much informed on her music other than Mass Education, but this random pick was fantastic. Sultry and sassy, with a nice dollop of funk in between the lush, low key vocal performances.

I’d originally written off Past Lives for being the “official” version of Live At Last but with a bunch of extra shit added onto the end. In some rather dim world views that is perhaps correct, but Past Lives is so much more than that, as I have recently found out. Yes, disc 1 is the same as the Live At Last album so if you’ve heard that, there’s no point in bothering with the…

It’s very cool to see the Tony Martin era music start to get some of the attention it deserves. I’ve probably been a bit harsh on some of the material myself. But I gotta say the remaster of both the title track of Headless Cross as well as “Anno Mundi” from Tyr sounds absolutely great. This single has definitely raised my excitement for the rereleases of all of these albums. I’m not going to buy…

Hex is Earth reborn anew – the dawn of their “clean” period. It started here, reflected backwards with Hibernaculum, and was then arguably perfected on Bees Made Honey… but here is where it all began. Hex is probably one of my least listened to releases from Earth. I’m not really sure why, but the songs have never stuck with me. They are not necessarily bad in any way, in fact they are very much enjoyable,…

I’m probably not qualified to talk about this in all that much detail, but what I can say is that Nail is a bizarre collection of sounds, sitting somewhere between Holy Money era Swans, Big Black, Test Dept., Mr. Bungle, The Cramps and Nine Inch Nails, whilst also having the honour of predating most of the bands in that list. It is an album that’s taken me multiple attempts to digest, not because I find…

Apathy: the album. The analogue production and the bubbling post-punk (to become “deathrock”) is fantastic but Rozz Williams delivers his vocals in such a way that he sounds like he is already done with this band before it has even begun. Yeah I get it, that’s part of the vibe, but things are delivered with such a nonchalance I’m left wondering why I should ever bother give my time in return to listen to it….

I’ve always had a stand-offish relationship with Die Tur Ist Zu because well, what’s the fucking point in this thing? “Helpless Child” (slightly extended here) and “All Lined Up” sang in German is little more than a novelty, and the hodge podge of other cuts and live bits are just… well, just there. Considering SFTB is such a gargantuan and groundbreaking album, this “EP” stands entirely in its shadow. Don’t get me wrong, nothing on…

A stunning debut from this legendary band. Personally, I think the Rainbow sound was perfected on Rising, but there are some frankly excellent songs on this album, including the now immortal opening track, “Man on the Silver Mountain”. The production, seemingly shared between Blackmore and producer Martin Birch, is organic and flows nicely through the various styles of songs present on the album. (Apparently I enjoy listening to this so much that I reviewed it…

Stop this crime? What crime? The only crime here is this band’s attempts at ballads. If you wanna go ahead and stop those, I’m with you 100% of the way, my dudes. Toad’s 4th album, released 26 years after the previous studio album, is a bit of a wet fart of a comeback. The production is fantastic, but the album is top-loaded, with excellent numbers at the start, but the record soon meanders off into…

As a white man in a western country I can only empathise with the themes of this record. That’s not to say Kuti’s music isn’t for me, as music is for anyone who is willing to listen. Knowing the sensitive political situation around Kuti and the severity of the confrontation between him and those that were in power, one can really feel the weight of every word in these epic, sprawling tracks. On top of…

I am undecided on whether the art is fantastic or downright awful. Either way, it was the bold cover that drew me in to the world of Baby Woodrose. I came expecting Harsh Toke – style obnoxious stoner metal but instead found something a bit more nuanced. This debut is a record based primarily in fuzzed out garage rock, but the songs are delivered with a variety of vibes, styles and paces to call Baby…

How this was released the same year as the cumbersome Conqueror is anyone’s guess; this EP brings out the absolute best in Jesu. Broadrick’s hazy, dream-like songwriting can unfurl in its full glory and really soar. I had this on vinyl for many years, I must have sold it because I can’t find it anywhere, which is a shame as it’s really grown on me in my old age (ha).

If I had to describe this album in as few words as possible I would say: it’s fucking class. Traditional black metal riffery underpins a punky (dare I say) black’n’roll-infused set of songs. I don’t mean BnR as in, endless boring ass d-beats, I mean genuinely sleazy, head-nodding tunes that invoke hazy memories of the exploitation world of the 1970s, helped along of course by the amazing artwork and that inherit Finnish sense of melody…

The first few tracks here originally appeared one year earlier on the split with Eluvium, only here they come with a few additional alternate takes to fill out the run time. I can’t help but notice the original split art was a photograph of either the Menkaure pyramid at Giza or perhaps one of the smaller satellite pyramids, yet this EP release has a photograph of the much larger and imposing Khafre pyramid. As someone…

Y’know, it’s real sad boy hours when one of the lads throws on Conqueror. That’s the end of the party vibes, my friend. But that’s okay, because generally, Jesu is a very good project. Conqueror, despite hailed as Jesu’s masterpiece in some circles, is a transitional record for the band, as Broadrick led the project from the super-heavy style of the debut through to the lighter, more synth-reliant gazey songwriting that would come. This transition…

I’ll take jazz records that look like rock and / or metal records please, chief! The veritable concoction of sounds on display here were far from what I expected from such a shitty album cover (which looks like something you’d see on the side of a truck towing a rusty fairground ride). Using my limited palette of descriptive language, in a short sentence I could sum this up as being fairly similar to the “electric”…

