Sunday 8 November 2009

POST HALLOWEEN RECOUPERATION


Hi everyone, sorry for the heinous lack of updates for the last month, but hey ho, on with the show.

A bunch of really good music has been released recently, so I'll give a little run down of the releases and which ones tickled my fancy, in no particular order of course.

Maths - Descent



Ive been a fan of Maths since hearing their side of the fantastic split with Throats and was impressed with their ability to create extreme music which was raw with emotion and melody while still maintaining to feel very visceral and challenging.

Descent took what I liked about their earlier work and expanded it out to mammoth proportions. The melodic sections soar higher than you can anticipate, and the frentic sections have become even more chaotic. As a fan of real screamo, think Orchid, Pg.99 and Ampere, this is an incredibly satisfying album, it ticks all the boxes. Many times I have come to the end of the album only to start it again from the beginning. I have literally had it on repeat for days without it growing old.

I really cannot recommend this album anymore for fans of emotive and intelligent music.

You can stream the whole thing from the Holy Roar Records site HERE


Between The Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect



I never liked any of BTBAM's stuff before Colors, I found it all to be fairly standard and tiresome metalcore, with occasional flashes of interest, like the track Selkies from their album Alaska. I also found their covers album The Anatomy Of to be completely pointless. However, Colors is one of my favourite metal albums of all time. No exaggeration, I think it is one of the greatest metal records ever created. Colors has everything that I wanted out of modern metal; brutality, melody, progression and, most importantly, creativity. I was hooked on first listen, and haven't been able to put it down since buying it in 07.

With all of that in mind, my expectations were actually not that high for The Great Misdirect. My thoughts were along the lines of "might've been a luck", "Colors will be impossible to top" "It will be dissapointing, so don't get your hopes up", but on second listen of the album I knew it was gold, pure gold.

The Great Misdirect is like Colors drawn out further a field. The eclectic influences in Colors have been expanded upon, and fairly frequently worked into the tracks seamlessly, without the eclectisism being confined to a specific section. This enables the album to take a very long route, taking the listener through many different soundscapes and musical "feels", all while still being distinctively Between The Buried and Me. One thing that especially stood out to me, on this record, is that the direction they have taken with their sound is one of original style Prog. Rock and Prog. Which is exactly what I hoped would happen. So in that respect, their influences might be even more apparent on this album, even though they are worked in more seamlessly.

And now, for the million dollar question.... Is it better than Colors? Yes and no. Some of the sections of The Great Misdirect are the most glorious parts the band have ever written, while other parts seem to drag a little. Overall, The Great Misdirect doesn't have the same build up that Colors has. It doesn't really have a huge cresciendo. It also doesn't feel as unified themeatically as Colors is. But nonetheless The Great Misdirect is an incredible album, which has all the aspects contained that made me fall in love with Between The Buried And Me to begin with. It is another inspiring and brilliant release from a band which will only go on to do great things.


King Cannibal - Let The Night Roar



This is probably the most brutal non metal record I've ever heard. It is dancehall / dubstep for metal heads, with no guitars.

The only way I can really describe what's going on, on this album, is the sound of cracked out Africans shooting shit with AK-47s, at night, covered in blood and crack.

That's all that can really be said about it. Oh, and it's good.


Every Time I Die - New Junk Aesthetic



ETID are a really good band who have done some really fantastic records, specifically and Hot Damn! and the ultimate hardcore/pop crossover album ever Gutter Phenomenon. For a long time each new ETID album bought more surprises and gave a slight variation upon the band's sound, all without revolutionising too much, but with the release of Big Dirty it was apparent that the band had found a formular, that they and most their fans are more than happy with. This is also the case with New Junk Aesthetic. The album sounds like Big Dirty and is just as good, if not better. New Junk Aesthetic is a great album, but breaks no new ground. If you like ETID then you'll like their latest release.


Converge - Axe to Fall



I fucking love Converge. Their is no way around it, they are the greatest modern hardcore band. With each new release they have out done themselves, releases record after record of innovative and creative hardcore, that constantly keeps you guessing and on your toes. Just how music should fucking be.

So we all knew Axe to Fall would be special, just simply because every Converge album is special. And the leaked tracks were mind blowing. Both Dark Horse and Axe to Fall had me proverbially shitting my pants and mashing my keyboard for more songs. The two leaked tracks hinted at an album with more of a metal influence, and an album that would be more experimental than previous releases. And thats exactly what the album is.

