Album Review: Velvet Cacoon-P aa Opal Poere Pr. 33 (10/10)

There are a lot of mixed feelings and differing opinions about this band. A lot of rumors, mysteries, lies, truths, etc.

This is their long awaited P aa Opal Poere Pr. 33 album. I'm a huge fan of one of their previous works entitled Genevieve and have been very much looking forward to this album finally seeing the light of day. The band has done a very good job at keeping it under wraps until they were ready for the world to see it. As per usual with VC, it's been hard to find solid info like a release date but according to the Starlight Temple Society website the albums shipped from the plant last week leading me to believe they'll be available for order very soon.

For anyone who was a fan of Genevieve, you will not be dissapointed with this release. The thick and rich guitar tones on this albums sound amazing. Drums are mixed low, letting the guitars really push the atmosphere along. The vocals are a little more of the traditional style that one would expect from a black metal record unlike the low whispers that make up much of Genevieve. This is also a very slow and almost shoegaze influenced album. It moves along very smoothly, slowly drowning you in the weighty guitar atmospheres. Excellent record. Keep an eye on the Starlight Temple Society website for it's official release.

FFO: Burzum, My Bloody Valentine, Brown Jenkins

Album Review: Total Abuse-s/t (7/10)

Great noisy hardcore from Texas. Chaotic, weirdo, Scratch Acid/later Black Flag, 80's vibe. If that's your thing then you'll surely be into this. Sorry for the rather short review but that's all you really need to know. You either love this stuff or you hate it.

FFO: Double Negative, Black Flag, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, Snake Apartment

Matt Sharp and the Quest for the Holy Grail of Weezer B-sides

I recently got the Deluxe Edition of the Blue Album for my birthday, and it set off this obsessive streak - I tend to get those often - where I have to find every song released by an artist. As much as I love Weezer’s early albums, their later albums always feel like they miss the mark: basically a failed attempt to recapture whatever kind of dork rock magic they conjured in the early days. Most people believe they suffered from one particular thing: the loss of Matt Sharp (bassist/falsetto singer) to the Rentals.

With this in mind, I set out to get ONLY the material that the band released during his tenure. Here’s the summation of my effort to consolidate all the disparate (and worthwhile) B-sides that featured Matt Sharp:

The Deluxe Edition of the Blue Album has a bonus disc with B-sides, acoustic, live and demo tracks. While the whole disc is great, the first three tracks perfectly capture the dorky, innocent vibe of Blue Album: “Mykel and Carli,” “Suzanne,” and “Jamie.” “Suzanne” is easily the best track on this disc, as it has a 50’s pop song feel to it. An acoustic track of “Jamie” is also on the disc (in addition to the regular version), and the harmonies are pulled off perfectly. So that’s worth checking out too.

Next, we have the The Good Life EP, which features the B-sides “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams” (with Rachel Haden of That Dog/The Rentals on vocals) and “Waiting on You.” The first B-side is synth-heavy with chick vocals, while “Waiting on You” is a slower track. The EP also features two live acoustic tracks from Pinkerton: “The Good Life” and “No Other One”. These tracks are pretty good but nothing mind-blowing. “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams” definitely deserves best track of the EP.

Moving on, we have the El Scorcho EP. Both of these B-sides are absolutely amazing. “You Gave Your Love to Me Softly” (which originally appeared on the Angus soundtrack) is a faster “rockin’” Weezer track. “Devotion” is heavy as shit and sounds like a fucking Skepticism song because of the slow, droning guitars and constant synths! The chorus has these awesome ascending harmonies with pretty unique riffs playing off each. I would say “Devotion” tops the other B-side only because of how unique it sounds within the pantheon of early Weezer songs.

In between their debut album and Pinkerton, the band began to work on a space-themed rock opera called Songs from the Black Hole. It was supposed to follow the tale of a crew flying into space on some kind of mission. Sounds awesome, right!? Unfortunately, the concept fell apart and a bunch of songs intended for the rock opera were included on Pinkerton instead (supposedly Tired of Sex, Getchoo, No Other One and Why Bother). Some of the other songs ended up as B-sides (all those included in the two EPs above). Rivers had recorded a bunch of the songs as demos on home recordings, which he released through his Alone/Alone 2 albums. Some demos surfaced through various places on the internet for most of the other songs that were entirely unreleased.

