Year:2010 Genre:Hardcore Punk/Heavy Metal Label: None Tracks: 5 Length: 16 Minutes My Rating: 7/8
The Whores were a rock band from Bristol, U.K. that existed from 2006 (but they didn't play their first gig until '08) to February of this year. I first discovered them about two years ago from their music video for the song "Somebody" and I instantly realized that they rocked! Their style is a punk/metal hybrid sound... imagine the Distillers and White Zombie had a rock & roll group orgy. The band's line-up consisted of Robyn Pistols (vox/bass guitar), Scrod Vile (also vox/guitar), and Chun Leek (drummist).
I think the band recorded an earlier EP called "Rot to Rust" or something like that, I could be wrong, but this is the band's newest and final (but hopefully not!!) release and it got a decent amount of media attention, but unfortunately the band is still stuck in obscurity for those not in-the-know...
1. Heart of Stone Begins with the strumming of the bass guitar and siren noises... some parts are slow and other parts are fast... completely awesome chords all the way through! It's got a really good feel like something really important is about to happen. Scrod Vile sings on the chorus section with Robyn providing backing vocals. Mid-song, there is a quieter bridge section that explodes in a series of screams and then Robyn starts yelling "FUCK YOUR SYSTEM" over and over again until the band hits up the chorus again.
2. Doesn't Really Matter This is a more fast song. The guitar-playing here (as with all the band's songs, really) is excellent, as the band provides really kick-ass combinations of chord-progressions, lead melodies, singing, and interesting drum beats and tempo changes.
3. Bleed On Me This song is pretty emotionally heavy... the song begins with a soft, quiet intro section, and then things get hard after that! The drum beat is totally hypnotizing and Robyn sounds ready to completely mutilate the subject of her anger with a more-than-bloody vengeance! Definitely the best on this record!
4. Hollow Starts off with a bass-guitar-driven fast verse section with alternating sung parts between Robyn and Scrod, and then it bursts into a fucking great chorus... the shrill chords and the throaty, powerful sounding singing really make a good combo... the Whores' music is packed to the brim with emotional potency.
5. Friendly Bombs Scrod Vile sings on this one... there's not much guitar or bass here, mostly just Scrod singing to a drum beat... the lyrics sing about the shitty state of the world, with sick animals, warfare, paranoia, and all of that great stuff... and so, Scrod continually yells the conclusion that "MOTHER NEVER LOVED YOU..."
It really sucks that this band broke up so soon... they seem to have just about all of the good ingredients for an awesome band... excellent songwriting, a lot of emotion, what seems to have been a pretty entertaining stage presence, and the music was pretty un-generic... as I said before, one of my favorite new-ish bands! Oh well, shit happens. But yeah, definitely go to see MySpacebook/whatever page and check out the songs, because they rock hard!
Year: 2010 Genre: Doom Metal Label: Rise Above Records Tracks: 8 Length: 59 Minutes My Rating: 7/8
Electric Wizard is a doom metal band that formed in 1993 (yay). They are also often referred to as a "stoner metal" group, which is funny 'cuz I thought almost every genre of music except for straight-edge hardcore punk could be made for/by stoners. Anyways, these guys are pretty slow and heavy in the vein of (guess what)BlackSabbath (B.S.) and their sound is pretty warm and bassy. Great stuff. They sing about Satan and smoking weed... this is the band's seventh album, and it has a bunch of pictures of naked chicks and satanic rituals on it and stuff... like, on the CD there's a chick's crotch with a skull over it. Maybe she killed the skull with some V.D. she had hidden in her crotch for self-defense. WOWOWOWOW
Anyways, this is the first Electric Wizard album I've ever bought/listened to extensively, so I don't know a huge whopping backstory on the band. They're electric (funeral), they're (the) wizard...s. THIS IS A REVIEW OF (like witches at) "BLACK MASSES" -- HOLYFUCKIN'SHIT, THIS BAND REALLY LIKES BLACK SABBATH, YOU FUCKING DUMB[LACK M]ASSES, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MINDS? DID SOMEONE TAKE A RABBIT'S EYES, REAL BEAUTY IS DENIED!!!
SACRIFICED! SACRIFICED! SACRIFICED; YOUR SOUL'S SACRIFICED!
SPIKY HAIR MAKES RABBITS CRY ONE DAY TOO I HOPE YOU DIE!!!
SACRIFICED! SACRIFICED! SACRIFICED; YOUR SOUL IS SACRIFICED!!!
Well gee wilikerz, it's a good thing I ain't got no spiky hair right now. But the bottom (y'know, that kinda sexy part of the body) line (not a dot) is that (this:) we're going to FUCKING REVIEW THIS ALBUM GODDAMMIT... YOU HEARD ME!!! YA HEAR ME???
