Album Review: Sundrifter - "An Earlier Time"

It’s probably too much of a cheap cop-out if I just say that Sundrifter’s “An Earlier Time” is everything that worked on their previous full-length “Visitations,” but better, right?  That would be lazy?  Fine, let’s dig in.

Lazy or no, that’s the truth of it.  “Visitations” was a record steeped in stoner rock lore, modified with a space-y theme and packaged and shipped with chunky riffs and wandering vocal cadences and it was every part of beautiful and smoothy accomplished in its goal of creating a space where the listener could close their eyes and be carried away on a cosmic tide of distortion.

Okay, that was a run-on sentence, but that works, because “Visitations” was, for its achievement and greatness, essentially a run-on sentence, loaded to the limit with droning intonations and the meanderings of unquiet but uniquely focused minds.  Which is to say, uniquely focused on the central tonality of the album at hand.

“An Earlier Time” is, by contrast, a less focused effort, and much better for the experience.  As rudimentary as it sounds to suggest, this album improves on what made the last album work by focusing on creating songs, and not necessarily just on pieces of music that allow the brain to disconnect and float away.

Let me rein in here, I’m not making any sense.  Go back to “Death March,” and now compare it to this new album’s “Space Exploration.”  The layman might not be able to discern the difference easily, but notice that the latter song has a more focused vocal performance, and that the song moves through stages while still maintaining the baseline theme of far-out space rock.  There’s a chorus and a verse and a bridge and all the transitions that make for superior songcraft.

That’s really the whole of the experience with “An Earlier Time.”  This is Sundrifter using more tools of the trade to make a brighter, more nimble experience that’s easier to digest in bite-sized pieces while still staying true to the roots of the band’s ideal self.  The development of songwriting on this record heightens everything that it contains, moving Sundrifter from being a novel, catchy experience to being a force within their chosen splinter genre.

Which is not to say that the album completely abandons how we got here.  “Begin Again” might be the best song on the record, and is also the longest.  The positively spritely guitar into eventually gives way to the kind of minimalist droning that so exemplifies Sundrifter through three albums now.  But it never gets lost within itself, never gives away completely to the reckless abandon of repetition.

We should also take a moment to recognize “Want You Home,” an airy space ballad that lives on the border of some of the more esoteric songs by Cream, which is meant as a compliment.  This kind of song has to have all the pieces fit just right to not become hackneyed, and the choral backing and major chord choruses provide the glue for what is as unique a song as any Sundrifter has produced to this point, or can be found in the genre.

“An Earlier Time” is a more mature and focused album by Sundrifter, a band who had already given us glimpses of their potential in years gone by.  There are certainly still some sequences that get a little long in the tooth, but if you weren’t expecting that in this style of music, you may be misguided in the first place.  Despite the name of the album, “An Earlier Time” is a revelatory step in space rock.

Singles Roundup: Bruce Dickinson, Yours Truly, Whom Gods Destroy, Smash Atoms, and Jules & The Howl

This batch of singles is quite the kaleidoscope of different sounds and styles.

Bruce Dickinson - Rain On The Graves

My concerns about a new album twenty years down the line were assuaged by the first single. This second single puts me back on my nerves, as this is perhaps the worst solo song I've ever heard from Bruce. Yes, this is worse than the glam record he made. Yes, this is worse than when he tried to rap. This song's spoken word verses and weak chorus might work as part of the cheesy old horror video they put out, but it doesn't work as a song at all. It makes Bruce sound old and out-of-touch, and has absolutely none of the good things I love his music for. Now I need to get my red pen ready.

Yours Truly - Call My Name

There's no word yet if this is a one-off or a harbinger of more to come, but Yours Truly is once again shifting their tone and exploring new avenues. After the experimental modernity of their last EP, this song slots in-between that sound and their "Self Care" record. They continue to be masters of emo-pop, using elements of pop-punk, but in ways that have emotional depth rather than snarky middle-fingers. Mikaela is her usual commanding presence, and the slightly darker tone indicates growing up means realizing the good times never get so good again. Count me in for a whole record of this.

Whom Gods Destroy - In The Name Of War

The remnants of Sons Of Apollo reform in this guise, and the results are pretty much the same. It's sludgy heavy metal with both groove and technical playing, trying to bridge the gap between modern metal and classic prog metal. I don't know if it can possibly do that, but I like that this song is more straightforward, because that's actually where Sons Of Apollo were at their best. This is no classic, but the heavy tones fit better with Dino Jelusick's voice than they did with Jeff Scott Soto, so if the rest of the record doesn't stray from this formula, it could be a solid entry in a field I'm not always keen on.

Smash Atoms - Down

Our theory of music being cyclical hasn't always hit the mark, but Smash Atoms plays into that. They do nothing on their first single to hide their immense Alice In Chains influence. The same tones and haunting vocals are present here, and it's amazing to me how it still sounds both fresh and unique, despite it being a thirty year old sound. In some ways, you could say this actually sounds more like AIC than what the band morphed into currently does. In any event, while I might not have been into the grunge scene at the time, I'm quite digging this song, and I'm looking forward to a record in this style much more than any of the dozens of 80s flavored albums that will be coming along.

Jules & The Howl - The Howl

Music serves different purposes, depending on our needs. For someone like me, music is a way to purge negative thoughts into a flurry of obscure metaphors that are honest without being understood. For someone like Jules, music is the force that gives her energy, the lifeblood that pumps through her veins. "The Howl" is her new mission statement, a declaration that through her music she has found her voice, and is going to be unabashedly Jules. It takes a remarkable voice to be able to properly howl, and Jules has always been blessed with that gift. Here, she uses the blues groove of the band's power to confidently assert herself as a rocking force, which is a feeling I wish I could feel for myself. Jules knows who she wants to be, and what she wants her music to stand for, which is more than we can say about a lot of artists. Howl at the moon, and just maybe it will echo through the still of the night.

