>>Nostalgia For Infinity

According to the short biog on their label’s website, Hang the Bastard “sound like Eyehategod, Electric Wizard and Sabbath learning Slayer riffs whilst listening to Integrity and Ringworm“. Alas, I’ve never listened to Electric Wizard, never heard of Ringworm, am only passingly familiar with Eyehategod and Integrity, and don’t care for Slayer – although I do dig Sabbath, mostly since being genuinely blown away by how good a show they put on live. Still, by the sounds of things I’m about the worst person to review this record, but hey, I’m always up for a challenge…

So, throwing aside for a moment sub-genre definitions, what you have here is really aggressive and speedy chugging metal, replete with heavy palm mutes and fat riffs loaded with low-end sound, and some occasional sweet lead strung over the top – plus the occasional bit of synth. A little while ago, before writing this review, I described the band as “big, brash stoner metalcore” which I don’t think is too unfair; from the comically grotesque imagery (in the artwork and in those lyrics I’ve been able to make out – digital review copy, unfortunately) to the fact that the music sounds like it would knock you down, pick you back up and press a joint into your hand before flailing off to thrash its fucking neck some more.

That said, you’d be absolutely wrong if you took my use of the stoner label to mean that this record is meandering or self-indulgent. So don’t think that. This is an album which demonstrates restraint; the integrity of the song takes primacy over individual showing off.

In terms of individual songs, I’d pick out ‘Hell’s Teeth’ which boasts some particularly sick riffage, ‘The Blackest Eyes’ for its synthy intro and kick-arse vocal interplay (chanted group vocals from the rest of the band interposed with throaty roars from the singer), and the sinister-sounding tremolo guitar in ‘Genesis’, which also boasts some classic metal-esque soloing – without straying into masturbatory territory, of course.

Probably my favourite song present is the closer, ‘Farewell Leicester Square’, which is a good tune to end on. It alternates smoothly between mournful guitar licks and solos and chugging riff-heavy segments replete with the machismo that characterises most of this record, before ending with feedback and sampled bong-smoking.

I have an earlier EP by Hang the Bastard, last year’s Raw Sorcery, and while that’s a decent slab of metal itself it lacks the kick, variety and sheer power of Hellfire Reign. And while I’ve not grown up with metal and metalcore (a pre-requisite if you want to know what you’re fucking talking about – it’s hard as hell to properly grasp these scenes as an outsider or Johnny-come-lately) I’ve heard enough to say with confidence that this is a strong album from a promising band. I can’t wait to see them live and watch them let rip.

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Hey, it’s a while since I posted one of these, right? Not since April ’09. Damn, how has it been so long.

So I was invited to submit a piece of flash fiction for a Christmas-themed issue of a dark fiction e-zine. The only real requirement was that it have a “ghostly” theme and the SF piece that crawled out of my brain doesn’t meet that requirement by most definitions of ghostly. This may be why the piece wasn’t accepted for publication. Regardless, I enjoyed writing it as I’ve written so little fiction in the past few years. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Merry Winterval, and fuck you Eric Pickles!

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My last review before Christmas, and happily it’s of one of my favourite records of 2010. I’ll have the usual year’s best round-up at some point, but for now why not treat yourself to a copy of Castevet’s The Echo & the Light as a stocking filler?

So, Castevet burst into the consciousness of the punk rock scene in early 2009 with the free release of I Know What A Lion Is, a three-track demo that established them as a young band with some fresh ideas and the songwriting nous to back it up. This was quickly followed the same year by the Summer Fences EP, a clear refinement of the band’s sound and ability. A little over the year on from that first EP, and here they are with their debut album.

A rough short-hand to their sound is the fusion of several strands of post-hardcore; the intimate noodling of late emo and 90s indie rock with the anthemic passion and urgency of melodic songsmiths Hot Water Music. Back in November I reviewed More Songs by Grown Ups, who share a hometown with Castevet and the two bands have obviously developed together, also sharing some similar sensibilities and ideas. Castevet have a more aggressive, raw-edged, throaty approach, and deploy more chords in many songs, but there are still plenty of fantastic moments of twin noodling guitars playing off and with one another.

The song ‘Midwest Values’ (track 6, but don’t skip to it – this entire record should be listened to as presented) is a particular highlight for me, with a pair of tight chord progressions in the chorus that are effortlessly anthemic. ’Narrow Hallways’ is another belter, but I suspect that everyone will have their own favourites when it comes to The Echo & the Light. It’s an impressively rich album and rarely content to repeat itself, instead exploring the technical possibilities within the beautiful and accessible melodies upon which their songs are based, and never disappearing up the fundament of its own musical proficiency.

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The furrow ploughed by Gainesville’s Hot Water Music was wide and deep, and in their footsteps have followed a panoply of young bands inspired by the urgency and passion of their melodic post-hardcore. It seems obvious that The Great Explainer are among this host, counting Chuck Ragan and company among their influences, and with their debut EP The Way Things Swell they’ve established themselves as a distinct outfit with a solid understanding of how to write naturally anthemic punk rock songs.