IT'S FUCKING REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU'RE ALL GONNA BE DEAD -- BY THE END OF THIS REVIEW!!!! AAAGAGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...okay?
1. Black Mass This song rocks! It's got such an awesome, thick guitar riff... kinda slow, but apparently this song is "fast" by E.W. standards. The opening vocal melody combined with the guitar riff sounds so awesome... this song is about a black mass... like a satanic ritual or some shit like that. Really heavy guitar riff, I like it... not just one, but TWO guitar solos in the song... the second one is better. Amazing song. It's like the new fucking Black Sabbath. Amazing heavy riffs, just perfect for getting loaded to and partying down in just the most awesome type of way, 'cuz this song has a wondrous feel to it!
2. Venus in Furs This is not a cover of the Velvet Underground song. The song starts out with a screaming type of noise. The guitar riff is real deep and great-sounding. The beat rules. Awesome guitar-playing. What a great song to go after the first song, mang. Even though this isn't a cover of an old song with the same name, the theme is similar -- sadomasochism and being tortured sexually by a beautiful woman wearing leather boots. The lyrics are awesome. After the second verse, there's a guitar solo. I really like the mid-section of the song after that, it's my favorite part. The lead guitar melody of that part goes perfectly with the riff. The vocals sound so wispy and almost surreal. Kind of fading and echoing in out of nowhere. It's like being stuck in a room with beautiful sound zorping and bouncing all around the walls and taking quite awhile to die down. Like fire that burns but doesn't hurt. I am the ZODIAC. End of Side A.
3. The Nightchild This one's a little slower than the two songs before it. The riff is more menacing and rugged. The chorus part sounds so great... the riff is still menacing but a little ascending, and the vocals sound tortured yet powerful at the same time, damn it!! The bass riff sounds awesome in this part of the song. Meanwhile, the verse riff burns and then zig-zags for a few chords... you just can't help but sing along that second time you hear the chorus, man... you can hear some atmospherics and lead guitar in the background... all totally muffled by the crushing assault of the bassy rhythm guitar. And bassy bass guitar. The lyrics are about a creepy bloodsucking evil zombie! His number is 1-800-666-6969, so if you want him (her?) to babysit your little ones, that's how to get ahold of... it. The guitar solo rocks... reminds me of a full moon being out in the middle of the night... like, a moon made of CHEESE or something legit like that. I need to start saying "legit" all the time again... that'd be pretty legit n' stuff. HAY HAY... HAY HAY HAY HAY...
4. Patterns of Evil Starts off with a slow, strummed chord... the drumming hisses and boils... sounds like lava bubbling up from an underground volcanic cavern filled with monsters... the chorus is pretty awesome... nice riff combined with the vocals. The guitar sounds so heavy and full, I love it! There's a guitar solo after the first chorus. After the second chorus, there's a mid-section with a different riff. Man, that drum sound is real nice... later there's another weird psychedelic-sounding solo with weird sounds... I coulda sworn I heard the singer say "Vietnam"... was he off fightin' back in 'nam or something? MY GOD, WAS HE??? WAS HE???!!!!! AAAUUUGHHH. I think the singer's a good singer. JUN JUN JUN JUN STRUM STRUN STRUMN??? UGHhr. End of Side B.
5. Satyr IX Longest song on the album, being ten minutes long (two seconds short of that, actually). This song is really slow and there's a weird whizzing/chirping noize going on in the background... y'know that, man? Like, we're off drinking beer on our front porch right now as I'm reviewing this and throwing the empty cans at cars driving along the road becuz it's fun and it's just SOOOOOOOO nice aut right now... not really. I do think I'm slowly losing my mind, though. Isn't that TOTALLY FUCKING LAME??? Hee heeh heh. Not digging the riff a ton so far... it's alright but doesn't excite me as much as the first four songs do. After two minutes and twenty seconds, the singer finally opens his gigantic mouth (te-he) and he sings... actually, the vocal melody goes together about as well as it can with the humming, voiping, wong-ing(?) guitar riff. I swear they released a jillion crickets into the studio when they were recording this song... or they turned on a sprinkler inside of the studio or something. That would be hilarious. After this part of the song, there's a pretty cool lead-guitar solo played. I like it. It gets pretty noisy and fucked-up, y'know? The insides of my fingernails smell like Cheetos. I haven't even eaten Cheetos in a long-assed time 'cause I'm lactose intolerant. Pretty funny, eh? Weird guitar solos come and go... weird sound effects come and go... this is a long song, man... the music being played eventually fades out for some weird, trippy sound effects.