Album Review: The Gems - Phoenix

There was a very brief time when I thought Thundermother were one of the more promising young rock bands out there. They had some good songs, and they had a hell of a vocalist, so the pieces were in place for them to grow and develop into something special. That didn't happen, as the band fractured soon thereafter. The Gems, as you can guess by the album's title, are rising from the ashes of Thundermother. That means we get the same kind of classic hard rock, and more importantly, we get the same outstanding vocals. The Gems got the biggest talent in this divorce, so they're starting out well ahead.

The problem is, of course, that songwriting is the hardest thing to quantify. While this group has all the talent necessary to play and sing a great record, they don't quite have the songs for it. Thundermother didn't always have it either, and it's this quality that seems to have been most affected by the split. The good song ideas are still there, but now they're being split between two bands, and there aren't enough of them for everything to be killer. That's especially true with this record being fifteen songs long, including three 'interludes'. That's taking on more risk of a dud than they need to. The longer you stretch your record, and the more superfluous music you put on it, the better it needs to be.

As I said, the band has all the necessary talent. Mona and Emlee can play this AC/DC-ish rock very well, and Guernica is one of the best young singers out there. I can think of scores of other singers who keep getting put in band after band who don't have the tone and power she possesses. She is the selling point for any album she's on. Unfortunately for the band, this isn't the old days anymore, and that isn't enough.

That time when I thought Thundermother had so much potential was during an album cycle where they worked with a producer who was aiding them in the songwriting department. I don't know if The Gems are doing the same thing, but whatever the process of creating this music is, the results often don't have the melodic edge that would make these songs really hook listeners. Too many of these songs fall into the old bluesy rock stereotype of shouting a chorus where the focus is on the voice, and not only the actual melody, because there isn't much of one. In a way I understand that, since I'm sure those are the style of bands influencing them, but that's not the kind of music that is of this time.

The Gems are an example of how hard it is to be a truly great band. The odds of putting together a band with great players and a phenomenal singer, who happen to also be great songwriters, are pretty low. One of those areas is likely to be lacking, and depending on which one it is, the others may not be able to pick up the slack to carry the group over the threshold.

That's where I feel we're getting a bit stuck. I want to love this record, because the band's tones are wonderful. Guernica is a force I want to be blown away by. The songs don't consistently win me over, and as much as I like the sound itself, it isn't enough to make me want to keep listening to this record again and again. The Gems have a lot of promise, but a bit more melody needs to be injected before I get the itch. This is a solid start, but let's hope it's only that, and bigger things are on the horizon.

VK Lynne's Perfectly Aged "Whiskey Or Water"

Pretty much the only thing I know about whiskey is this; the best stuff gets better with age. The flavors grow deeper and more complex, and those things we appreciate are heightened in ways that can overwhelm our senses. Time is the heat forge that reduces and condenses the liquor into the sort of thing people spend their entire day waiting for, much like how we can turn fruit into the kind of thick syrup you can only have a small taste of, lest you feel your blood turning to sugar.

As a creator, you don't always know what is going to come to define your work. There are times you will pour yourself into a piece that melts away from the audience, and there are times when a piece you didn't think much of will resonate and endure. For VK Lynne, her defining work remains "Whiskey Or Water", which turns fifteen this year. It can be an odd sensation to be so connected to your past, while trying to build your present and future, but we need to remember whoever we are now is a direct result of who we were. These last fifteen years wouldn't have played out as they did if we made different choices, which means "Whiskey Or Water" is a marker laid on the path to this artistic whirlwind.

Time gives us perspective, where we can see how the pieces of the jigsaw fit together, even if we can't take scissors to them to arrange our memories as we want them to. VK sings in the title track, "I never know who I am until I stare into this glass that's in my hand." The image of that inspiration will be etched in our souls, but time allows us the opportunity to take a chisel to the edges and turn that picture into something we can smile at. VK's weary vocals are a testament to the struggle of existential questioning (and perhaps a good reason why people smarter than me take to drinking in the first place), and hearing that somber resignation shows us just how bright things have been able to burn since then.

Like the rainbow kaleidoscope she is, the album stretches to every corner and color of VK's personality. These sorts of albums tell you who someone truly is, revealing the complexity of the human mind. Contrast that with those who mine the same ore time and time again (that would be me), and we begin to see and appreciate the people who have more than one way to love them. As our metaphor reminds us, depth and complexity is the goal.

We open on "Find Me", one of VK's most rousing songs. With jangling guitars and a dynamic swell, I can't hear VK launch into the chorus without the mental image of singing those words on a stage, arms open and ready to invite the world into her show. The irony of that song not being the one I discovered VK through does make me regret the time I could have spent basking in the glow of this pink sunrise. Today's exploration of 'blues metal' is the flip-side to this bit of 'blues pop', and shows us there are infinite shades of blue left to explore.

Elvis told us about his wish for a blue Christmas, but how many artists can slip Christmas onto an album and not have it stick out like a sore thumb? It's a time that can absolutely drag us into the depths, so it's natural to explore those feelings. VK comes to the conclusion that love is the answer, but it comes with the realization that love is a complicated state of mind, and it's one we sometimes need to be taught. Friction can create heat, but it can also fray. Love stitches us back together when we make the choice to embrace those ties.

This record sounds like a crossroads, the proverbial 'end of the beginning and beginning of the end'; that end being one chapter of life, and the beginning being the next. As "Sunday" closes the record with VK saying, "Baby we can do this on a summer Sunday night, when the sun sets over LA", it hinted at the start of something new, something disconnected from the issues of the past. The summer sunset pushed the past beyond the horizon, letting the morning light the next day shine on a new path.

No one could have known what these following fifteen years would bring, but looking back with our perfect hindsight, it feels fitting we are only now returning to VK Lynne as a solo artist. "Whiskey Or Water" was a purging of so much, it was inevitably going to take time for enough life to build up in her to match the depth and meaning contained in these songs.

Is VK whiskey or water? Which am I? These are questions we can ask, but the answer is simple. We are always both, just with the balance titled depending on how strong a drink we need that day. I may not be able to tolerate alcohol, but I'll make an exception for a sip of what VK is pouring.