Solid but puzzling compilation of “early” Edelweiss stuff, including the White Flower Power / Yeast Of The Mind single, as well as the self titled LP and a few tracks off of the following record, Behind Our Masks. I say it’s “puzzling” because 4 tracks into the run of self-titled tracks, we get the two tracks from Behind Our Masks, before the record closes out with the finale from the self-titled, which makes the track…

Side A is a bit kooky, with delivery not quite living up to the imagery and clever name (check out the original tape art for “White Flower Power”), but the B-side “Yeast Of The Mind” is absolutely brilliant. It is a really cool occult rock song, and genuinely sounds like it is from another era. Comparisons to BMSS are perhaps too easy, but I’ll throw it in just incase the sleeve of this EP doesn’t…

Interesting vibes, deeply entrenched in the BMSS / Assassination school of “Nazi hippy” occult rock stuff. On this debut full-length, there are some very strong moments for sure, but it feels like things could fall apart at any moment. Any sense of timekeeping or togetherness as a band “unit” feels very fragile indeed, but oddly that’s almost part of the charm.

Let’s be honest, the only reason I found this record was because of Sabbath’s cover of “Evil Woman”. Either way, I’m glad for that bridge for bringing me to the world of Crow’s Music (see what I did there?). Either way, this is a glorious time capsule to explore, taking you deep into the worlds of blues and hard rock, where the style was converging slowly to become something else entirely. Such a pleasant and…

I’ve become rather fond of this album over the last few months. I love the floaty, ethereal nature that’s pinned down by the warm 70s full band production. This limitation does stop the band drifting too far off into the ether, but at the same time they refuse to stay still. Across the multitude of songs and vibes on this thing, it’s difficult to pin down the performers to commit them to a groove or…

In my somewhat worthless opinion, this is where the second phase of Earth really took off. Sure, we had Hex and then Hibernaculum which reimagined some old stuff in the new style, but I feel like Earth MK2 really took off with the success and reception of The Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull. The artwork by Arik Roper is a perfect representation of the sound on offer here: bright, vivid, yet with an…

CKY’s third album and the beginning of the end IMO. An Answer Can Be Found isn’t a bad album by any stretch, in fact the single released for this record, “Familiar Realm” and opening number “Suddenly Tragic” are both up there with some of my favourite CKY tracks. Unfortunately I cannot speak so highly for the rest of the album, as well made as it is and as good as the riffs are none of…

What part one should have been, IMO. Also, I’m not really saying that you could just take the best bits of both these albums and make one really fucking good album, but yeah, you could TOTALLY take the best bits from both parts and make a far more compelling and interesting record. On the surface, part two comes across initially as even more bare bones and sparser than its predecessor. I don’t think we even…

Angels Of Darkness… (Pt 1) took the “new” sonic template established on Bees Made Honey… and took it to a more dark, smoky world. As beautiful as tracks such as “Old Black” and “Hell’s Winter” are, the runtime of some of these behemoths, coupled with their sparse, minimal structures and inherent similarities, makes this album a slog to listen to unless it is just playing in the background somewhere. I can’t give it a low…

Pointless single which in it’s 7″ form (that I got for 99p brand new, bargain) pairs “Evolution” (where J Devil’s voice strains hideously against a wall of computer generated auto-tune effects, uch!) with the Korn II album closer, “I Will Protect You”. What a fucking weird decision for the B-side, but hey, at least it’s not a crappy remix like the CD version of the single.

Imagine if Chat Pile came from the Midlands, then you’d have something very similar to Rainbow Grave. Boasting line-up royalty with members having played in Doom, Napalm Death and Scorn, Rainbow Grave’s debut churns your guts with disgusting bass guitar led hymns of misanthropic venom. Wailing, screeching guitars and even a saxophone bolster the noise element of this bare bones attack on your senses, whilst the vocals mock and chide you into submission. Hideous shit!

Rock music that sounds like it was recorded inside a wind tunnel. There we go, that’s my expert opinion. Nah, for real though, this is some chilled out shit. Beautiful old school production, well balanced and infinitely repeatable (just let the album play over and over!). A highlight for me is “You’d Better Believe It”. Great stuff.

This doesn’t sound like a live album at all. In fact, going in blind, all I could think of was that this was one of those “fake” live albums which are recorded in a studio. It seems I was half-correct, with the vocals being re-recorded at a later date. To be honest, they should have just scrapped the whole thing if it came to this, but whatever, live albums don’t exactly have a history of…

As nice as it is to explore the back catalog of Tony Martin, one of my favourite Sabbath singers, Scream really just misses the mark. The production is muddy, the songs are mostly mediocre at best, and beyond bad at worst (I’m looking at you, “The Kids Of Today”). It’s really cool that Geoff Nicholls is on this thing too, providing keyboards, and I believe some of the songs were built from Cozy Powell drum…

Thorns is the very recent full length album by once-Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin. With Sabbath, and I’m guilty of this myself, his output is often overlooked, which is a shame because albums like Headless Cross have gone on to be my favourites from Black Sabbath. Anyway, let’s talk about Thorns. Thorns has a stacked line-up, and a polished, modern sound. This gives Martin’s rock numbers a shot in the arm, essentially I guess this is…