6. Turn Off Your Mind I'm hungry. Hang on a second... alrighty, problem solved. Look, we're listening to a song, mm'kay? And it's like, this song has a cool guitar riff and a cool beat and the singer pretty much sounds like he's singing backwards... IS HE? Not in the chorus, evidently. Pretty awesome song. I like it... the weird psychedelic sound effects are just the icing on the cake, my sol brotha. Suddenly the music stops and all of these weird samples start echoing everywhere and I don't even know what they're saying... it's like being in an echoey space filled with a bunch of black-and-white paper cut-outs tellin' me what to do... then the song resumes after some moments of this and there's a faint but fiery lil' guitar solo and more weird sounds. I could see the Butthole Surfers doing a real awesome cover of this... it has a similar feel as "Sweat Loaf" by them.
7. Scorpio Curse Slow. Good guitar riff. I like the chorus part. The bass riff in the chorus rules!!! Cool solo... this song feels a bit more upbeat than the other songs. YAEY FOR THAT. Seriously, the riffs on this one rule... it's OUTTA THIS WORLLLD, MY BROTHA!!!!!!!!!!! Sweet-ass bubbling lead guitar towards the end of the SONG. THE SONG, DAMN IT. AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8. Crypt of Drugula IT'S DRUGULA... THE VAMPIRE WHO SUCKS THE HEROIN-INFUSED BLOOD OUT OF JUNKIES' VEINS... SCARYYY AND SPOOOKY, UOOOOGUUUGUUGUUUOOOUUUGHHHHHHAAA BOOGER. "Booger", heh hehhheehehehe. A lot of electrifying and "creepy" sound effects, thumping bass pedal, and the sounds of thunder. The song sounds much like this... an ominous bass riff, slow bass drums, and a harsh array of freakish noises. The whole song pretty much sounds like this for almost nine minutes... it's like being stuck in a creepy crypt during a thunderstorm and being unsure that you'll ever escape... alive... EEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! At the last minute, the song erupts into a thirty-second hardcore punk oi anthem... not really. But one creepy touch they put on the end of the song is that the album ends with the sounds of a beating heart... and then, my friend, you die... AND THEN, MY FRIEND, YOU DIE!!!!! YOU DIE!!!! YOU DIE YOU DIE!!!!! UUWAKAKAKAKAKAAAA!!!!
For a new album that I was able to buy in-store at FYE, this is quite a great little record... the riffs are great, the production is great, the band is great, it's a shame I didn't know about these guys sooner. The current line-up of the band (which recorded this album) is: Jus Oborn (vocals, guitar), Liz Buckingham (guitar), Tas Danazoglou (bass guitar), and Shaun Rutter (drums). Anyways, this album is really good, for the most part all of the songs are great and rely heavily on atmospherics as well as melody... it's slow, ultra-heavy metal with a psychedelic flavor. Anyways, this is a really good listen. That's what I have to say for today's issue of LEGIT MUSIC REVIEWS. I thought this was a legit album. This review took me almost a week to write. Because I had to catch up with school n' stuff. Bye bye.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Black Mass 2. Venus in Furs 3. Scorpio Curse
Year: 1985 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Unknown Tracks: 9 Length: 24 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
Napalm Death is notable for being one of the definitive grindcore bands and they are well-respected as a death metal band as well. However, when they first started out in 1981, they were a punk rock group whose members were only 13 years old! Actually, none of the original members were in the band after the recording of their first "real" album called "Scum" (only half of it), but alas, here these fuckheads are, ready to rock and roll. They weren't playing grindcore yet, but they were still pretty aggressive. The style here is U.K. type hardcore with a slight metal influence (typical of U.K. hardcore) and also a big "post-punk" influence. The members of the band at this point were Justin Broadrick (guitar), Nik Napalm (bass/vocals), and Mick Harris (drums).
1. What Man Can Do The intro is kind of ominous sounding. Slow, with just a wispy, spooky guitar sound and a thumping bass drum. Then a more aggressive beat kicks off (snares n' all). The guitar sounds really cool. Then the bass riff changes. The angry-as-fuck vocals also set the attitude for this song. I like how two people sing, not just one. The lyrics are about how humans seem to do nothing but destroy and kill everything they get their hands on. The ending section has a real scary type of beat.
2. Instinct of Survival Definitely the best song on this tape. The intro is kinda cool, but one of the best parts is that second riff that plays. It sounds SO awesome. I swear that directly influenced the Melvins when they wrote the intro part for their song "#2 Pencil". The lyrics are fucking awesome, they're sung fucking awesome, it's just such an awesome song, the riffs all fucking rock! It's so angry and energtic! The lyrics are about corporations which abuse the people of 3rd-world nations and even people from their own countries and suck away resources and money and people like vampires latching onto the world with their undetachable fangs. The "multinational corporations" part at the end also FUCKING ROCKS. This song later appeared on the "Scum" LP.