Album Review: Transit Method - "Othervoid"

Oh, wow.  It’s not very often that you hit play on a record and the first instinct is “this sounds like ‘Permanent Waves.’”  Not to say that Transit Method’s new album “Othervoid” begins with earnest yelling about “SALESMEN!” but the entire affect brings to mind the kind of proto-prog that Rush built a foundation, and indeed a very career upon.

There’s more to it than that, thankfully, or this review would be over already.  What makes “Othervoid” stand out from both the legacy of the bands who have come before and their prog-heavy contemporaries is that they color the edges with enough rock and in particular punk influences to make something so much more than another prog rock record.  

Almost like Jane’s Addiction was re-writing Rush songs (thinking specifically of Eric Avery’s idiomatic stompy-ness on bass,) there’s an edgy accessibility around this record, a baseline of two-four time sensibility that keeps “Othervoid” grounded and prevents it from floating too far into the purely artistic ether.

(A sidebar apropos to nothing – my brother loves Rush but hates Jane’s Addiction because he loathes Perry’s voice.  One of my best friends is the opposite, hating Geddy’s voice.  They have admitted to each other that there is a certain hypocrisy in both arguments.)

Nowhere does all the gibberish we’ve talked about above make itself more apparent than in the single “Psychometry,” which folds together articulate riffs with familiar layered-vocal choruses to make a piece that is both intricate, calculated and eminently easy to listen to.  It doesn’t hurt the band’s case that the guitars are capable of wringing out solos with that soulful, David Gilmour tone that plucks at the heartstrings (both here and particularly in the previous track, “Nightmare Machines.”)

Not done showing their versatility, Transit Method follows this up by laying down a chugging metal thumper with “Another Wasted Life,” and then the swinging, good-time rocker “The Outside.”  The sheer number of permutations this band is capable of are laudable in their own right, and calls back to the history of Rush, who seems to keep coming up over the course of the review and is in many ways an appropriate analog, if not an exact one.  Transit Method is bluesier than their Canadian counterparts, more likely to take journeys towards Thin Lizzy than jazz.  The other important distinction here is that vocalist Matt LoCoco sounds nothing like Geddy Lee; his tone will be familiar to fans of another Canadian singer, Priestess’ Mikey Heppner.  (Worth mentioning, Transit Method is from Austin, Texas.)

Breezing along at a quick and easy seven cuts, Transit Method burns bright at the end with the rollicking “Frostbite,” which rolls together everything we’ve talked about above and combines with a little dash of The Sword’s Austin-metal flavor.  It can’t be said enough – for an album of this type, one of “Othervoid’s” best decisions is to leave piles of fat and gristle on the cutting room floor, leading to seven digestible tracks that make for an album in total fighting shape.  

It’s difficult to encapsulate everything “Othervoid,” and by extension Transit Method, tries to be and maintain any kind of navigational or editorial brevity, which is a complicated way of copping out and saying “take our advice, and just listen to this record already.”  It should be re-stated for clarity – this is not a pure prog record, this is prog-adjacent, and is subsequently much better for it.  The folding of styles and versatility shown here makes for an album that is unique and enjoyable, the best such record in this style since Cave of Swimmers’ “Aurora.”

Album Review: Lucifer - V

Does anyone remember those old 'Magic Eye' things? They were interesting in the way they were able to turn nothing into something, or perhaps something into nothing. Depending on how hard you looked at them, they were either a nifty bit of art, or a wash of colorful noise you couldn't make out. Music can be like this too, where a band writes album after album that sort of blend together into a mass of sound you can't pick out and differentiate. It's all one giant entity, and even when you like it, there's a nagging feeling you're missing the point.

Lucifer is one of those bands for me. I've listened to all four of their previous albums, and I enjoyed most of them a fair amount. I would say I like Lucifer... except that I can't tell you what makes one album different than the next, nor do I ever feel compelled to listen to them between album cycles. They are like that piece of art that hangs on the wall, a background image you don't pay any attention to until the frame is crooked and catches your eye.

That sounds mean, doesn't it? As I tried to say already, I do like Lucifer. I'm always hopeful they're going to finally break out and make that one record I can't forget. Fifth time's the charm?

The band's trademark sound hasn't changed, although it does sound a bit cleaner this time around. The funereal haze persists, but this is more of an Irish wake than a funeral train, if that makes sense to anyone other than me. Even when the band dips into their doom roots, as on "At The Mortuary", there's enough toe-tapping rhythm to give Johanna a melody to hit us with.

Perhaps this new chapter comes with a new confidence, as the band is more adventurous when it comes to their melodic songwriting. Johanna takes more of the lead on this record, letting the riffs serve as her base, rather than have everything working together as they often did before. Some of their fans on the metal end of the spectrum will probably hate me for saying that, but this does feel like a slightly more 'song oriented' record.

Don't mistake that for saying Lucifer has gone soft, or gone 'pop'. What they've achieved is the ability to blend their sound with a melodic sense that could grow their audience beyond the hardcore fans who even know what occult rock is. There's actually a fair comparison to draw between this record and the first Ghost record. They have similar sounds and approaches, but if anything, Lucifer has Ghost beat in the consistency department. In a tight thirty-nine minutes, Lucifer doesn't waver from delivering winner after winner.

I'm not sure I would have thought 2024 would start off with an upbeat Lucifer record, but here we are. Much like how last year brought us the most energetic Katatonia record, and it redefined how I hear that band, Lucifer might be doing the same thing. "V" is their most rock and roll record yet, and it finally sounds like they've realized the need for the soundtrack to dancing on someone's grave. That's what this album is.

Quick Reviews: Green Day & South Of Salem

I don't feel like spending too much time dwelling on these disappointments.

Green Day - Saviors

As I mentioned when I reviewed the first single from this record, I feel like we've given Green Day far more credit than they ever deserved. By returning to the sound of their slick, concept-album phase, they're taking a massive swing that feels backward-looking. The similarities between "One Eyed Bastard" and the older "Holiday" (as well as Pink's "So What?") is a bit of a reminder of that, but it's more the fact the band is trying to capture the frustrations of these times when they are in one of the generations that has fucked it all up.

