A new Frank Turner album is an event. One of the preeminent songwriters of the last two decades, we greet it with high expectations. Not unlike Buck in the book The Call of The Wild by Jack London, life around us becomes increasingly more complicated and vicious daily. Do we become more savage, or learn to “be more kind?” That is often the only question that needs asking. Continue reading
Tag Archives: piano ballads
ALBUM REVIEW: Fleshvessel – Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed
Anyone can make a concept album (which is not to say that it’s easy, but that it doesn’t depend on a particular musical style). That said, when it comes to the rock-opera-style concept album, the tendencies towards elaborate instrumental explorations and grand, dramatic spectacle often found in progressive rock and metal, provide particularly fertile ground. Pink Floyd, Queensryche, The Who, and many others have followed this path (coloured by their own particular musical approaches).
ALBUM REVIEW: Yelawolf and Shooter Jennings – Sometimes Y
The worlds of Country and Hip Hop don’t often meet, but Country Rocker and producer Shooter Jennings and acclaimed rapper Yelawolf have teamed up to create their eponymous debut as a duo Sometimes Y (Slumerican). As you would expect from such divergent backgrounds, Sometimes Y is an eclectic record that is largely rock but takes many a wide and varied detour.
ALBUM REVIEW: Carol Hodge – Savage Purge
Songwriters are often in pursuit of honesty. They want to express the contents of their souls with authenticity and truth. However, these expressions are often refracted through lenses of ambiguity which can leave the listener guessing as to the real truth at the source. It is perhaps less common, and maybe more courageous, for a songwriter to tell us what’s really going on in their day-to-day thoughts without hiding beneath the mystery of their poetry. Continue reading