3. Abbatoir Really wispy intro. The guitar sounds wispy, in the very beginning you're just hearing these feedback and humming noises floating around the room like LITTLE GHOSTIES. Then a solid riff and beat gets set off. Totally different feel from the previous song. I love the drum beat. After this part, the guitar riff changes to something a little angrier. The song's about about how much life has been has been wasted by social conformity and people who try to succeed and be "normal" in the system, while it's pretty much a lie and people encourage others to follow this path and seldom question it.
4. Control A fast song. The riff is cool, the singing sounds grate (like what you do to cheese), and the lyrics are about how behind every useless social system we follow, there's a fascist behind the curtain. I like this song too.
5. Sacrificed Another really awesome song. Starts off with a feedback sound loud and long enough to deafen one for life. This song's even faster than the song before it. The chorus riff is so awesome, especially how they're just singing "SACRIFICED!!" in unison alongside the fast drum beat. Total aggression... by the way, doesn't "Total Aggression" sound like it would be a name for a hardcore band? After the chorus, the song stops for a few moments with just a bunch of guitar noise being made, and then the chorus is played one more time and then the song's over. I think it's about animal testing for cosmetics (this band loves bunny rabbits and hates make-up and hair products) and how "spiky hair makes rabbits cry" -- actually, yeah, you'll see pictures of bunnies with green crap coming out of their eyes. The "real beauty is denied" part stands out to me as well because we live in a society where artificial beauty is worshiped and all of the things that actually are beautiful about humans are ignored. But yeah, this iz another one of my favorites. Doesn't get old! This song also later appears on "Scum" in a 100x faster form.
6. So Sad I like the beat. The guitar riff has kind of a sad-feeling to it. I can't find the lyrics to this song. The drumming is extremely good on this tune.
7. Caught in a Dream The beat in the beginning is awesome. The riff, also. Then the song gets a little faster. The song's about how people are attracted to entertainment and constantly use fantasy and television and other things of that type to ignore reality. Hell, I'm using a computer right now, I guess I'm kind of doing the same time. I mean, fuck, this NAPALM DEATH music is pretty entertaining to me, I guess that makes me Satan! At least I recognize that I deserve to die unlike most people. Hah, look at me, I'm trying to justify my fucking shortcomings by saying something shocking, isn't that so cute? The chorus sections are really fast n' thrashy. Later appeared on "Scum".
8. Private Death Really fast! The lyrics are about people who are dying a "private death" by being slaves to the system and try to escape "but they're nailed to a cross" -- I really liked that lyric. The mid-section is only half as fast. THEN IT GETS ALL FAST AGAIN AND SHIT. EVERYONE'S GONNA DIE, KIDDIEZ!!
9. Cheswick Green This one's taken from a live recording. The sound quality is really poor on this tune. Not THAT poor, but you can't make out riffs or lyrics or anything. It's just kind of a normal punk song from what I'm hearing. It has a guitar solo in the middle, also. Then a bunch of chaps in the audience clap for the band. YAEY!!!!
Contrary to what I originally believed, this was NOT the band's first demo tape -- they had been making demos since 1982. This was their third demo or so. They made another demo after this in '86 and then they released Scum after that. What surprised me even more is that the members of the band were even younger than me when they recorded this -- they're really fucking talented, that's for sure. Even if you don't like grindcore or death metal (I'm not a big death metal guy), this record doesn't sound like those and it's just some really good, creative, angry punk rock! So yeah, check out this record because I really like it.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Instinct of Survival 2. Sacrificed 3. Control
Year: 1970 Genre: Heavy Metal Label: Vertigo Records Tracks:8 Length: 42 Minutes Style: Mysterious/Emotional/Political My Rating: 8/8
"Paranoid" by Black Sabbath is one of the most famous and influential heavy metal albums of all time. This band has influenced more bands in my musical appetite than you could shake a stick at, including Black Flag, the Melvins, the Butthole Surfers, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Sourpuss, the Ramones, SoundGarden, etc. blah blah blah blah blah blah bleehhhhhhhhhhhhhh! BLEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Yeah, I bought this album on CD a few months ago but had trouble getting it to work in my car, so I sort of put it on the back burner for awhile, but it is really good! Very heavy, moving, dark, intricate music. Some of it is slow and some of it is fast, but people who were "there" back in the day say it was a great breath of fresh air from the dying hippie movement in the early '70s. But I was really listening to the Sabbath-influenced bands first, so I can't totally see it the same way 'cause I don't listen to a whole ton of '60s music, especially the "lame" kind (though it was the kind of stuff my parents used to play when I was little a whole lot, so I can understand how annoying it'd be to hear nothing but that). But enough history shit, this is the second Black Sabbath record and it was released the same year as the first one, so they were recording a lot, evidently! What DID they record? That's what I'm about to review...