They sing about how the American dream is killing them, and how the world is crumbling around us. They're right that we are in a dangerous time, and we need to raise our voices to stop ourselves from sliding back into one of the uglier chapters of history. The problem isn't just that Green Day have lost all their credibility over the last twenty years of mediocre releases, it's that you can't make a point with bad songs and expect it to get any traction.

That's the biggest issue here. Green Day has never been politically adept, or very good at explaining what exactly they believe in, but when they were doing it with songs as good as "Holiday" or "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams", it almost didn't matter. The songs were so big they were going to generate a platform for conversation. The songs on this record are stock-in-trade Green Day, with forgettable melodies and no reason to engage beyond the surface level. When you swing big, you can miss big, and Green Day has once again struck out.

South Of Salem - Death Of The Party

One of the records I stumbled upon and quite enjoyed a few years back was South Of Salem's debut, which was a riotously catchy bit of horror-punk. The lyrics were a pun-filled pastiche of horror tropes, but it was all wrapped up in songs that knew just how tongue-in-cheek everything was, so we could have a laugh at the cheesiness of it all. There's a place for music that doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's exactly what South Of Salem did.

That's what makes it a bit odd that much of this follow-up record plays things straighter. The songs have the same catchy sound, but something like "Vultures" doesn't have any of the nod or wink, which makes the darker side of the songs feel less enjoyable. Rather than referencing horror movies of the past, "Static" is literally about what a horror movie looks like on the screen. It's all rather 'meta', and it doesn't pique my interest at all.

This record feels too much like a rock band playing rock songs, and it lacks the spark and fun I got from the debut. The actual quality is pretty much the same, and there are plenty of good melodies, but it doesn't engage me in the same way. I don't know how long a band can keep a gimmick going, or be less than serious, but this shift in tone has me wanting to find out.

Ranking The Transatlantic Albums

With the fall release schedule rather light on interesting albums, I have found myself filling time by going back through my prog phase, seeing if it is indeed my patience that has changed, or if prog itself has evolved. As it turns out, the prog I used to like is still quit enjoyable, so if my patience is wearing thin on longer experiences, part of that is due to the music not being engaging enough to override my sensors.

Of all the prog, I have been most affectionate over the years to Transatlantic, whom I routinely called my favorite prog band. But are they really? That's not an easy question to answer, because as I look at their five albums (the odds of there ever being another one aren't looking great at the moment), it doesn't add up to an overwhelming amount of music I love. That might be true, as is the fact that putting them in order was one of the easier rankings I have done. There was no debate for me on these placements.

1. Bridge Across Forever

My default answer for my favorite prog album, this one is an obvious choice as Transatlantic's best. The two epics work wonders as a cohesive whole, sharing motifs and excellent melodies, all while being dramatic and heavy (for them). They are the band's best epics, and get balanced out by their Beatles fan-fiction suite, which is exactly the sort of breather we need among all of the prog excess. It's a long album that can be broken up in chunks, and solidified the Transatlantic sound, turning them from a project into a band. To this day, I don't think any of the members have ever topped this one.

2. Kaleidoscope

Many fans are colder on this album than I am, but perhaps because it reminds me so much of "Bridge Across Forever", I find it rather charming. Sure, we can hear the band beginning to splinter, but they were still bringing great ideas to the table. "Shine" and "Black As The Sky" are their best short songs, and "Into The Blue" is the best written of their epics. The complaints lodge in the title track, which is half an hour of random ideas shoehorned together, with little effort made to properly segue them and make sense. The good is good enough for me to forgive the bad, and after all, this was my Album Of The Year when it came out.

3. The Whirlwind

This is another case of the good outweighing the bad. The good sections of this record are as good as anything the band ever did, but I've never exactly been a fan of the construction of the record. It is clearly separate tracks with a bit of a theme running through the lyrics, and not one giant song. That's true of almost everything 'epic' Neal Morse has been a part of, but is especially true on this record, as throwing in a song about his father in the middle of a concept record only pulls back the curtain to show these guys aren't putting nearly as much thought into these things as they want us to believe. That aside, It's a great hour-plus of music, which was only made better when we consider something else....

4. SMPT:E

I wasn't in the scene when this came out, so I don't have any nostalgia for how it influenced the next decade of prog. What I can say is that while there is certainly good music to be found here, I can't rate any album too highly that spends eighteen minutes on a cover song. I'm sorry, but when you're as good as these guys are, and as prolific as they are, I don't want to hear someone else's song. Sure, the record is still long enough without taking that into account, but it's there, and it's annoying. I also do legitimately think they did better work afterward, so this isn't merely sour grapes sinking to the bottom.

5. The Absolute Universe

This album. Look, there are some good songs here, but it is clearly their weakest batch, as none of them members had been making albums on their own that I liked for a number of years. The bigger issue, though, is that I still don't know how to talk about this record. Released as two different versions, with different track listings, and different vocals and instrumentation even on some of the shared songs, it's a giant mess that asks you to sit through two and a half hours of music to get the full experience. I'm sorry, but I'm not listening to your album twice, just because you couldn't agree on how to put it together. It was stupid then, it's stupid now, and it turns a disappointing album into a truly horrible one. It's sad the band is going to likely end on this note, because it's perhaps the worst, most prog decision I've ever come across.

Album Review: Metalite - Expedition One

Some bands get saddled with the unfair reality of being tethered to another group. That could be the result of their sound being too similar, their being the only/best bands in their particular field, or because we happened to find them at the same time. That linkage in our minds may not be fair, but trying to untether the knot is more complicated than we may be able to handle. Ok, more complicated than I may be able to handle.

I can't hear Metalite without thinking of Amaranthe. They are two of the 'big three' of what I consider hyper-pop-metal, which already invites comparisons, but it feels like every time I have encountered Metalite, there is an Amaranthe album right around the corner. Couple that with the other member of the group, Temperance, having just put out an album a couple months ago, and in my mind Metalite doesn't have this time all to themselves to shine. But that's just me.

