In the nineties Ani Difranco was a kick in the ass to the Lilith Fair sirens basking in their feelings, bringing a punk attitude to the strum of her alternative folk. Now twenty-two albums deep in her career Unprecedented Shit (Righteous Babe Records) finds her older and wiser, yet still aware of her mission statement.Continue reading
While the leading names in Nu-metal are ones that started twenty to thirty years ago, bands like Sicksense bring high hopes for the genre’s future. Testing the limits of the style Linkin Park and Korn made history with, the group shares their second EP, Fools Tomorrow (Sound Escape Agency), a sequel to their debut EP Kings Today. They each promote the idea of holding on tight to the throne earned from major achievements, stating that it could always be pulled from right under you if your hard work ceases.
Devin Townsend can be a difficult guy to nail down musically. Whether it’s coffee-themed prog-metal concept albums, stadium rock or Strapping Young Lad levels of brutality, there are few styles the man hasn’t touched upon. And now he can add Country music to his repertoire.
The man’s latest album, released under the Casualties of Cool moniker with Ché Aimee Dorval, is the result of a massively successful campaign on Pledge Music. The success of the campaign is testament to the Canadian oddball’s enduring popularity as even in the bio he explicitly states, “It’s not a metal album, nor is it meant to be a statement about my interest in metal…This is something different.”
It’s rarely worth looking at Devin’s solo work in any sort of grand context; previous Devin Townsend Project albums were all radically different from each other, and the bombast of 2012’s uplifting Epicloud was as different to them as it is to this. But there are traces of Ki‘s minimalist songwriting and Ghost’s (all HevyDevy/InsideOut) almost ambient mood music to be found here.
Casualties of Cool opens with ‘Daddy’, a dark country tune, and from there we’re taken on a quiet acoustic journey. Everything is very understated; some parts are quietly uplifting, some more eerily haunting, and the whole thing is full of ambient atmosphere. Dorval (previously heard on the DTP’s Ki) and her deep, smokey voice takes centre stage for most of the album, with Devin providing backup.
With the exception of the epic ‘The Bridge’, it’s hard to pick out any standout songs. They flow into one another quietly without any big fanfare. Whether it’s the jazzy saxophone of to ‘Moon’ or the dark melancholy of ‘The Field’, the quality rarely drops but the quiet, introspective nature means CoC requires multiple listens. What may be little more than ambient whispers on the first or second listen can turn out to be actually a worthwhile bit of music.
It doesn’t have the same kind of highs of previous albums, but Casualties of Cool is an intriguing experiment from a man who excels in making left-field music. Go in expecting massive a prog-metal exercise will only lead to disappointment, but having an open mind will result in a rewarding if largely uneventful experience.
8.0/10.0
DAN SWINHOE
With Anathema bassist and song-writer Duncan Patterson having left the Antimatter project in the sole hands of former writing partner Mick Moss a decade ago, The Judas Table (Prophecy) is the sixth release under the Antimatter banner, and the third of Moss’ own making – the initial triumvirate featuring a split of compositions and recordings made by the pair mainly in isolation of each other – and continues the move to a more organic melancholy, leaving further behind the electronica that had featured in their earlier material.
Introverted and disappointed (though not disappointing), Moss uses The Judas Table as a cathartic vehicle to share his dissatisfaction with the people and situations he encounters in life, along with the betrayals and frustrations that he faces; “Just another dream that died…” he laments in ‘Stillborn Empires’.
Wholeheartedly earnest, there is no mistaking the feeling and conviction in Moss’ unassuming vocals, vulnerable on ‘Little Piggy’, a heartfelt song that builds from simple acoustic and vocal origins, or the more powerful, though still emanating a fractured soul, oration in the title track, his baritone meshing with a haunting female vocal and cello accompaniment.
The Judas Table invites reflection, it opens a forum to analyse loss and betrayal, and is a catalyst for melancholy, yet in a therapeutic way; there is something cleansing and uplifting about the introspection and realisation that occurs during the musings propagated by the subtle and underplayed despondent art rock Moss has produced. On ‘Hole’, the stark staging and gentle progression is as effective as Moss’ gets, sincere and sparse, just a voice and a guitar until the song spreads and breathy female vocals accompany a coda that slips away as delicately as it was constructed. Indeed, most of the songs here develop and sprout from clean guitar strums and soulful male vocals, building through adding strings and synths, and, at its core, are about the sharing of feelings, of sadness.
It goes without saying The Judas Table is not an album for all occasions, but its beauty and melancholy has a place and time with genuine and heartfelt emotions, it is a reserved and affecting soundtrack to reflection.
8.0/10
STEVE TOVEY
Nechochwen are classified as Folk Metal, but whereas most music in that genre is inspired by Celtic or Nordic heritage, this band finds its themes in Native American heritage. Heart of Akamon (Bindrune/Eihwaz) is their third record.