1. War Pigs/Luke's Wall Absolutely beautiful intro... pretty slow and bluesy-sounding... it's just got that feelin'... feeling at rock-bottom and like it can't get any worse so it can only get better even though it sucks (not the song), and there's this neat sound in the background that sounds like a train, but the pitch of the sound is in harmony with the music itself. Of course, this song describes and denounces the "war pigs" in the government that control the world, describing them as sorcerers of destruction and poisoning and brainwashing the people. After about two minutes into the song, the song changes once again for a more upbeat, cool part with awesome singing and a cool-ass guitar melody and beat. There is one part that it almost seems that Black Flag almost directly took the riff for "Jealous Again" from in this song. At the very end the song unexpectedly speeds up before coming to a stop. It's one of the most famous Black Sabbath songs and the longest one on this album.
2. Paranoid This is the song that they wrote really quickly in the studio during the recording of the album, but don't let that fool you... it's really good. It's one of the faster songs on the album. The vocal melody is great... hell, it all is! Cool bass sound, also. Awesome guitar solo in the middle of the song. The song captures the sadness of a person whose mind is so overtaken by instability, insanity, and fear that he is unable to enjoy life.
3. Planet Caravan This is a softer, calmer song, but it's really sad sounding. There are little wisps of melody floating around the main bass-dominated melody here. Ozzy sings using a ghostly-sounding vocal effect. The second half of this song really is what makes the song for me, with all of that beautiful lead guitar melody fucking the little vaginas inside your ear... it feels so good. It sounds awesome. Such a good song.
4. Iron Man One of the most famous rock songs of all-time, and deservedly so. How many times do you hear a guitar riff more powerful-sounding than the verse riff for Iron Man? Not many, I guess. But yeah, that riff MAKES this song. Especially when played using the chords. The thumping bass drum in the beginning sets the creepy feeling that explodes into this monster so huge and powerful that it would not be as wise to try to escape as much as to just embrace it. As for the lyrical content itself, it's about a man who travels to the future to see save humanity from destruction, only to be turned into steel, watching the people who care not for him, eventually coming back to life and destroying the world in an act of revenge. Some parts of the song are fast, but for the most part it's a slow, heavy song. One of the greatest songs ever. End of Side A.
5. Electric Funeral Starts off with a moody wah-wah-sounding intro melody and once again a slow tempo. Very doomy and negative-sounding melody and attitude to this song. And that's pretty much what it's about -- describes civilization as an "electric funeral" destroying the human race. There's a faster part in the middle of the song.
6. Hand of Doom The song starts out alright, with a certain bassline dominating the melody and it's pretty slow. The song's sound abruptly changes during the middle to a completely different section with a different riff and a different beat and that part is really cool. Really good singing. Then towards the end there iz a guitar solo with a crashing drum beat behind it. At about five minutes the song changes back to how it sounded in the beginning.
7. Rat Salad Mmm, rat salad! Sounds delicious. This one's an instrumental tune in which all of the members show off their skills at their instruments, including a lengthy drum solo at the end. It's pretty good, especially the lead guitar melody, but I like some of the other songs better.
8. Jack the Stripper/Faeries Wear Boots It's not Jack the RIPPER, it's Jack the STRIPPER, he just shows up at peoples' houses and gets naked! Hee heeeeeeee. The beginning of the song is slow and pretty damn metal-ly (now a thousand metalheads are going to kill my ass) because there's so much lead guitar and it's slow and it's got them funky bass tunes and all of this other shit because I'm too lazy to come up with some bullshit pseudo-intellectual interpretation of the melodic arrangements of this song. Anyways, after that, there's a real cool faster part with a cool riff and it's pretty cool and Ozzy sings cool and all of this other stuff. Duh-duh-duh-DAH! The song's about a guy who sees REAL faeries and finds out that they wear boots, and his doctor thinks he's been doing too many drugs. Lotta crazy lead guitar stringing out of the guitarist's head after the singing part. And then the song returns to a continuation of the first section of the song. The song fades out and then...