Like Temperance, Metalite this time around is giving us a massive concept album. With sixteen tracks here, this is a lot of music to swallow. The story apparently is a sci-fi tale about looking for a new world to inhabit after ruining this one, but I'm not sure how much of that comes through without a lyric sheet to stare at. I know bands are still caught up in thinking concept albums are somehow more 'important', but so often they shift the focus away from making a compelling record.

This record sees Metalite using less 'happy' sounds in their synth work, so this experience feels less candy-coated than some of their previous work. The story probably necessitates that shift, and I'm sure there is segment of the audience that will welcome even the slightest move in that direction. The combination of chugging metal and almost dance-like synths is a foundational element of the Metalite sound, but perhaps they are finding a more palatable balance between the components here.

The biggest problem the record has is obvious; length. It's hard for anyone to make a record with sixteen songs where they all stand out as essential tracks. With that many ideas to digest at one time, there needs to be ample diversity to pull the threads apart. Metalite doesn't go far enough down that road. Too many of these tracks hit at the same tone and tempo, so an entire hour is enough to start blending together even when the songs are good.

That's the thing about being energetic; you can only keep it up so long. I simply can't pump my fist non-stop for a whole hour without flagging. This is especially true with a concept album. The band is supposedly telling a story, and a plot is not full speed ahead from start to finish. It ebbs and flows as the events unfold, and it doesn't feel like this record does that. This plows ahead, one song after another, relentlessly hitting us with songs trying to be more and more.

Look, maybe that approach works better with the die-hard metal fan-base. I can't speak for them. I can only give my own experience with the record, which is that I found myself getting a bit restless as the songs delivered the same experience time and time again. The first song was great, and it's not as it the rest are bad, but the law of diminishing returns is a very real thing. That's a big reason why it seems like practically every band that doesn't change their sound is accused of getting stale, even if the quality never dips.

And that brings us to our conclusions about this record. This is a good record, and Metalite continues to prove they are a good band. The problem is that they're giving us (or me, at least) too much of a good thing. The record's consistency works against it, as it feels like I can tune out for a few minutes here and there without missing anything. It's as much one hour-long experience as it is a collection of songs, so if I'm not in the mood to focus on the same thing for that long, it's a difficult record to really get into.

Maybe if I found the story interesting this would be different, but Metalite is firmly in that camp of bands I respect, but just can't get over the hump with.

Album Review: Neal Morse - The Restoration: Joseph Pt II

Before the intermission, Neal Morse was busy revealing the first album of this two-act set. If you remember, I was less than impressed by said album, and probably wouldn't be listening to this one at all if I didn't receive my copy of it during the holiday doldrums when there is little other new music to consume. As I have said several times in recent years, Neal and I have drifted quite far apart. The last time I truly loved a record he was involved in was probably the two records he was a part of in 2014. Yes, it's been that long since I haven't been frustrated in some respect by his output.

This two album set is something I truly don't understand. For one thing, it sits in an uncomfortable place in Neal's catalog. There are moments where he is obviously channeling his prog side, but the majority of the album is his horribly bland idea of what constitutes rocking. Even for musical theater, this stuff is fairly lame. For another thing, as I mused about last time, I don't know what the point of re-telling the story of Joseph in musical form is. There's no one other than Neal's most die-hard fans who are ever going to choose to listen to this instead of the world-famous Broadway production of "Jospeph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". This is a reboot of something that is still popular, which means it's unnecessary on every level.

I'm a fair person, and all of those concerns can get put aside if the songs are good enough. I can nit-pick issues with the Neal Morse albums I do love, but those things aren't important when the overall product is satisfying. These recent rock operas Neal has been inspired to write may mean a lot to him, but that doesn't come through on record. The stories are just re-tellings of The Bible, which is about as unoriginal as a story can get, and the music leans hard into dad-rock territory. There's nothing here that captures even a fraction of the territory "Sola Scriptura" was able to, despite being a double record with over two hours to find a few decent songs. I'll take Neal's questionable quotating about the Catholic church being a whore over the blandness of this every time.

It certainly doesn't help that with this being a concept album and a rock opera full of characters, I wasn't given lyrics or a rundown of who is supposed to be playing what part, so pretty much the entirety of the story is lost on this non-religious critic. I know that's on the label and not Neal, most likely, but it's not the first time an album with a story has asked me to transcribe the whole of the lyrics to figure out what the heck they're talking about. Nope. Not gonna happen.

Also not helping are some of Neal's production choices, like his penchant for throwing far too much echo and reverb on pretty much every vocal. On "All Hail", I think it's Eric Gilette who is singing, and his voice is buried in the mix with so many effects I can barely make out a single word he's singing. I was going to make a comparison, but I think it would be sacrilegious. "The Argument" takes a different approach, with a trademark overlapping vocal approach that obscured what each character is saying under the vocals of another. If you can't make out the f'n point, you're wasting my time, and that's my greatest pet peeve at the moment.

Let me ask a question. Why is there a 'reprise' of the overture less than halfway through this record? Are things running so hot we need a minute to cool out heels so we don't rock too hard, or has this been dragging on so long Neal knows we can't remember the main theme anymore? I know which way I'm leaning.

The question I really want to ask is why so many people who claim to be directly inspired by God wind up doing and making such lousy things. If God can do anything, why can't he find some better music to be represented by?

So yes, all of that is to say that this is yet another Neal Morse evangelical effort that has utterly failed to convert me to the cause. It was always a tall order, but I had been listening to his good records not long ago, and part of me was hoping we could go back to then. Nope. The only way that spending these two hours with Joseph sounds good is in comparison to spending the full four hours it takes to get through Neal's re-telling of "A Pilgrim's Progress".

I'm probably never doing either of them again.

Album Reivew: The Grandmaster - Black Sun

I often joke that hope is a 'four-letter word', which is the cynic in me trying to protect myself from saying something too sad, but like all jokes, there is also some truth in in. When it comes to the music scene, I have learned having hope in a new band is a fairly stupid thing to do, since this is no longer a world where you can trust in any sort of continuity. As hard as it is for people to make a living as musicians these days, the constant state of flux means every album from every band can almost be treated as its own universe.

