Once upon a time, the Queens of the Stone Age were the best band on the planet. They had the songs, the attitude, the drive to make albums that could knock everybody out and they had the people: Mark Lanegan who sounded like a villain from a Stephen King novel, Nick Oliveri the unpredictable agro-punker, Josh Homme the captain and visionary of the band, Dave Grohl, Troy Van Leeuwen, Joey Castillo, Dave Catching, Alfredo Hernandez. It was a drug fueled machine that left audiences across the globe in awe. “Songs for the Deaf” still stands one of the greatest rock albums of all time and deservingly so.
Then things started to shake up. Josh Homme sacked Oliveri and “Lullabies to Paralyse” came out: an atmospheric, dark album that lacked the punch that made “Songs for the Deaf” so irresistible. Its follow-up studio-album “Era Vulgaris” was despite its qualities pretty forgettable and I completely ignored “Like Clockwork” after hearing the rather plain “My God is the Sun”. Now there is “Villains” and it makes me want to put on Kyuss’ “Blues for the Red Sun” again.
QotSA have never released a truly awful album, that much is true, and “Villains” is by no means really bad but nothing presented here really makes impact. Somewhere in my notes, I’ve scribbled “just because it sounds interesting, doesn’t mean it’s good” and that pretty much sums up the new album.
The album kicks off very promising with “Feet, Don’t Feel Me” with its quirky but extremely infectious groove. Say what you want about Homme but the dude can pen a groove like nobody else. “Fortress” is an adorable indie ballad that drags on just a tad too
long. “The Way You Used to Do” has a very charming rockabilly feel and also an annoying handclap that sounds very artificial and reeks of drum computer (which given QotSA’s history with excellent drummers stupefies me).
“Un-reborn Again” is a great title but a song without any substance. “The Evil has Landed” could have used a better mix and a grittier tone but that still wouldn’t hide the fact that halfway the song I had almost forgotten about the track before it was even over and “Hideaway” is just boring.
Closing track “Villains of Circumstance” is a track that should have been sung by Lanegan. Homme’s voice is not demanding enough to sing such a brooding dark track and this is somewhat symptomatic for the current version of Queens of the Stone Age.
During the “Rated R” and “Songs for the Deaf” era, Queens of the Stone Age was not a homogeneous collective but a mishmash of personalities and styles. That’s not all too strange if you’re familiar with the now defunct Desert Sessions, the recorded results of Josh Homme entering the studio with befriended musicians and making music together. The friends ranged from high school friends and nobodies to superstars like Twiggy Ramirez and PJ Harvey and everybody in between. The band Queens of the Stone Age was the crystallised version of those Desert Sessions. QotSA in 2017 is Josh Homme and a few lackeys. He is the boss, he calls the shots and he IS Queens of the Stone Age. There are no real contributors anymore but guest musicians. Despite his enormous talent as a guitar player, he has his limits and therefore the
mandag 6. november 2017
New Model - Pertubrato - Review
Music is a living thing. It is always in motion, dancing an everlasting ballad of action and reaction, a tango with several partners from all cultures. And then there is Perturbator. The Apache, one of the most violent and sinister dances, in a dark, humid room with a concrete floor and subwoofers that could make your brain melt.
This French band may be best known as one of the two biggest synthwave band, the other being fellow Frenchies Carpenter Brut, but on their latest album “New Model” they go far, far beyond what synthwave once was.
Sure, it is still based on phat analog synths but it no longer bathes in ironic old B-movie pastiche. No, Perturbator steps from 80’s into 2017 where trap is the all new rage and they incorporate it in the opening tracks “Birth of the New Model”, “Tactical Precision Disarray” (which has one of the sickest drops I’ve ever heard) and “Vantablack”. Not that the band follows a simple formula like “just replace the EBM beats with hi-hats and half time kicks”. On the contrary, once you more or less get what the band is doing, they have already moved on and building up to something different. That makes the tracks not only varied but also exciting, fresh and, depending on whether or not safewords play a large part in your bedroom, sexy.
It is not until the fourth track “Tainted Empire” that we more or less go back to more traditional synthwave. More or less. The harsh EBM sounds are back but the piece still flirts with dubstep and trap.
“Corrupted By Design” is a bit of a breather. Relatively speaking of course, the beats remain every
bit as punchy as in the beginning of the album but the band is taking it easier with basslines and effects. Closing track “God Complex” is a track worthy of its title. Clocking in at almost 10 minutes, this is an epic wave saga that could tell a story of a dehumanised society where men and machine are so intertwined that it becomes a challenge to distinguish one from the other, one fuels the other becoming more than the sum of the parts (wait, did I just summarise “Ghost in the Shell”?).
In the 34 minutes that it takes to sit through “New Model”, Perturbator not only deliver an intricate dark piece of art but also demonstrate that a) it is possible to thrive on more than just nostalgia without radically changing artistic course and b) ironically enough teach the rest of the competition a lesson in appropriating new elements in hard style music without having to worry about “selling out” and no longer being “trve kvlt”.
