We have hit the bottom of the barrel folks. This is hair metal in full cheese, an effort to bridge AC/DC with Motley Crue and Poison, but sadly not even landing any of those bands. Everything here is pretty ridiculous, with zero depth or significant effort. It’s really just a bunch of overwrought cliches all collected together and there’s not a single decent song on here - to think I remember having this album as an 11 year old, but really only remember Up All Night. Figures.
We have hit the bottom of the barrel folks. This is hair metal in full cheese, an effort to bridge AC/DC with Motley Crue and Poison, but sadly not even landing any of those bands. Everything here is pretty ridiculous, with zero depth or significant effort. It’s really just a bunch of overwrought cliches all collected together and there’s not a single decent song on here - to think I remember having this album as an 11 year old, but really only remember Up All Night. Figures.
My God that was bad. It’s really an argument over the least bad song. It’s quite possible I owned this album for the cover. Even for the hair metal sub-genre, this one hurts.
This sort of toes the line between the hair metal we’ve been finishing up and the late 70s arena rock, which makes sense given the lineup of musicians here. That said, it does read more Whitesnake than Foreigner. Some of this, like Coming of Age and Damn Yankees, is at least tolerably fun. It is indeed an upgrade over the last couple of albums, but nevertheless, it’s a sign off (for the most part) from the subgenre that feels quite welcome. I might have started to warm up to some of it in ‘89, but by this point the whole thing is tired for me.
The first thing that immediately jumps out at you when you start this album is that it seems way ahead of its time - maybe 5-7 years - in a world that is sort of post-grunge, even if that wasn’t even a term yet. Heavy but with that staccato guitar pattern, it seems like a lot of bands in the mid-to-late 90s found something in this and ran with it. The opening Repetition, Sinatra (a noise rock piece that’s maybe the most substantial track here), and Make Room (this one has a groove that is really killer) were my highlights, and I was sort of thankful this was 30 minutes since this is quite a heavy album and a big listening lift, even if ultimately rewarding putting in that effort.
Apparently this is an early and influential album for Viking metal, a form of rock music I had never heard of. The opener, Shores in Flames, is phenomenal, an orchestral almost level of enormity of sound, as each of these tracks really are. I think I frankly just got my fill of it in the first track, so the rest of the album appealed to me less and less, but this is an original sound for sure. I think the vocals are what ultimately become the problem for me since I never soured from the music itself. Certainly a promising idea.
The Essential Track: Shores in Flames
Up Next: Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack From Twin Peaks
Given there are 3 songs sung by Julee Cruise, it’s no wonder the music reminded me a lot of her album. These soundscapes are really a score and a bit of classical and jazz all together and really quite good. Audrey’s Dance, the Nightingale, Freshly Squeezed, and Falling of course, are my highlights here. This is very nicely composed music that is reminiscent as well as my memory of the television show I don’t think I have seen in many ages.
Apparently this is an early and influential album for Viking metal, a form of rock music I had never heard of. The opener, Shores in Flames, is phenomenal, an orchestral almost level of enormity of sound, as each of these tracks really are. I think I frankly just got my fill of it in the first track, so the rest of the album appealed to me less and less, but this is an original sound for sure. I think the vocals are what ultimately become the problem for me since I never soured from the music itself. Certainly a promising idea.
The Essential Track: Shores in Flames
Up Next: Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack From Twin Peaks
Very happy you enjoyed this. Was listening to it again today in anticipation of your listen. “Shores in Flames” is one of the best songs of all time, for my money.
Based on rudimentary research, we are entering the shoegaze subgenre at this time with one of the important albums for this space. This album features slower rhythmic patterns that are layered on top of one another with distant vocals that remind me of an opening band playing to a near empty arena. Those pieces fit together quite well, and this album is a real winner here with everything seeming to be quite good. Polar Bear, Dream Burn Down, Taste, and bonus track Unfamiliar really stuck out for me, though nothing topped the epic Vapour Trail. I had a much more positive reaction to this than I expected.
This is a quick EP but one that falls squarely into the discussion of the last album. Once again we have a slowed down rhythmic groove over distant vocals, and this one too is quite good. The title track is the top here but not by much, as Avalyn I is also excellent. Avalyn II is 8 minutes or intro from Part I but the groove never gets old. Solid EP.
This sort of toes the line between the hair metal we’ve been finishing up and the late 70s arena rock, which makes sense given the lineup of musicians here. That said, it does read more Whitesnake than Foreigner. Some of this, like Coming of Age and Damn Yankees, is at least tolerably fun. It is indeed an upgrade over the last couple of albums, but nevertheless, it’s a sign off (for the most part) from the subgenre that feels quite welcome. I might have started to warm up to some of it in ‘89, but by this point the whole thing is tired for me.