IT'S ALL OVER. FUCKERS!!! THE WORLD HAS ENDED FROM A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST WHILE YOU WERE FRIVOLOUSLY READING THIS AND COULD HAVE ACTUALLY DONE SOMETHING TO STOP IT WHILE YOU HAD THE CHANCE... BUT NO, YOU'VE GOTTA HAVE YOUR FUCKING BLACK SABBATH AND LISTEN TO YOUR PRECIOUS LITTLE MUSIC AND READ REVIEWS FROM SOME ASS-KISSING FAN TO REMIND YOURSELF HOW GREAT A BAND YOU ALREADY LIKE IS AND HOW GREAT IT IS THAT SOMEBODY ELSE LIKES THAT BAND THAT YOU LIKE AS IF THAT MAKES THE QUALITY OF THE MUSIC ITSELF ANY GREATER... nah, just fucking around. TEEHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (proceeds to make ape noises for five hours straight). Well I'll be a barrel of pickled donkey testicles if nearly every song on this record didn't get totally famous. And it was well-deserved fame. Many bands took the band's musical style to heart and put their own twist on it or improved upon it, but this band will stay in the collective conscience of 14-year-old boys for decades to come. G'BYE, 14-YEAR-OLDS!
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Planet Caravan 2. Iron Man 3. Paranoid
Genre: Folk Rock/Hardcore Punk Label: None Tracks: 7 Length: 27 Minutes Style: Political My Rating: 6/8
It was about 2 years ago when I first discovered Drunken Butterfly via the information super-highway (internet). They are heavily influenced by the girl-punk bands of the '90s like Bikini Kill, the Gits, Sonic Youth, Babes in Toyland, etc., and their lyrics describe their feminist anarchist views. When they first started out they had a more hardcore-oriented sound (at least from what I remember), but now with their first release their sound has matured more and there's a lot more emphasis on acoustic instruments and only a few angry songs. And they're named after one of the best Sonic Youth songs, so that's a plus also (probably what compelled me to listen to the band in the first place, other than it being during a time when anything labeled as "grunge" was instantly cool to me). It's an EP, but it's pretty long, and now it's time to JUMP RIGHT IN (head first this time) to the review. Of Drunken Butterfly. Dude.
1. Blairaq An obvious combination of the words "Blair" (as in Tony Blair) and "Iraq", it's an anti-war song with soft vocals and acoustic guitars and stuff like that. Lots of neat other instruments besides standard guitars and drums -- I checked their page and apparently they're using a cow xylophone, a ukelele, and a melodica... sounds like they just picked up whatever instruments they could find and used them for the band! The band insists how they care about a bunch of things like the welfare of soldiers and dying children. And wearing togas. It has a really beautiful melody to it. Real good song. Also the longest one.
2. April the First One of the rougher cuts on here. There's a real gritty 'lectric guitar sound to this song and they scream and yell instead of singing nicely here. It's an anti-government anthem about wanting freedom and privacy from the government and protesting as a way to maintain freedom. The song encourages listeners to stop being "full of shit" and go out and stop the government from taking over peoples' lives and ruining the world even more.
3. Ballotpaper Blues I really do like that melodica. And the main riff is played on a ukelele. Pretty 'punk' if you ask me. It's about the confusion of not being able to decide who to vote for to take control of the government and the general disinformation plaguing people in just about anywhere as the politicians of the world (most of 'em) always pull smokescreens over their real intents to look good so they can get what they want. This is the one song on the EP that you can download for free.
4. The Vibrator Song A song about wankin' off with a vibrator (if you have a vagina, that iz). Hahahahahahahahahaha. And her mom believes that having a "plastic cock" inside is a sin. One worthy of going to hell, possibly. Golly geez, that sure sounds pretty bad. I just can't help but laugh. That's what the song's about... her parents thinking that it's evil to masturbate with a vibrator. On this one it's mostly a piano and drums. This band plays a lot of different instruments. I don't even need a vibrator. I have a hand. HAH! Wait, I think it's a cover of a song by the band... "the Red Aunts" (I got that from the band's website).
5. Accidental Acoustic guitar and piano and drumz song. Pretty decent, but less interesting than some of the othre songs. Not much I can say that hasn't been said about the other songs. I like how she sings "I tried". Sounds goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood .
6. An Anarchist's Guide to Personal Hygiene My favorite song on the record. Uses distorted electric guitar and it has a real cool riff. The song is a parody of pseudo/fashion anarchists who pretend to be for the cause but don't really do shit about any of it except for talking about it and wearing it like a symbol. I don't really consider myself one because I don't think the world is ready for something like anarchy, but a lot of people talk about revolution and anarchy and shit and sometimes I wonder how much they've actually done to fix the problem themselves. Maybe I'm the dumbass. But yeah, it's a really good up-beat song (the opposite of beat-up) and the melodica tune sounds great as well. Suffice to say I did not learn anything about personal hygiene. So much for THAT.
7. WarpaintA soft song with mostly only ukelele and singing. Sort of a sad feel to it. "You make me want to punch someone". A break-up song, maybe. Over five minutes long, like the first song.