Axe to Fall seems to be Converge's experimental collaborative album. They have played with different genres and different sounds which leaves us with a very diverse album, that in some places seems alittle ununified. Although each track remains to be a gem. Although I feel that it is Ben Koller's drumming creativity which really projects the songs into the next level. I feel that many of these songs would not be as jaw dropping if someone else had drummed on them. So thank fuck he did!

Although it is not my favourite Converge album, it is an incredibly good album, which is both challenging and satisfying, as both a Converge fan and creative music fan.


Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. 2



Being the big Wu-Tang fan that I am, I couldn't bloody wait for this album to come out. It had been in the works for years and had a lot of hype built up around it by Raekwon himself, which can frequently lead to dissapointment. Luckily for good old Rae The Chef, OB4CL2 is awesome!

It has an updated Wu-Tang sound. It's got soul, it's got Kung Fu and it has loads of the Wu Fam involved. It is the Wu-Tang album we've been waiting for since The W. Almost all the tracks are great, with New Wu, Surgical Gloves and 10 Bricks being my personal favourites from the record.

If you are a fan of Wu-Tang and of Rae's original Only Built 4 Cuban Linx then you will dig this album.


CON - Don't Concentrate On The Finger



As well as being a phenomenal actor (he played the bloody lead in BOILING POINT) and CGS regular, Confucius MC is a sick MC and lyricist. He's put out a few different mixtape and demos, two tracks of which I put on the last two CGS Mixtapes, and has over the summer put out his latest mixtape, which you can download for FREE! YAY! (link at the bottom).

This mixtape sees the growth of CON's chilled but enlightening lyrical style with production to match. The guy's lyrics really do shead light on some very interesting subjects, from philosophy to living is South East. This mixtape has one of my personal favourite tracks on it, which is F Dat Bullshit which has a wonderfully dreamy quality (which really comes to life after a little of natures green medicine).

Check it out and give him a shout on his myspace, which I linked at the top.

Download HERE


Last Witness - An Unfinished Life



I never saw Last Witness live, or really heard of them before they put out their latest album for free on da net. I was pleasently surprised on the quality of the album, thinking that it might not be that great if they just put it out for free.

For the most part, it is fairly familiar hardcore / beatdown ground, but does some fluoreshes of brilliance, specifically on the last two tracks Heartbroken and Heartbreaker. Althought my favourite track on the release is XX- which has a great riff and is nice and ferocious.

Overall, although the sound of the album is familiar, it is executed with such ferocity and bile that it is hard not to enjoy. The only thing that really bugs me on the album is the lack of commitment, from the vocalist, to stick to one style. It feels like he couldn't decide on what vocal style he want, so kept trying out different ones. But, nonetheless an enjoyable album.

Download HERE


Lastly, I recently found myself sort after as a DJ (in the loosest sense of the word), DJing at Uni events and recently at my buddies' Halloween party, where apart from rocking poorly mixed aggressive hiphop and electro, I prepared my own mix of different hardcore and metal tracks. I played it very early, so not many peeps heard it, so I thought "why not put it up on the INTERWEBS!" So here it is!

CGM's Halloween MEGA MIX LOLOLOLOLOL:

01. Skinny Puppy - Rain
02. Skinny Puppy - Convulsion
03. Trash Talk - Scatter
04. Trash Talk - Babylon CA
05. Shitty Limits - Here Are The Limits
06. The Bronx - They Will Kill Us All (Without Mercy)
07. Dirty Money - Intro / Dirty Money
08. The Ocean - Une Saison En Enfer
09. Trash Talk - Kill The Snakes
10. Hang The Bastard - Failed Harvest
11. Pantera - I'm Broken
12. Rolo Tomassi - Headclouds / Reign of Low
13. Rammstein - Du Hast
14. Refused - New Noise
15. Iwrestledabearonce - Taste Like Kevin Bacon
16. Converge - Locust Reign
17. Danzig - Mother
18. Misfits - We Are 138
19. Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood
20. Slayer - Raining Blood
21. Lil Jon - Stop Fuckin' Wit Me

Download HERE


More updates soon.

CGM