I found a version that a fan had compiled that tried to mimic the vision for the album as best as possible through all these different releases – it was, as expected, pretty shitty. However, the first two tracks – an intro called “Countdown” and the first track “Blast Off!” – are actually pretty great. “Countdown” features dreamy and haunting acapella humming behind a NASA countdown sequence into “Blast Off!”, which could have easily been included on Pinkerton. I believe the demo for this song was recorded at the same session for the Pinkerton album – the snare drum and general vibe of the song are so similar to the Pinkerton songs. The other songs are mostly weird little clips trying to convey the story. I would be nice to see what the album would be like if it was recorded and produced entirely.

The last B-side worth mentioning is Weezer’s cover of the Pixies’ song “Velouria”.

So, in full, here are the tracks you should check out if you want some great Weezer B-sides during the Matt Sharp-era:

Mykel and Carli

Suzanne

Jamie

I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams

Waiting on You

You Gave Your Love to Me Softly

Devotion

Countdown

Blast Off!

Velouria

Finally, I would also HIGHLY recommend the first Rentals album, The Return of the Rentals, if you want to continue the sludgy, dork rock goodness. It was actually released between the Blue Album and Pinkerton, which is probably why a lot of the unreleased Songs from the Black Hole sucked – Matt Sharp was away with Rentals while Rivers was working on writing that album.

Show Review: WITTR, Krallice, A Storm Of Light, Forensics (7/10)

Saw this tour Friday night in Virginia. Good show overall but it had it's weak moments.

The first band up was Forensics. I remember seeing this band years ago and feeling kind of "whatever" about them then. I still feel that way. I'm not really sure what they're even going for with their newer material. I'll avoid being overly negative here but I just wasn't feeling it and quite frankly it didn't look like any of the dudes in the band were feeling it either. They looked bored and like they didn't care. And in return, I was bored and didn't care for their set.

Next up was A Storm Of Light. I'd never heard this band before. I'd been told that one of the dudes does the visuals for Neurosis but that's all I really knew. At this point I wasn't really feeling too open minded about hearing a new band and I know it's gonna take a lot to win me over. Well ASOL blew me away. They were tight as fuck and had great fucking songs. Reminded me a little of Jesu at times but with the harsher intensity of a band like Neurosis. Great set, great band. I would go see them again in a heartbeat.

Krallice was the next band on the bill. I'd heard the Krallice record and wasn't super into it but I was willing to give them a chance live. Well I wasn't into it live either. These are excellent musicians playing some of the most boring, passionless shit out. Now I will admit that this style of black metal isn't really my bag so it might not be my place to judge this band too much but my friend Rian was with me and generally loves the more technical styles of metal. He loves some of the bands that these dudes have done previously and even he was flabbergasted at how boring their set was. He was downright pissed because he had come in expecting to be blown away by this band. The exact word he used was "masturbatory". And that's what it was. It seems like instead of actually trying to convey anything, this band just needs a vehicle to show how well they can play. And they can play well, in fact they're amazing musicians but the songs seem long for no reason other than the sake of being long and thay have no point whatsoever. There's no sense of dynamic at all.

Finally it was time for Wolves In The Throne Room. Candles are being lit everywhere and anticipation is high. They come on after a lenghty period of preparation and begin to play. I'm floored. They're amazing and they're playing in damn near nothing but candle light and then...




...the fucking power goes out about 6 minutes in. It appeared that a fuse blew somewhere because all of the power on one side of the stage was gone. Definitely harshed my mellow. No big deal though, they get everything fixed and start again. Then something happens with the guitar player on the other side of the stage's amp. They stop again, get it figured out and proceed to play the best set of the night. They were great. They played for roughly an hour and were better than I'd even hoped for. I think this band is great. There are a lot of people who refuse to give an American black metal band a real chance but there are a handful of fantastic bands going on in the states right now. WITTR is one of them. Open your mind a little and give this band a good listen.

Album Review: Sunn O)))-Monoliths & Dimensions (8/10)

If you know me then you know that Sunn O))) is easily one of my all time favorite bands. Around 6 years ago they were my introduction to the world of avant-garde music which is something that's grown very dear to my heart over the years. By opening that door for me Sunn O))) solidified their spot as one of the more important bands in my personal musical evolution. I thank them greatly for this.

