“Merge is not just a band, it’s a business” is probably the biggest warning sign that I could ever be given before putting this disc in my stereo. I’ve proven time after time that individuals that feel that their act is a business usually spend too much of their time trying to work that angle and allowing their music to suffer as a result. This is what happened with Rawdialect,…
I’ve never heard of either of the bands on this split CD, which is always a good thing. Splits usually have some sort of gimmick to them, either that both bands cover each other’s songs or that there is some third band they are paying tribute to. However, this CD has nothing more than four tracks done by each act, a way to get some sort of idea about the…
With their split with Enemy Rose, Mercy Killers showed that they had something to them that individuals should find attractive. Given the entire space of a CD, would Mercy Killers be able to come up with enough material to stay on the top of a hill? Of course, when the band starts off “Bloodlove”, there are hints of the punkabilly style. “Hollow” is its own track, and while it does…
Mephi – Music for Dead Blondes This is probably the last Israeli band I will have to review unless Useless ID sends me a disc in the near future. This disc has a really lo-fi sound to it,m and I am at a loss of words when I try to classify it as any specific genre. Rather, I would have to say that MEPHI really mixes indie, They Might Be…
The collection of tracks on this album really shows the hard-edge punk sound that Mental Pain has been trying to craft in the Southeastern corner of Ohio for the last five years. One cannot do any better but start off this album with “Together We Stand”, a track that puts Mental Pain alongside The Unseen and The Casualties for pure streetpunk. “Raw and Ruthless” may not have the pure catchiness…
I had tried to ignore reviewing this EP for the longest possible time, because I had no clue how the Men of Gentle Birth (formerly Blacks) were going to be able to re-created their tremendous live act. However, they have been paired up with the best production and mastering, allowing for them to shine in all the right places without necessarily opening up the tracks too far and losing some…
The guitar that opens up a song like “I Wish I Wish” is very traditional sounding, with the female vocals that are paired with the guitar giving the act a more complete approacvh. While the music was created in 2006, there is nothing saying that this type of music – and the band that created it, The Memory Band – could not be from an earlier period. The production is…
The Melvins, I thought, were a metal band. Two things really made me change my mind on that synopsis: first off, the album that Jello Biafra did with these guys, and secondly, this album. “Mangled Demos From 1983” might be from over twenty years ago, but the re-vamped sound of this album (long found as a bootleg) makes the intensity of The Melvins almost as if they were playing for…
Mellowdrone really link the sound of their band during tracks like “C’Mon Try A Little Bit” to their title; the mellow drone of the band in all facets of output (instrumentation or vocals). There is a little electronic/techno edge to “Oh My” which immediately draws a parallel to acts like Nine Inch Nails; the off-kilter sounds of the band that come soon after really distinguish them from the former act.…
There are a number of individuals that have been gone from the popular purview that have released albums in the first quarter of 2007. Kenny Wayne Shepherd and John Mellencamp are two of those individuals. As many know, John Mellencamp was the mastermind behind such rock standards as “Jack and Diane” and “Pink Houses”. Mellencamp would resurface again in 1993 with a cover of the Van Morrison track “Wild Night”,…
Rush and Dream Theatre immediately mix with Weezer to create a current yet aged sound. This “aged” factor, pretty much a reinventing of the shoegazer genre of the mid-nineties, is strengthened through the omnipresent bass by Chad Molter on tracks like “Safe and Sorry”. “Safe and Sorry” benefits from a highly technical guitar arrangement that also recalls the best of sixties rocks like The Kinks. Devin’s vocals, best described as…
Hey, I had no idea that Ed would be doing rap no this EP. To be honest, there was little that told what type of music that the EP had on it on the front cover. The style of the EP’s first track, “Beautiful Friend”, is very Spartan. The only thing that is a constant during that track are the vocals of Mecija. The flow seems a little rushed at…
Sacred 13 is an act that skillfully blends rock with a much harder and grittier sound, immediately inviting listeners in with “Secrets”. Perhaps most interesting has to be the grind the band gets into during the track and how exactly it interacts with the vocals laid down here. “Lifeless” keeps things interesting, with a little bit of electronic noise inserted into the track. What was a more instrumentally-lead band during…
We here at NeuFutur have been lucky enough to snag the earliest tracks that Circledown has released as part of their “Mobius” LP. The album, which is slated to come out in February, 2011, showcases an absolutely intense band. “Re-constitute”, for example, is a track that ties together musical references as diverse as Static-X, Linkin Park, Fear Factory, and even Machine Head in one furious and intricate metal track. The…
“Unnamed” is the first salvo that Downslave shoots at their listeners, and it is pretty immediately that one can hear Papa Roach, old school Megadeth, and even Hellyeah in this straight-forward, intense bit of metal. With a production hat virtually ensures that the band will break it big, “Cost of Freedom” has it all. “Cost of Freedom” varies things up, giving the drums a highlight that properly shows the talent…
This is one of the songs that broke Celine Dion huge in the adult contemporary market here in the United States. It is thus tied to eir, as pretty much anyone that was cognizant and listening to the radio heard eir rendition way too many times. Now, apparently this song was originally written for Meatloaf. I can understand that; “I’ll Do Anything For Love” has the same general type of…
It has been over a decade since Meat Loaf came out with eir last CD. However, it was right around the same amount of time since the first “Bat Out of Hell” CD was released to the world, so I suppose that Meat Loaf has created a trend in eir own right. The first track is “The Monster is Loose”, and it has a harder sound than any of Meat…
Is the style of music that Measles Mumps Rubella play influenced by the current angular sound of bands like Franz Ferdinand or something that seems to have more in common with the dance music of the eighties. Either way, “Algorithm of Desire” is a track that will get individuals on the dance floor. There is a considerable inorganic presence to this track, but the inclusion of breathing and a flawed…
Remember that episode of Family Guy where Lois starts singing cabaret at Peter’s bar in the basement of their house? Larkin McLean tries to add a few songs to Lois’ repertoire with songs that are simultaneously strong and sultry, such as “Do I Still Love You”. The track is influenced by jazz and the entire lounge movement of the fifties and early sixties, while the production value of the disc…
It is really hard to come up with a review of a remix album considering that we have not had the pleasure of hearing the album that was the impetus for these remixes. Still, the tracks can be evaluated on the merit that they alone hold, which means that the opening track “World On Fire”, despite its extended time provides listeners with a solid beat and a compelling use of…