‘I Finally Found my Dreamboat’s lush guitar and expansive mid-pace chorus are carried up by dual vocals that blend gruff, throaty aggression with soaring clean singing, culminating in an intoxicating mix of hooks. The bridge in closer ‘Michael Jordan 666′ boasts an alluring bridge, stripping back to simple vocals before a lush melody slips in to carry the song away.

Whilst it’s true that you’ve pretty much heard what’s on offer in these four tunes before, that doesn’t really matter with tunes this good. The Great Explainer won’t change the face of music, but they will bring a lot of pleasure to those who choose to listen to them. And of the many bands offering tribute to those that came before, it’s obvious that The Great Explainer are already forging themselves into a forerunner that shares the passion and knack for songwriting of their heroes.

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This may be one of the last of these posts, as Yahoo are retiring the Delicious service. See below for an article about that! I’ll be looking into an alternative system and have a few to try out.

Del.icio.us links for December 15th through December 19th:

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It feels a little odd to be reviewing this record during the coldest few days Britain’s experienced this year (at least, I don’t remember January being this bad), with its summery youth crew vibe, warm and nostalgic cover art, and the fact that Go Rydell are lucky enough to hail from Orlando, Florida, but on the other hand it’s good to listen to unseasonal music to drag your mind and heart elsewhere.

So yeah, Go Rydell rock out with melodic hardcore stylings ala. Shook Ones, Kid Dynamite and Lifetime; upbeat punk rock with a generally positive attitude – although Go Rydell throw in some more sinister lyrics that at times subvert your expectations of this sound. Aside from this they don’t bring much new to the table, but this remains a good, solid collection of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them good time songs that are helping me shake off my winter blues.

‘A Little Too Raph’ is a particularly good tune with some excellent “woahs” (and if you don’t dig a good “woah” you may as well stop reading right now). ‘Drawn and Quartered’ opens with a tight and simple riff contrasted with hanging power chords; it’s also one of the aforementioned songs that exposes something darker beneath the posi vibes: “Everything is wonderful to me” is followed by “world drawn and quartered, how can you sleep?” Ditto ‘Satellites’: “every morning, I feel so robotic” / “you know I want to feel like a satellite, search the world with you”.

It seems a bit daft to highlight fairly unexceptional lyrical juxtapositions but in all honesty there’s only so much I can say about The Golden Age. It’s a good collection of punk rock tunes and if you dig this kind of melodic hardcore, you should definitely check this out. And these songs are too good to dismiss, so if you want to give them a try then go for it. But they’re not doing anything that hasn’t been done before. Still, who really gives a fuck about that? Go Rydell obviously know exactly what they want to do, and this is them doing it. Let the good times roll!

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Del.icio.us links – a late and enormous update, this - for December 7th through December 14th:

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Ah, sweet nostalgia, stock in trade of many a band. North Carolina’s Museum Mouth are a three-piece outfit coupling low-key personal lyrics with fuzzed-out lo-fi indie/punk rock. The lyrics are a real strong point although when read they don’t stand out; it’s in their musical context that they work. A poetry of the little things, small strokes painting big pictures. Very intimate, very personal, and a little sad and lonely. Hearkening back to more youthful days, past relationships and moments frozen in memory, the recollections of the prematurely cynical: “Now I’ve never been big on taking risks / but god knows for you I tried. / I was young before I got old / and I got old way before my time”.

Their endearing lo-fi rock reminds me a little of Now, Now Every Children with pacier songwriting, less heartbreaking melodic vocals and guitars more informed by garage indie rock than NNEC’s quiet/loud shoegaze buzz, and Museum Mouth throw in buzzy synths to thicken out their sonic soup. Still, the fuzzed-up sound and the intimate, personal lyrics are significant connective tissue. Museum Mouth also utilise an affecting combination of sounds: a reverby clean sound on the guitar that’s then scuzzed up; a strange effect on the female vocals that make them sound a little distant, as if sung down a phone. There’s a good juxtaposition with the occasional male vocals, too; the latter sings flat and low, which is unusual but effective.

I’ve already noted that the band’s lyrics are strongest when heard, not read, but I can’t resist quoting a little of ‘Outside’. “You write songs about getting over me / So I don’t write songs any more” marks a deliberate attempt to detach from a shared past, with the chorus refrain lamenting the singer’s decision that have made them more distant and engaged: “I’m sorry Nabokov / I’m sorry Salinger / I’m sorry Edie / all my old heroes would hate me.” It’s a hard thing to leave someone with whom one shares a lot of one’s life and loves; harder still to draw a line between the past and the present.

Other stand-out tunes are ‘Habit’, a tune with a great vocal line about feelings of longing and weakness, and ‘I Stopped Caring’ which typifies both Tears In My Beer‘s sound and its apathetic themes. And then there’s ‘Virginia’, a quiet and minimalistic swansong to the intimate moments which will never again be shared.

Musically, Museum Mouth don’t leap out, although their sound and vocal stylings are distinct enough to be difficult to mistake for anyone else. But it’s in their lyrics that they really shine; the lyrics which bare heart and soul and weakness and loss and apathy. And it’s hard not to love them a little for that.

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