The Grandmaster was the grand return of Edguy guitarist Jens Ludwig after that band basically got put to bed, and it grew into the one of these project records from Frontiers I've become most fond of. It's a wonderful bit of melodic metal, featuring great vocals, solid hooks, and Jens' trademark soloing. I very much would have been looking forward to a follow-up, but as seems to be the case with all of these groups, things got complicated.

For whatever reason, there was a change in vocalists, and it has completely killed this group for me. Nando was a roaring voice that had grit and melody, and anchored the songs perfectly. His replacement is Peer Johansson, whose voice does absolutely nothing for me. Listening to him on the opening title track is enough to make me band my head onto my desk. His higher-pitched tone is grating, his 'grit' sounds pretty bad, but it's when he reaches for all his power that his vibrato has the effect of sounding like an out of tune warble. It is deeply unpleasant.

"Watching The End" sounds very much like Edguy's "Do Me Like A Caveman", but it doesn't have the same charisma Tobi was able to give Edguy. Look, vocalists are damn important, and whether it's fair or not, the change here is too dramatic for me to ignore. It comes down to taste, but going from one of the better metal singers in the world to someone whose voice rubs against my grain is something no amount of songwriting prowess can overcome.

That brings us to the other issue here, which is that these songs are not as consistently melodic and memorable as the debut record offered up. I don't know if that is because the writing process had more of Jens' involvement and less of Alessandro Del Vecchio's, but there's something about this record which feels like it's trying to be more metal and less melodic. That might be what they wanted, but I don't think it makes for a better product, especially as trying to sound heavier brings Peer into the more aggravating range of his voice.

I find that a shame, because there are good songs here. "Learn To Forgive" and "Something More" are able to have big choruses while being heavier than anything off the first record. If they could have maintained that level of writing, there was potential here for something really good. Or at least something really good if Peer is your kind of singer.

My main takeaway is that your opinion of this record will vary greatly from mine based on whether or not you enjoy Peer's voice and style of singing. If you do, I can hear this record being a satisfying slab of melodic metal. If you're like me, however, the whole record exists under the pall of expectations, where I can't help but think the whole way through about how much more I would like it if Nando was still the one singing.

That means I'm not sure whether to call the record itself a disappointment, or the situation surrounding it, but either way I'm left wanting something a bit more than this. The Grandmaster's return is a risky gambit, and for me it didn't pay off.

2024; Album Anniversaries Part Deux

 Okay, Chris did this and then it inspired me to do the same.  Because a good idea is a good idea.

Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures (15th)

It’s hard to explain now how much hype surrounded this album; perhaps the most anticipated supergroup of my lifetime.  And yet, not too long after it was released, the album slid quietly into the ether, to the point where it’s almost an afterthought now.  What a strange cycle it was, some of that likely owing to the fact that the album was a critical darling, but was not exactly packed with accessible toe-tappers.  Either way, this one stands out for how large it was in the moment.  My wife still picks it for just about every road trip we go on together, so that’s got to count for something.

Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue (15th)

In the grand pantheon of great Alice in Chains moments, this represents both the last one, and the one that also will get swept under by the enormity of the band’s more recognizable catalogue.  The record is still as raw and emotional as it was then – the rare album about pain that’s hard to apply to a listener’s own plight, because the pain it speaks of is so obviously centered around the band.  This record served two purposes, one intentional and one maybe not – the final farewell to Layne Staley, and the true final statement of the entire grunge movement.

Clutch - Blast Tyrant (20th)

This was my favorite album for a long time, and remains the greatest achievement of Clutch’s storied career.  As another writer one opined – only Clutch could make a non-political political song, and Blast Tyrant, released in the fervor surrounding the invasion of Iraq the year prior, is in that same vein.  This is the gold standard for Clutch.

Dr. Dre – 2001 (25th)

I still can’t hear someone say “hold up” without thinking of the way it is said on this album’s most famous single.  Man, this album is a case study in rap history – a true genre luminary releases an instant classic, launches the career of another genre hero, and is simultaneously hugely impactful on rap for both all the right and all the wrong reasons.  There are, I’m sure, several aspects of this album worthy of examination by way of a doctoral thesis (no pun intended.)

Soundgarden – SuperUnknown (30th)

An all-time classic.  One of the last globally radio-popular albums that I truly loved.  It both perfectly encapsulated everything grunge was, and concurrently showed what it could be.  Not much more to say.

Offspring – Smash (30th)

Chris and I have differing opinions about how well this album has aged, and while I agree with him that the music sounds very much of its era, I think the message of the album withstands the test of time.  Now, is some of that because it speaks in broad, widely applicable generalities?  Sure, I’ll cede that point.  But that doesn’t make them any less poignant, and perhaps even more important in the image-driven, social-media era.  Except for that song about how angry Los Angeles traffic can make you.  That’s neither here nor there.

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (35th)

In thinking about this record, I was mentally stuck on the number 35 – that can’t be right, this album didn’t come out before I was born…then I remembered that I turned 40 this past summer.  Crap.  Anyway, the older this album gets, the more ahead of its time it seems, even if the production doesn’t quite stand up to the more modern industrial advances.  Either way, to have this album transcend during the sunrise of the grunge era, and also launch a genre more or less all on its own, is a unique and profound accomplishment.

Metallica - Ride the Lightning (40th)

Still, to my mind, Metallica’s best album.  And yes, I recognize that there’s some gray area here because large portions of it were written by Dave Mustaine.  Whatever.  That doesn’t make it any less outstanding.

AC/DC - Highway to Hell (45th)

This isn’t AC/DC’s best album.  Depending on how I feel about “The Razor’s Edge” on a given day, it might not even be the band’s second best album.  But it does have the best single they ever wrote (“If You Want Blood,”) and there’s just something about it.  For all the quality of the two records that had become before, this was the first real statement by a band who would be my favorite band all through my teenage years.

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II (55th)

As my memory serves, the first album in my collection as I came of age that I could really just hit ‘play’ and let it ride.  Although I should mention that I openly loathe “Whole Lotta Love.”  Even with that though, the solo at the end is cool, and then everything from that point forward is Led Zeppelin, and indeed all of classic rock, at its finest.