- Ivo VirusWithShoes -
Think you can dance the Apache on a mix of EBM, trap and synthwave? Find out here at: https://perturbator.bandcamp.com/album/new-model
This French band may be best known as one of the two biggest synthwave band, the other being fellow Frenchies Carpenter Brut, but on their latest album “New Model” they go far, far beyond what synthwave once was.
Sure, it is still based on phat analog synths but it no longer bathes in ironic old B-movie pastiche. No, Perturbator steps from 80’s into 2017 where trap is the all new rage and they incorporate it in the opening tracks “Birth of the New Model”, “Tactical Precision Disarray” (which has one of the sickest drops I’ve ever heard) and “Vantablack”. Not that the band follows a simple formula like “just replace the EBM beats with hi-hats and half time kicks”. On the contrary, once you more or less get what the band is doing, they have already moved on and building up to something different. That makes the tracks not only varied but also exciting, fresh and, depending on whether or not safewords play a large part in your bedroom, sexy.
It is not until the fourth track “Tainted Empire” that we more or less go back to more traditional synthwave. More or less. The harsh EBM sounds are back but the piece still flirts with dubstep and trap.
“Corrupted By Design” is a bit of a breather. Relatively speaking of course, the beats remain every
bit as punchy as in the beginning of the album but the band is taking it easier with basslines and effects. Closing track “God Complex” is a track worthy of its title. Clocking in at almost 10 minutes, this is an epic wave saga that could tell a story of a dehumanised society where men and machine are so intertwined that it becomes a challenge to distinguish one from the other, one fuels the other becoming more than the sum of the parts (wait, did I just summarise “Ghost in the Shell”?).
In the 34 minutes that it takes to sit through “New Model”, Perturbator not only deliver an intricate dark piece of art but also demonstrate that a) it is possible to thrive on more than just nostalgia without radically changing artistic course and b) ironically enough teach the rest of the competition a lesson in appropriating new elements in hard style music without having to worry about “selling out” and no longer being “trve kvlt”.
- Ivo VirusWithShoes -
Think you can dance the Apache on a mix of EBM, trap and synthwave? Find out here at: https://perturbator.bandcamp.com/album/new-model
Review Demo Black Heroin
Attitude. For punk and hardcore it is 50% of the appeal. You can buy 3000 euro guitars, point to point soldered boutique amps and vintage pedals but if you haven’t got that anger, you will never be able to play HC/punk properly. That’s why Agnostic Front’s “Victim in Pain” is a classic despite being one of the worst produced albums ever (and the solo on the opening track is awesome in its awfulness).
In that regard Black Heroin from Ghent, Belgium is about as authentic as they come. 6 tracks in less than 9 minutes, recorded in a squat... This is straightforward oldschool hardcore that seems to be making a slow revival.
It will be probably take you longer to read this review than to listen to the actual demo but why not go over the tracks, just for laughs?
Opening track “Idiots” starts off a bit meek and forced but once the intro is over, you’re in for some good, fast, underproduced stuff.
Follow-up cover Angry Samoans “Todd Killings” is over before you know it and “Wake Up” is short and barky. “Religions” and “Treachery”, with 2 minutes runtime the longest song because one of the guitar players wanted to do a solo, are the two best tracks. The band seems to be playing a bit tighter while the frustration and anger just explode in your face.
Final track “Revenge” closes the demo.
What is their left to say? Black Heroin. Hardcore from Ghent, the hipster capital of Belgium. Not super innovative but true to the ideals of their music: don’t wait for approval, just get up there and do it.
- Ivo VirusWithShoes-
Luckily you don’t have to find a squatted house to get your vintage hardcore. Just lay back in your comfortable sofa and visit: https://blackheroin.bandcamp.com/album/demo
In that regard Black Heroin from Ghent, Belgium is about as authentic as they come. 6 tracks in less than 9 minutes, recorded in a squat... This is straightforward oldschool hardcore that seems to be making a slow revival.
It will be probably take you longer to read this review than to listen to the actual demo but why not go over the tracks, just for laughs?
Opening track “Idiots” starts off a bit meek and forced but once the intro is over, you’re in for some good, fast, underproduced stuff.
Follow-up cover Angry Samoans “Todd Killings” is over before you know it and “Wake Up” is short and barky. “Religions” and “Treachery”, with 2 minutes runtime the longest song because one of the guitar players wanted to do a solo, are the two best tracks. The band seems to be playing a bit tighter while the frustration and anger just explode in your face.
Final track “Revenge” closes the demo.
What is their left to say? Black Heroin. Hardcore from Ghent, the hipster capital of Belgium. Not super innovative but true to the ideals of their music: don’t wait for approval, just get up there and do it.
- Ivo VirusWithShoes-
Luckily you don’t have to find a squatted house to get your vintage hardcore. Just lay back in your comfortable sofa and visit: https://blackheroin.bandcamp.com/album/demo
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