Because the cost of gas is so high and many of us are working to reduce out carbon footprint (what did you do to celebrate Earth Day?) I’ve decided to offer a reduced number of reviews for this edition.
Ellee Ven
“You Can Buy Me”
www.elleeven.com
Style (Electronica / Pop / Dance)
This CD arrived in a full and very professionally packaged press kit, but like the old saying, “never judge a book by its cover.” And making a play on words off the CD title, there’s no chance I would have bought this even if I could. Heck, I’d hold a fire sale to get rid of it if I could. A guilty pleasure of mine is electronica music, but this has me thinking it’s time to call my shrink for a check-up. Listening to the CD I have only one question: isn’t music with the concept and categorization of dance, filled to the brim with Casio keyboard sampling, supposed to make you want to dance? Maybe I’m not hanging out at club LAX enough checking out what the kiddies are wigglin’ too. Hell, maybe the new dance band craze is to have the one-person band standing on stage with preprogrammed sampling on the Casio pumping out the beats while singing. And if the music isn’t boring enough then there’s the crappiest CD cover image of a person I’ve ever seen (music or portraiture). An image, I kid you not, taken in front of green garden foliage, with leaves larger than an offensive lineman’s hands, that‘s so blurry I’m assuming it’s supposed to give the impression this music is going to get the body dancing. Who are you fooling with this crap? Tell ya what, it’s got me dancing alright. I’m two-steppin’ all the way to the bus stop hoping the bus for Bakersfield comes along soon, because I’d rather be on a Greyhound with no AC and no bathroom bound for Bakersfield than listen to this.
Rating 0 (sure hope my shrink can fit me in today)
Down From Hollow
“Scar Conditioned”
www.myspace.com/downfromhollow
Style (Rock / Metal)
Strong crunchy guitars, solid drums, and a low, deep guttural vocal growl are how this CD starts out. If I had to ballpark the first couple songs I’d put it somewhere between Alice in Chains, STP, and Godsmack. However, like those bands, and many others, there are 4-5 songs that rock with good energy, and 4-5 that are filler. Nothing in my opinion kills the mood of a CD that starts off with three rockin’ tunes more than slamming on the breaks for a couple of heartfelt, get- me-a-tissue emotional songs then traveling down the wrong fork in the road wandering out into a musical wasteland. Hey, I’m all for heartfelt emotional songs if they’re well written, and I hope Down From Hollow gets radio play and makes a truckload of coin. However, mixing energy with filler derails the song consistency, concept, and core sound. Ten song CD’s rarely contain ten solid, well written, well arranged songs that keep the listener’s attention through the whole CD. And for this reason alone iTunes thrives. And this CD fits exactly into this category. I totally dig the rawness of songs 1-3 and 7, but the remainder are soft filler I can do without. My kudos, however, to Joe Quinto photography for an excellent three shot band picture in the stairwell.
Rating 2 (because four songs out of ten is 40%, which equals 2 out of 5)
Rid of Waste
“Elements of Becoming”
www.myspace.com/ridofwaste
Style (metal / hardcore)
I’ve given this CD a couple spins, and though it’s a heavy CD with some nice rhythms and hooks, it’s not something that sticks in my head. The songs are hard and heavy with coherent vocals and I think live the intensity will fuel the mosh pit and the surrounding head banging, but longevity of this CD I’m not feeling. Truthfully there’s not much more I can say about this CD, and that alone, given my normal descriptions in previous articles, should let my readers know how I really feel.
Rating 2
Biomechanical
“Cannibalised”
www.myspace.com/biomechanical
Style (Metal / Thrash)
Holy s**t this stuff is fast and brutal!! I feel like I got behind the wheel of the “Back to the Future” DeLorean, turned the key, and I got catapulted into super duper quadruple hyper drive. Talk about warp factor 9! Listening to this CD it’s like I’m sitting in the Tea Cups in Disneyland spinning around with such velocity that stopping is going to make me sick and give me a concussion and if I keep going I’m going to get sick and get a concussion - an absolute no win situation. This music is so psychotically fast that each and every mosh pit needs to have a warning label and everyone needs to sign a liability release before entering. I like the speed, although I am getting dizzy writing and listening at the same time, but I’m really digging the vocals not being of the howler monkey style. Instead the singer belts out some killer screams and growls adding spectacularly to the mix. How on earth these guys are able to play at this speed on a regular basis I have no clue but it’s awesome to know there’s some good thrash metal out there.
Rating 3 ½
St.Madness
“Vampires in the Church”
www.stmadness.com
Style (metal / gothic)
In 2008 is there really a need for bands wearing the KISS / King Diamond gimmick make-up projecting an ideological image Elvira could use to sell beer in October? I honestly didn’t think so and I recall Mudvayne took a lot of heat recently for wearing the masks, but given this is the 6th CD from St.Madness apparently the answer is yes. Musically the songs reverberate with heavy grooves, strong drums, and a vocal range from low intense guttural to mid - high singing. Included amongst the CD’s 15 songs is a tribute remake of Pantera’s “Walk” that’s done quite nicely - R.I.P. Dimebag. As a whole CD package the band presents a spiritually alternative ideology, although I’ll need to pull out my Webster’s Wicken / Transylvania / Cryptic Dictionary to find out what the hell the “667” reference stands for, but reading through the lyrics I find nothing too warped or twisted or far removed from other metal bands’ lyrics to pull me away from the music. I especially get a kick out of the song “Head.”
Rating 3