Singles Roundup: Guns N Roses, Sebastian Bach, & Green Day

The first roundup of the year has some head-scratchers.

Guns N Roses – The General

You know how sometimes we complain about bands becoming nostalgia acts who just go out and play the same dozen songs until the end of time? Yeah, this is why that's not always such a bad thing. This version of Guns N Roses has been together for quite a while now, and they have absolutely nothing of worth to show for it. The only 'new' music they've made are a few updated versions of old demos that have been circulating among collectors for years, and let's be kind and say they aren't quite "Appetite For Destruction".

Let's now not be so kind and say that Guns N Roses is putting out music now that's even worse than "Chinese Democracy", for all of you who ridicule that album to this day. There's a reason why songs like this one didn't make that record, and Slash's presence can't do enough to make it interesting. The song is a slow drag with absolutely no energy, no melody, and vocals that show Axl didn't make good use of his decades in the studio. I'm not sure what the point of the track is supposed to be, or why it doesn't sound better, given how long it's been worked on.

Say what you want about Chinese Democracy, but it at least sounded like an album you could tell Axl wanted to make. I don't think even he gives a damn about this song. That's how it comes across to me.Sebastian Bach – What Do I Got To Lose?

To this day, Baz keeps calling for Skid Row to get back together, despite the other guys repeatedly telling him how much happier they are not to have him in their lives. I wonder how much of that is due to Baz not liking to make music anymore, since it's been a long time since he last put out a record. This song signals another attempt on his part, and it's rather interesting, in a way. Baz is working with people who know what they're doing, so the song itself is a nice blend of modern heaviness and old-fashioned hooks. Calling this an updating take on the "Slave To The Grind" sound wouldn't be far off-base.

What's also notable, since Baz keeps thinking his old band shouldn't be without his glorious voice... is that he doesn't sound so glorious anymore. He's fine through the verse, and the screams he started doing as he got older, but the chorus is rough. His higher register sounds like a lot of work and effort to hit, and the strain in his voice makes it more unpleasant to listen to than it should be. Baz won't like me saying this, but he's the weak link on this song. Would it be any different if he went back to Skid Row?

Green Day - One Eyed Bastard

This upcoming Green Day album is shaping up to be one weird experience. This time around, they give us another short burst that makes me scratch my head. The heavier chords are welcome, but the melody sounds quite similar to their own "Holiday". There's a sense of deja-vu in the chorus I can't quite shake either. And then there's a bridge where they literally use "ba da bing, ba da boom" as lyrics. Excuse me? I joked when "Look Ma, No Brains" came out that it was an odd rallying cry for an album, and that is carrying through. It continues to look to me like Green Day doesn't know how to pull themselves back from the cliff. How far down do we have left to go?

Album Review: Dymytry - "Five Angry Men"

It’s easy to want to like Dymytry.  There’s so much about the band that just feels right.  The presentation is sharp, the visuals are striking and evocative, the production on both of their albums has been top-notch, and the band’s burgeoning following in Europe should check all the boxes for a band that’s easy to fall for.  Especially on the heels of their debut “Revolt,” which didn’t break any molds, but promised that with a little maturity, greatness should inevitably manifest.

There’s something missing from their new album “Five Angry Men” though.  It’s damn hard to determine what that is, but there’s a spark that should ignite the flame of a passionate fandom that’s sorely lacking here.

To say that “Five Angry Men” is too calculating is wrong-headed, because no band should be criticized for having a thorough creative process.  And the album certainly doesn’t lack for authenticity, the band performs these songs as though they enjoy and are committed to them.  So it doesn’t sound fake, or anything truly incriminating like that.  Maybe the word for this record is ‘antiseptic.’  It’s just a little too clean, a little too predictable, a little too lyrically and thematically simplistic.  Having never heard the songs before, many of the lyrical rhymes and melodic permutations can be safely guessed by the listener.

That in and of itself isn’t necessarily a fault – we’ve spent pages here discussing that you can be a great artist by being transcendent at the familiar.  Still, “Five Angry Men” teeters too close to a sanitized, radio-clean Five Finger Death Punch for comfort.  (And it pains to mention but must be included – the chorus of “Wake Me Up (Before I Die,)” gets real Nickelback-y.)

Running down the tracklist of “Five Angry Men,” there is a temptation to brand several of the songs as store-brand versions of something else, but that’s not quite a fair criticism either, as there’s a whole stretch in the middle that resonates in a way the rest of the record doesn’t.

“Legends Never Die” is melodramatic in the extreme, and as much as that kind of affect often turns sour directly out of the carton, it works here.  The rubbery guitar tone helps separate the bridge from the giant, orchestral chorus and makes for an enjoyable quasi-industrial ballad, if such a thing can exist.  The record then careens into “Three Steps to Hell,” and the vaulted ceilings of “In Death We Trust,” both of which are the best examples of Dymytry flexing the muscles they use most.  Sure, there’s still a template of verse-big chorus-verse that’s hard to ignore, but this run in the middle of the record is where “Five Angry Men” gives glimpses of the kind of rock-industrial fusion that Dymytry is capable of.

Yet all that sounds like damning with faint praise, and maybe it is.  We talked at the end of last year about how Lord of the Lost, with their album “Blood and Glitter” finally put all the pieces together and made one great, cohesive effort.  Which is to say that Dymytry sits squarely where LotL was three years ago – they keep providing enough tantalizing morsels to hope for the future, but “Five Angry Men” isn’t a coming-out party.

2024; Album Anniversaries

Each time we turn the calendar over to a new page, we are faced with the reality of a new future, but also the coincidence of a new set of past events circling back around. The upcoming year is one with many album anniversaries worth taking note of, because sometimes the past tells us a lot about how evolution has been occurring, and also where it has gone wrong.

Whether all of these albums get a full essay exploring their music, their impact, and my connection to them, is up in the air. What isn't is that they are albums I am taking note of as the year begins, because my orbit is passing over where these records were discovered, and measuring that distance tells me something, even if I don't know what it is.