So, that's the first official musical working from Drunken Butterfly and it's neat to hear a band that can play different instruments besides the standard guitar/bass/drum setup and still sound bad-ass. Most of it is very political/feminist oriented, but it doesn't sound generic at all like some bands that base their music around that. Yes, the band is from the U.K., in case you are wondering. The band consists of Darcie (vox/bass), Alice (guitar), Kezia (drums). I think Alice iz pretty. This EP can be purchased online for £3.50, so I'm not entirely sure what that translates to in American money because I'm stupid like that. But if you don't have a credit card, maybe you could write the band a letter or something. Who nose? But even if you have no money at all, you can still listen to the music from the band's website:
http://drunkenbutterfly.bandcamp.com/
See you next time.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. An Anarchist's Guide to Personal Hygiene 2. Blairaq 3. April the First
Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: Hardcore Label: Mind Rot Records Tracks: 8 Length: 8 Minutes (Short) Style:Angry My Rating: 6/8
Nowhere Fast was a British hardcore band that was active from 2008 to until just earlier this year. The band consisted of Ad (guitar), Tank (bass), Tom (vocals), and Joe (drums). During its existence, the band released a 7" EP... that EP is currently out-of-print, so I found you can download all the discography of the band for free, including the demo. Today, I'm gonna talk about their 7" record.
1. Useless A fast song. Rough but distinct vocals. They actually sound pretty cool. There's a solo in this song. This song's about people who think they're "saving the world", but get wasted more than actually doing anything to save it. Great guitar riff.
2. No Escape Even faster than the song before it! The end section iz slow, though.
3. Brainwash Broadcast This one's about how the mainstream media has fed the current generation a sterilized, "safe" agenda, turning the youth of today into pussies while filling their minds with "sex, drugs, and fake rock n' roll" -- it's true, kids my age today suck BALLS.
4. Imposter This one's very fast, and then in the middle, it goes into a slower part before speeding up again. End of Side 1.
5. Get Away Slow intro. Then a fast part. Then another slow part. Then a very fast part at the end. Longest song on the album.
6. Shutdown This song's about the city slowly dying as political and social pressures close in on it, and the displeasure in the idea of a city collapsing due to this. Cool bridge section.
7. Never This one's about never giving in to the system or becoming a "button down slave". Fast, hard. Real cool riff!
8. Hatred Uhh, it's about hatred. And hating people n' stuff. And it's fast. And it has guitars and drums and stuff. The riff is good. It has an amount of distortion. The song ends in a cool slow outro.
This is a pretty traditional hardcore record, but it's quite well-done and the songs are good and the production is too, and stuff. Half the songs are under a minute long! Others are, well... OVER a minute long. The band reports that the members have gone on to be in different bands. What bands are those? Well, one of them is called "Amateur Video", a new band that plays songs that are fast, but not quite as fast as these ones. They have just released a demo, and it's very good! So search that band up, or just wait for me to review 'em... anyways, Nowhere Fast seems like they were pretty good. At least before they went away, they left a good EP to be remembered by... if you like fast, hard punk, then try listening to this.
Genre: Punk Rock Label: EMI Records Tracks: 12 Length: 38 Minutes (Long) Style: Political/Happy/Angry My Rating: 7/8
In the beginning, punk rock was being born in two different places: New York (U.S.A.) and London (England). While the Ramones headed the United States half of punk, England's punks were led by the Sex Pistols. While the Ramones sang simpler, sillier poppy songs, the Sex Pistols sang crude, rude indictments against the British Government. The group only lasted for two and a half years, but had a huge impact on punk-rock for the rest of its history. They were arguably the first punk group to celebrate anarchy, as can be credited to their song "Anarchy in the U.K.".
In the early 1970s, England was in real band shape. Most people were unemployed, and there seemed to be absolutely no hope for the working class. Some people decided to release their anger through music. The band came out of an older rock band called "The Strand", which consisted of Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and Wally Nightingale. The band hung around a rock & roll-oriented clothing store owned by Malcom McLaren called "Sex". Well, a friend of McLaren's had been listening to the Strand rehearsing, and told Malcom McLaren about it. He liked it as well. He wanted to be the band's manager. The band agreed, but they were looking for a new frontman... one with short hair (everyone supposedly had long hair at the time). One day in a pub, there was a green-haired man wearing a ratty shirt held together with safety pins that said "I Hate Pink Floyd" on it. This was the guy they were looking for. He was John Lydon. Well, the band eventually got their act together and in summer of 1975, they played their first show as the Sex Pistols, and played mostly cover songs. However, they soon began playing their own songs, and started building a following up around pubs and colleges. Many of their original followers would eventually get fame in their own right. One of 'em was Sid Vicious, a former member of Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Flowers of Romance. Sid's introduction to the band solidified their lineup as what most people would remember the Sex Pistols for in the end, but it didn't last much longer from then. Sid's addiction to heroin and his relationship with Nancy Spungen resulted in various suicide attempts, as well as inner tensions between the band members which eventually led to the breakup of the band itself in 1978.