With Monoliths & Dimensions Sunn O))) has made a huge leap forward. Easily one of their best works to date. Featuring ever present and very important contributions from avant-garde guitarist Oren Ambarchi and black metal elder statesman Attila Csihar, this album delivers what their previous live works (Pentemple and Domkirke) have been hinting at for the past year. Those two records were just a taste of what you get on Monoliths & Dimensions.

This album features more instrumentation than ever before heard on a Sunn O))) recording. Strings, brass, and choral arrangements are fitting accompaniment for these cloaked visionaries. I urge even the most close minded fans (especially those instantly turned off by the notion of classical instrumentation) to give this a good listen. You can tell that much time was spent placing and arranging these instruments into the record. They fit in so well that you hardly notice they are there at points. They add a haunting ambiance to the album that would be lost without their presence.

My favorite track on the album is easily Aghartha. With Attila's vocals being at the forefront of the track, crashing piano highlighting the chord changes, and a variety of horrifyingly cacophonous instrumentation creeping in around the half way mark this is the most terrifying on the album for sure.

The artwork for Monoliths & Dimensions is equally impressive. Beautiful photography and paintings along with a foggy transparent slip that goes over the jewel case and the same for the first and last page for the booklet make this some of the most elaborate Sunn O))) artwork yet.

This is an amazing record and well worth the money. You wont be dissapointed.

For fans of: Oren Ambarchi, Mayhem, Kevin Drumm, Earth

Changes here at The Dying Machine

As you can see, we've decided to do away with the mp3's. We're going to be doing a lot more reviews and we'll be doing interviews and things of that nature. Expect a lot more content in the coming weeks.

EP Review: Ashdautas-Where The Sun Is Silent... (8/10)

Fucking christ!!! If you like true raw black metal and you can't get into this band then I just don't know what to say. This is the newest release by California's Ashdautas and it's fucking good. Out on the legendary Full Moon Productions, this record and this band are one of the most diverse American black metal offerings heard in years. They pay homage to the forefathers but play some of the most original shit I've ever heard. Tortured vocals that rival Silencer with some insanely creative riffage and song structure. There are dissonant parts on this record that almost sound like Sonic Youth playing black metal. The filthy production really lets the greatness of the riffs shine through. Really diverse band with a sound that I can't quite sum up (as you'll see by the ffo). Those who say that great American black metal doesn't exist haven't heard Ashdautas yet.

For fans of: Silencer, Mayhem, Bone Awl, Darkthrone, Extinction

EP Review: Ash Pool-Saturn's Slave (8/10)

Man oh man Ash Pool just keeps getting better with every release. This is by far my favorite record of theirs. The raw punkish black metal duo (featuring Dominick Fernow of Prurient and Hospital Productions) from NYC continues out-doing themselves even after you think it can't get any better. The side A track, Origin Of Man is the highlight of this release for me. The songs starts with a brief heavy intro then barrels into a blast beat ridden trash fest and then proceeds to make it's way into one of the most fist pumping, face punching sections I've ever heard on a record like this. The song continues along the same lines for another 2 minutes or so. Side B is the track Origin Of Aids which is definitely no letdown either. This is also one of Dominick's best vocal performances on an Ash Pool release in my opinion. This is a great record and is out on an amazing label (Hospital Productions) that's been responsible for putting out some of the best noise and black metal to come out in the past 10 years.

FFO: Bone Awl, Akitsa, Ancestors (the one on Youth Attack), Ildjarn

Album Review: Ghast-May The Curse Bind (7/10)

This is fucking good. Real good. It's fast and evil, it's slow and evil, it's fucking nasty. Black metal from Wales with some doom and slightly stoner undertones. The faster parts have a Darkthrone sort of assault to them and the slower parts have almost sort of a Burning Witch vibe but with more of a groove that'll make you bob your head a little and go "oh fuck listen to that" all with some pretty hateful fucking vocals. I've never heard a band combine these elements with the finesse that Ghast does. Nothing seems forced or contrived. It's out on Todestrieb Records which have put out some fucking fantastic stuff by Extinction and T.O.M.B. in the past as well. This is Ghast's debut full-length. Don't sleep on this record or this band.

FFO: Darkthrone, Burning Witch, Craft