Deals & Steals: More Cowbell Edition

  Lots of awesome junk in the pipeline these days..this order came from Second Spin, and the prices are in $US.

First off, it’s a bit of a before/after shot featuring Justin Broadrick:

Fall of Because – Life Is Easy $5.97. Ugly, messy and extremely vibrant pre-Godflesh (even earlier than Head of David) recordings from many of the guilty parties. This was a re-release, not that it matters because the recordings are so raw.

Jesu – Lifeline $4.49. Now in the post-Godflesh stage of life, Broadrick creates dream-pop, light ambient soundscapes. This EP features Jarboe on vocals.

Metalocalypse – Season 4 $15.99. Hard to find up in the Great White North, it’s always good to spend a little time with Dethklok.

Portal 2 – Songs to Test By $6.50. This four disc (!) set contains every piece of instrumental music in both Portal video games. I mainly bought it for the GLADOS-voiced theme songs, and I still wish they had made some room for a bit of in-game dialogue.

Psyclon Nine – We the Fallen $2.98 and INRI $3.48. Blasphemous electro-industrial with a hint of dark ambient.

Cubanate – Cyberia $4.47 and Antimatter $2.00. Coming at you from the soundtrack to every driving game from the 90’s. Guilty pleasure.

Finally, we have a massive back catalogue slab from stoner rock legends:

 

  Fu Manchu – California Crossing $2.99, King of the Road $7.99, In Search Of… $5.49. Start the Machine $9.99. So much cowbell it’s like I’m building a dude ranch.

 

Album Review – The Sword “Apocryphon” 2012

  I often refer to The Sword as “Stoner metal so good you don’t have to be stoned for it”. Unfortunately, with the release of Apocryphon I may have to revise my opinion and reach for some chemical enhancement, as for the first time their output is merely mortal.

All the ingredients are present, but the mixture doesn’t seem to soar quite like before. Previous records have arrived via frothing steeds, the chariots of thunder gods and sleek starships, but Apocryphon sort of plods along, pedestrian in the literal sense. Single “Veil of Isis” has some swing to it but it’s no “Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians”. Oddly enough for such a riff-based band, some of the more rollicking moments are on “Execrator” and the title track, where the band pull out the synthesizers and party like it’s 2112.

Still miles better than many records of this ilk, Apocryphon nevertheless falls a bit short of the heavy-rotation status of its predecessors. 6.5 out of 10

Deals & Steals: Frantic Transatlantic

  Hey all, this installment is imbued with all  the usual bipolar vacillation between my metal and electronic obsessions. All prices $US, and shipping was $7.99.

Rob Zombie: Educated Horses $4.00. I finally get around to Mr. Z’s least-understood record. Not bad!

Powerman 5000: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Volume 1 and True Force, $$5.47 and free with promotion, respectively. I also decided to include the younger Zombie sibling on this order. The first album is an early-material re-release, and the second is their first EP. Considerable overlap; good thing one was free!

Covenant: Europa $6.27. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Europa is a love letter to Front by Front.

Sister Machine Gun: The Torture Technique $4.79. A friend recently gifted me with a SMG discography, but likely (and sensibly) held out on me by keeping this one, their best.

Fu Manchu: Action is Go $6.99. I Googled “What is Fu Manchu’s best album?” Who am I to disagree with the internet?

Scooter: The Stadium Techno Experience. Free with promotion. No comment.

And not-leastly:

  Metallica: Garage Inc. $9.99. What can I say? Still the best way to get hold of their extensive and well-chosen covers collection. This also allows me to retire my rare original Garage Days disc. I should also mention that the champs at Second Spin, having mistakenly sent me only one disc of the set, immediately shipped me a new set. One email, no questions. Gotta like that level of service. Anybody need a Disc One of this thing?

Classic Album Review – Godflesh “Selfless” 1994

  Selfless occupies a sweet spot between Godflesh’s sludge industrial and drum ‘n bass periods, and it contains an embarrassment of riches. “Xnoybis” sounds like a child’s pot-and-pan marching band as interpreted by construction machinery, “Crush My Soul” is as infectious as it is twitchy, and “Anything is Mine” is still a perennial contender for Heaviest Riff Ever Made. Don’t believe me? Here it is:

All this is capped off with “Go Spread Your Wings”, a mammoth dirge of terrifying empty landscapes containing nothing but a Hitchcockian level of dread.

It’s obvious what charms this album had for a younger me, what with its bottomless pit of nihilism and whalloping sound, but it wasn’t until very recently that I figured out the secret at the dark heart of Selfless: It’s a stoner rock record.

Sure, it’s what stoner rock would sound like if Stanley Kubrick got hold of it. The guitars hold no fuzzy warmth, only loose-stringed snarl, but the riff-based construction and reliance on trance-like repetition are tried and tested weapons of the druggy doom set. And I think that’s the real magic of what Selfless did for us back in 1994, it showed us a new way to be heavy. Heavy didn’t have to be bombastic, it could also bleak, or trippy, or even uplifting (Justin Broadrick’s post-Godflesh project Jesu leans even further in this direction, creating almost worshipful sounds from the same instrumentation).

Selfless is truly a special record. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen, and if you come across the accompanying EP Merciless, so much the better. It is also a work of genius, but for me pride of place must go to Selfless for making an album-length statement of earth-shattering heaviness. 10 out of 10

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 – Priestess “Prior to the Fire” 2009

 Prior to the Fire arrives long-delayed by record execs who worried that it would not have the AC/DC radio snappiness of Hello Master. They were right about that, but that doesn’t mean this outing lacks zazz of its own; it’s just a different flavour. There’s no “Lay Down” or “Talk to Her” for the sing along, but Priestess immediately grab your attention by diving into Stained Class territory with psychedelic thrash opener “Lady Killer”. They then proceed to explore every excessive nugget of heavy prog bombast they can lay string or stick upon. Hello Master was slick jackets and fast cars, Prior to the Fire solidly plants the wizard on the side of your panel van. Mikey Heppner works the Perry Farrell angle on his vocals to further delve into the strangeness. 

There’s fun to be had here, and some primo musicianship, although it sometimes gets a bit long and draining. Your mark will be higher if you’ve always wanted Queens of the Stone Age to take a stab at 2112. 6.5 out of 10