Deals & Steals: Viking Swords and Mixing Boards

  Hey all, a big backlog of interesting finds from the past couple of months. All prices $US, Shipping about $15  altogether.

3 Inches of Blood – Battlecry Under a Winter Sun $5.59. Old school 3IOB is good times.

Dark Tranquillity – Haven $4.88. I’m trying to like it. Really. The riffs are there, but so is the baritone crooning. At least I didn’t turf it out the window like I did with Projector.

Lair of the Minotaur – Evil Power $4.19. This is currently one of my favourite things; a sludgy, fudgy Melvins-like fuzztone with an Entombed’s worth of aggression. Heavy, heavy shit.

Lonely Island – Turtleneck and Chain $9.99. The perfect thing for chilling and sippin’ on a lite beer.

Landmine Marathon – Sovereign Descent $5.99. Recent changes to the band can’t take away the power of this massive recording.

Imperative Reaction – Minus All $4.49. IR are that rare animal nowadays – traditional electro industrial.

Arch Enemy – Anthems of Rebellion $2.99. Their most ineffectual album to date, but the price was right.

Evanescence – The Open Door $6.99. File under stuff that I know is bad but listen to anyway. So terrible, so in my car all the time. I think it’s because Amy Lee’s voice reminds me of happy times chasing girls in college using Sarah McLachlan as bait.

And lastly, a record that reminds me of a fun concert story:

  Hanzel und Gretyl – Uber Alles $2.00. I have a soft spot for these Fako-Fascisto Funsters. They played my area with Slick Idiot last year (during Oktoberfest, no less) and blew out the sound system in the club about 20 times in a row. The result was terrible, but I’ll never forget mock-dominatrix Vas Kallas turning to Kaiser von Loopy, completely dropping character, and honking in pure Brooklynese: “This is gonna be one of them nights, eh Rob?”

Thank you, Rob and Betty.

Album Review – Evanescence “Evanescence” 2011

  Evanescence, whose name really just constitutes a shorter way of saying “Amy Lee and the Whoevers”, continue to have difficulty recapturing the spirit of Fallen.* Evanescence the record (and aren’t we all a bit suspicious of mid-career self-titles?) plods down the predictable path of ponderous goth rock, a bland concoction of Lilith Fair and nu-metal that’s hard to screw up but even harder to bring to life, so to speak. I want to like this, and I’m not slapping it with a Do Not Buy, but I’m having difficulty finding anything memorable in the risk-free material.

Evanescence, band and album, aren’t horrible, but both do a piss-poor job of justifying their own existence, basically only succeeding at A) extending the lifespan of a fancy Latin word that most folks didn’t know before, and B) acting as a radio-injected gateway drug for bands like Lacuna Coil, who are doing this sort of thing so much better. 5.5 out of 10

*Of course, Lee’s former bandmates haven’t done well on their own, either.

Deals & Steals – All Roads Lead to Metal

  All over the place this time around – I really just wanted to fill up the order because I’d been looking for the Overkill so long, so I took a few chances. All prices $US, shipping $6.99.

Nomeansno – All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt $7.99. NMN is never a bad choice. Sometimes, it’s perfect.

Overkill – Under the Influence $7.99. OK’s punk/glam phase – a neat transitional record.

Cradle of Filth – Lovecraft & Witch Hearts $7.99. I got this compilation because I admire CoF’s balls-out weirdness but I can’t be arsed to pick up the whole discography.

Evanescence – Evanescence $8.99. Because I’m a masochist.

Wonder Woman $3.20 and Batman: Gotham Knight $5.10 – DC Animated selections. Because my discount coupon only worked on movies. Also, Keri Russel as Diana? I thought it was Samson who lost power with a haircut.

And the big deal:

  Lair of the Minotaur – War Metal Battle Master $6.99. Whoa. Is it Stoner Metal? Stoners aren’t this blood thirsty.

Album Review – We Are the Fallen “Tear the World Down” 2010

  It was clear from her American Idol performances that Carly Smithson was gunning for Amy Lee’s job, and as far as Tear the World Down is concerned, it’s pretty much mission accomplished. Large portions of this record would pass a blind taste-test when placed side-by-side with the original Fallen, from which this project quite deliberately takes its name.
 
The trouble is, Smithson’s bandmates and Evan-exiles are less successful at delivering a punchy, relevant and satisfying piece of work. The concepts and sounds are great…for 2003. It works, but only in a Ripper-Priest sort of way. To Ben Moody I say this: in a post-Apocalyptica world your string section is going to have to work a bit harder than this.
 
We Are the Fallen’s material would definitely flinch first in a Mexican standoff with Nightwish and In This Moment. Only a valid option for those who really miss the Big E. 5 out of 10