"Nevermind the Bollocks" was their only studio LP. The album stirred up a lot of controversy amongst the conservative government at the time, for saying the word "fuck", totally telling the Queen off in one song, encouraging a working-class revolution, and a song about anarchy... people back then were pretty damn stuffy about stuff like that. But still, it definitely earned notoriety, and of course, punks in England and America both loved it. So, with all that said, this is the main document of the Sex Pistols' career (though there are some Sex Pistols songs that existed that weren't on this album). Enjoy.
1. Holidays in the SunBegins with the sound of the group clapping, the rhythm of which is led on by thumping bass drums. Then, the first verse begins. Really cool riff. Slightly relaxed tempo, but certainly not slow. The song is about the social situation among England during the 1970s from an insider's perspective.
2. BodiesStarts with a really cool intro. The main part of the song starts. It's high energy, speedy, and packed with fucking attitude. My favorite song on the record. It's about a girl who gets a secret bloody abortion inside a factory (abortion was illegal in England during that time). I love the part where Johnny Rotten (Lydon) goes "Fuck this, and fuck that..."
3. No FeelingsA song about a narcissistic person who's being pursued by a lover which he has no interest in because "he's in love with himself". Same tempo as the previous song, but a lot happier-sounding.
4. LiarPretty much a song about a liar. More medium-tempo. They say the words "lie" and "liar" a lot in this one.
5. ProblemsThis one seems to be a taunt towards British society, as Johnny views them as slaves to the machine "living for the screen", as he lives life for what he wants to do with it and not to serve the government. At the end, he keeps repeating "problem" even after the song ends, which I thought was a nice touch.
6. God Save the QueenDespite what the title seems to imply, this song is an attack on the Queen of England. It was one of the most controversial songs of its time, getting the album banned in several big-name English record shops of the time. The song's lyrics suggest that with the way the Queen was handling its citizens, especially the working-class, there was "no future" for the English people, and that the Queen "is not what she seems". One of the most popular Sex Pistols songs. End of Side 1.
7. SeventeenA song about the sentiments shared by English youths in the 1970s. The chorus goes "I'm a lazy sod!". Shortest song on the album.
8. Anarchy in the U.K.Ya saw this one coming. This is the group's most famous song that most people think of when they think of the Sex Pistols. The first verse opens with the lines, "I am an antichrist, I am an anarchist!" However, unlike the more 'peaceful' form of anarchy that many punks embrace today, this song describes anarchy as being a way to get what you want when you want and using whatever you want -- basically chaos. The immortal chant of "I WANNA BE ANARCHY" in the chorus line is remembered by all. I first heard this song somewhere long ago before I knew who the Sex Pistols were. But I liked it.
9. SubmissionThis one's a little slower, but it iz good. I love the riff. It's a more fantasy-oriented song about a man going on a submarine mission to find some special things under the ocean for his lover. A funny little "solo" made up of weird squeaking noizes. This song wasn't on every edition of the album -- it was included as a 7" single with the eleven-track version of the record (not sure why they even bothered with that, though).
10. Pretty VacantAnother famous one. I love the drum-intro in the beginning. Even though it's just the basic beat accompanied by nothing else, it just sounds great that way. Not sure what this one is about, to be honest. Hell, all of lyrical interpretations are just guesses.
11. New YorkPretty legit intro. A song about a drug-addicted gay kid from New York.
12. EMIThe last song. It's a song about their decision to leave A&M Records and sign to E.M.I. because they believed that no one owned the band. I could probably say more, but now I am tired for right now. I like how Johnny ends the song with "GOOOODBYE, A & M" in the raspiest, brattiest voice possible.
This album is now considered one of the greatest rock albums of all-time. But at the time of its release, it was hated by just as many people as the amount who loved it. While not the first British punk album (the first one was released by the Damned), it definitely marked the fact that punk rock was genre in its own right. The album is a bit more musical than the Ramones' debut, and the lyrics are a lot more complicated and artistic. After this record was released, the band went on a tour of the United States and then broke up. Johnny Rotten went on to form a post-punk group called "Public Image Ltd.", which enjoyed success to a lesser extent. Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in 1979. The other members became session musicians (musicians who play with a band during recording sessions for a living). I give this album a 7/8. Not because I hate it or because there's anything that really sucks about it, but because it's just not an album a listen to all of the time like some other ones. But it certainly does deserve respect for what it did for punk rock, especially hardcore. That's all I have to say for now.
THE WHORES E.P.