Bloodbound - Tabula Rasa (15th)

This album was a revelation when I first heard it. Unlike anything else power metal had offered up, this was a record I thought would be a point of genesis. The fusion of huge melodic hooks with instrumentation that borrowed from Soilwork's brand of death metal, there are ways in which this record set the stage for an entire branch of power metal. There are also ways in which this record set me up for disappointment, and may have even taught me that my interpretation of a good idea is far removed from what the wider world seems to think is worthwhile.

Killswitch Engage - The End Of Heartache (20th)

I never got far into the metalcore world, but even as an outsider it was clear how this record defined that entire genre. While a lot of who we are in our youth becomes cringe-worthy as we age, this record is one aspect of being a certain age at a certain time that only seems to echo deeper with time. We can argue whether the band ever did better than this (And in fact their self-titled album from 2009 is also celebrating an anniversary this year), but I don't think there's any debate the impact this album had on the metal world. It even marked me, which is an achievement.

Green Day - American Idiot (20th)

Much will be made of "Dookie" being a decade older than this, but I don't find discourse over that album very interesting. "American Idiot", however, remains fascinating. It is a record that never should have been made, never should have worked, and yet became the defining record of a generation. It also sits as perhaps the last real 'political' record to break through to the masses. Despite the world still being in turmoil, there was never another record that could do what this one did. That's worth thinking about.

Jimmy Eat World - Futures (20th)

My favorite album of all time will have been out for just about half of my life, and its influence on me has only continued to grow. What I take from this album is that emo can only mine so deep before it hits a raw nerve. The genre rarely ventured so far into the dark and the shadows, and for good reason. It takes expert hands to keep from falling off the ledge, and it's the tongue-in-cheek cynicism of most of the genre that waters down the impact so we can dose ourselves more heavily. "Futures" didn't pull its punches, and it needed to be a one-off for everyone's sake.

Morrissey - You Are The Quarry (20th)

The world would have been better off if Morrissey never saw a revival of his career. I'm not sure if I would have been. Perhaps I will figure that out in writing.

Tonic - Sugar (25th)

It was this record, and not "Lemon Parade", that cemented Tonic's greatness to me. I remember getting my first burned copy of the record, and being taken aback by something my nascent ears were not expecting. If not for this, I wouldn't have gone back and found the greatness in "Lemon Parade", nor would I have had my favorite band for all these years. That's certainly worth taking note of.

Weezer - Blue (30th)

Did this record create the idea of nerd rock? I don't know, but I know it was an early inflection point where I realized how desperately uncool I was. I was not part of the group scoffing at Weezer, nor the group who clung to them as heroes. I was somewhere lost, and it was only later I figured out how much Rivers and I had in common. It would be even later how much I hated myself for that fact.

Blues Traveler - Four (30th)

It amuses me how there are still plenty of people who, all these years later, don't realize what it says about them if "Hook" and "Run Around" are the only Blues Traveler songs they know or like. It also amuses me that the band would, later on, forget their own lesson and become cynical in an entirely different way. That doesn't diminish the impact this record had on me, or how John Popper's harmonica is still utterly unique to anything else I've ever heard. This nostalgia trip will likely need to be taken.

"The Different" Side Of VK Lynne

When you turn over the page, and you're trying to figure out which word to let the fresh ink of a Gothic drop-cap highlight as you start a new chapter, where do you start? That is the question VK Lynne is asking, as her solo career is emerging from the chrysalis, and her wings are ready to glisten in the sun. It is a different time than when she released the "Brain Waves" single, let alone when "Whiskey Or Water" came out. She is a different person, with a band's worth of experience to open new paths of creative wonder.

To anchor all of these whirling ideas, VK has tethered her mischief to her roots as a musician. The first taste of what "The Spider Queen" will be serving us is a cover, yes, but it cuts to the heart of who VK is. This song from Melisa Etheridge exists in the same fusion of blues and rock VK is steeped in, and there is psychology in the lyrics that reinforces thoughts I already had, and that perhaps remind us certain things are best said through the distance someone else's words allow.

"I'm free as a fire, and change is in the air," the song tells us. That is very much true, and there is subtext in those words I'm not qualified to read into, yet I can't help but think about. Being on your own can be liberating, but it can also be terrifying. Every choice has a world of possibilities, and every choice lands as your responsibility. In a band situation, the push and pull of personalities is a compromise that creates an identity that isn't quite any member, even if it is every member. On your own, you are laying yourself bare to the audience.

This song is a perfect fit for VK. When it was announced, I listened to the original version (Sadly, despite adoring "Come To My Window" and the other crossover hits she had, my knowledge of Melissa Etheridge's music never advanced past there), and I could immediately hear tones that echoed VK's voice. I don't know if I would say that about the other songs I know, but this one is natural, and perhaps has always been an Easter egg waiting for the moment it was necessary to sing.

VK's 'blues metal' vision imbues the song with a massive wall of guitars once things crank up, saturated to the point of the distortion feeling like walking out into the humidity on a hot summer day. There is weight in the simple chords, and that saturation is a white noise for VK's voice to cut through. She is piercing, howling a cry of both pain and excitement. For one chapter to start, another must end, and our feelings can be too complicated to be captured by anything other than sound. When you hear her voice, you might understand.

"You live and you learn, and you learn to hold on/And time will make it heal, and time will make it gone," we are told. Isn't that the truth. Whether those things become scars, or the synapses grow too far apart for the memories to still fire, the past loses its power when we build a new future. The memory palace is merely the adornment inside a snow globe we can let settle into an eerie calm.

New chapters and new beginnings allow us to redefine ourselves. Some of us aren't talented enough to paint a different expression on our faces, forever trapped in the confines of a narrow box. VK Lynne metamorphoses to escape those shackles, imbuing the power of fresh ideas. Blues metal is her latest, and from the sound of this song, it's about amplifying the power of emotions so they can break through even the toughest of exteriors. It seems to have cracked mine already.

"Don't you want to know what the dark and the wild and the different know?" the song asks. Yes, yes I do. Our spider queen is spinning a web like Charlotte, and in the center, I can read the message; Welcome.

"The Different" releases January 15th. Pre-save the song here!