The Essential Track: Coming of Age
Up Next: Helmet - Strap It On
A suggestion if you're not already planning on tackling them, Trail of Dead or ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.
I think their first self-titled album came out in 95. Their "breakthrough" record or the one a lot of people love, their Doolittle or Ten would be Source Tags & Codes. I think they get even better as they go on.
They grow and change as a band, punk rock meets bombastic prog with some pop melody mixed in. Great live album: Live at Rockpalast 2009.
Another reminder to add in Pixies Complete B-Sides, thanks.
This is another in a line of albums where the vocals are set way back in the mix, giving that distant sound against rhythmic instrumentals, and it still works pretty well for me. This band seems particularly good, which is essential when the vocals are so distant it’s hard to make them out. The second half of this album particularly connected for me, with Fell From the Sun, Sight of You and Time Thief being the most memorable for me. It was quite solid throughout though.
The Essential Track: Sight of You
Up Next: The Sundays - Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
This debut from this dream pop band is a rather enjoyable record, and one of those bands I didn’t know I knew at least a couple of songs here, particularly Here’s Where the Story Ends. The jangly guitars and airy voice give this album a very light feel, like a nice breeze. I am not sure whether the songs fully stick, but in the moment everything feels good and easy here.
This feels like an enormous upgrade in this Dream Pop landscape. The vocals are still quite distant, although that is a brilliant instrument in its own right, but the range and quality here is pretty evident from the outset. Halah and Blue Flower initially feel like they’ll be the goal posts, but then they hit this more psychedelic wandering in the title track that just sets this album on a wholly different path than I anticipated, and that energy just permeates the remainder of the album in such a great way. I’m Sailin, and Ghost Highway in particular are just fantastic. This one’s a real winner.
The Essential Track: She Hangs Brightly
Up Next: Happy Mondays - Pills ‘N’ Thrills and Bellyaches
This is some seriously danceable rock music. While there are some big time references here in the riffs to the Beatles and Velvet Underground, particularly in Holiday and Harmony, I mostly found this band breaking a lot of their own mold on these tracks. Kinky Afro, God’s Cop, Donovan, Grandbag’s Funeral, and Loose Fit - so all of the first half, is pretty great. Step On in the second half is also pretty solid as well. This is also an album you look back on the tracklist and realize it’s way better than you originally thought since there’s no weak link in sight.
This is one of those bands I had heard of for years and just never listened to them. Often that leads to some great albums, but not for me this time. This noise rock band who I know is important to the sub-genre to me seemed a bridge too far into, well, loud and crashy rock for the sake of it. I would say on this one to each their own, but this did not work at all for me.
At the outset, this sort of reminded me of a cross between early Metallica and Iron Maiden - thrash with a high pitched singer who sounds a bit like Bruce Dickinson. It sort of plays a lot on cliche, but for the most part it’s a pretty enjoyable ride, provided you aren’t taking it too seriously. The intro is great here, and Khomaniac is a good start as well. My favorite here, and maybe the fun song title contributed in some way, was Razamanaz. Buckle your safety belt for this listen since it is quite fast.
Even as compared to his other albums, in this one, Glen Danzig reminds me more of a dark Jim Morrison - though Danzig gives off a half punk/half metal vibe and Morrison felt more like he was a poetic carnival barker. But possibly even more striking for me on this album is the range - if the first four tracks are the metal/punk like sound I expected, I’m the One and Her Black Wings expand their sound, as does the remainder of that album. I’m the One, even though I am probably alone in this, is the one that stopped me in my tracks so it gets the win here.
I have to immediately note that there’s some real credit due here. Pantera, in a lot of ways, sounds like thrash era Metallica and a bit of Iron Maiden (not as much as Artillery), in part because the vocals seamlessly pass from a Hetfield growl to a Dickinson scream at the drop of a dime, but also in the pure speed of this band when they are so inclined. But that’s all besides the point because the credit I am referencing has more to do with the fact that despite those similarities, this band does not feel derivative from those bands because they took those elements and added a groove that makes them something else entirely - and something that shapes metal I think ever since. Hell, listening to this album makes you think that maybe Metallica (Load era) is the derivative one. I initially was convinced the title track would be favorite here, and it was until The Sleep, which really brought together everything they were doing on this one and provides that exclamation point for this album.