‘The Serpent Tradition’, the opening song of this album, immediately showcases the folk and the metal that are combined in this band. The acoustic guitars sound magical, and while the switch from heavy to soft was abrupt, the build back into heavy is very well done. The clean vocals are beautiful, as are the acoustic guitar pieces intermingled with the metal riffs, and there is a lot of variation. However, the end is once again rather abrupt.
The more acoustic-centred songs such as ‘The Impending Winter’, ‘October 6, 1813’, and the guitar section in ‘Traversing the Shades of Death’ are really well crafted and unique, while the metal sections and songs, such as ‘Skyhook’, are good but not truly remarkable.
The musical highlight of this album, however, is the instrumental ‘Kišelamakong’. It is a beautiful composition.
One point that this band could improve upon is cohesion. There is a bit too much of a split between folk and metal, and while ‘The Serpent Tradition’ for instance has sections where they blend together perfectly, this does not happen often or fluently enough on other parts of the album. Additionally, the switches between loud and gentle are at times too abrupt, while being very organic at other points. While each individual section is very good, the changes in speed in the introduction of ‘Škimota’ aren’t great. The addition of the drums helps keep the following variations together.
Finding a balance throughout the songs or even the entire album would make a massive difference. Still, there are a lot of excellent pieces of music and it is certainly an album worth listening to.
7.5/10
LORRAINE LYSEN
Galley Beggar is an English Folk Rock band who combines traditional songs with a modern Psychedelic sound. This sextet proves that the genre of Folk is still very much alive and kicking, and thrives on musical innovations.
As the title suggests, Silence and Tears (Rise Above) is quite a melancholic album. While this is generally not an issue, I did find the lyrics in ‘Adam and Eve’ to be a bit off-putting… I guess a bitter and judgemental Adam complaining to God how everything was Eve’s fault isn’t really my style. Musically, however, this is an excellent song which shows off the beautiful combinations of acoustic guitar, bass and violin, as well as the dominant female vocals. Another song where the vocals are really powerful is ‘Empty Sky’. The contrast with mellow violins and the excellent bass lines makes the song very dynamic.
The vocals on ‘Pay my Body Home’ are also really good: they are not so much main and backing vocals as dual leads, with another line on guitar. The guitars sound very distant, and the overall vibe of the song is very mellow. However, the best vocal combinations on this album are in ‘Deliver Him’, where the arrangements are almost overwhelmingly beautiful.
The guitars on ‘Sanctuary Song’ are dance effectively, and it is certainly my favourite song of the album. While it still has a touch of that melancholy that infuses this album, the lines of the guitars also have the sound of hope and a hint of cheerfulness.
Galley Beggar is helping folk music evolve and Silence and Tears may well be a crucial step in that evolution. It certainly is a very interesting one.
7.5/10
LORRAINE LYSEN
The west Yorkshire idyll of Hebden Bridge was on the news a few years ago, highlighted as the lesbian capital of the UK – an unexpectedly contemporary claim to fame for such a quaint, old fashioned town. For the area to produce such explosive, edgy, mournful, and downright fucking sexy folk-rock as this EP from local troubador Jayn Hanna Wissenberg, aka Darkher, is also something of a surprise.
Before The Kingdom Field (Self-released/Independent) arrived in my inbox, I checked some more stripped-down material on YouTube and subsequently asked myself, “Why the hell have we got this?” Within seconds of the breathy, siren-like beginning, I had my answer: the cello. Rasping, calling like a spectre from the sea, it slices through the prickling folk lilt, giving the haunting rhapsody an, albeit brief, violent edge which kicked this listener square in the bollocks. That’s aside, of course, from the eerily beautiful, heart-breaking melody of Wissenberg’s voice, and the sparing guitar slicing through the atmospherics like a primal roar in a desolate field. The judiciously introduced drums of opener ‘Ghost Tears’ accentuate the chilling tambourine with a fearful ease; the whole evoking one of the jerking undead coming for vengeance in a classic horror. Yeah, it’s that good.
The gently-picked acoustic of ‘Hung’ underpins the unbearable hurt in the mellifluous vocal before more cello strains take us to within an inch of sinister euphoria. It’s the ensuing ‘Foregone’ however, where the rock edge really explode with a resonant riff constantly threatening to blow yet always holding back, whilst the drums swell then recede to a seductive, heartfelt sway in a ‘Polly Jean Harvey goes all melodic doom’ style claustrophobia. Look, there is a strong argument as to whether this should really be here on Ghost Cult or not but, basically, this is Myrkur for the ‘Folkies; a haunting, beautiful, teeth-edging horror and it’s utterly brilliant.
Bring me an album, now.
9.0/10
PAUL QUINN