Errander - 'The Need To Know' Album Review

Errander (formerly known as P>S>P for those not paying attention) are referred to by the lovingly produced In At The Deep End biog accompanying the album as 'combining all out thrash riffery, head banging metal and hardcore stomp with a splash of melody for good measure' and to be fair, that's about as succinct and accurate a description of what's on offer here as you could hope for.

Brilliant. Job done, I'm off down the pub.

*ahem* Anyway, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on this when it was added to the list of available to review cds 9Hz had received as I knew (if admittedly only from their MySpace presence) that Errander are a bit on the mighty side and had actually considered buying the cd myself when IATDE started advertising it but had stayed my credit card-wielding hand for financial reasons more than anything else. Am I glad I didn't pay for it? Yeah, maybe. Am I glad I jumped on it to review? Yes. Reason being, I'm not exactly much of a thrash fan and hence this cd won't necessarily get too much of a pride of place within my cd collection but none the less this is still a good (indeed, occasionally excellent) record with enough of the afore-mentioned 'hardcore stomp' to keep me more than happy that these South Yorkshire boys should be very proud of.

The 33 minute onslaught (which is undeniably the right word for it) gets under way with absolutely ZERO messing about with all instruments roaring and Ryan (also of GU Medicine 'fame') screaming his not inconsiderable lungs out without even a seconds preamble and proceeds to continue at that particularly violent tempo for almost the entire duration. Make no mistake, this is blistering stuff with even the more melodic moments barely dropping the break neck pace. I think it's safe to say there isn't a duff track here although as a result of the sheer ferocity it's rather difficult to pick out highlights as the album tends to explode past you in such a jagged, Metallica-having-a-bar-brawl-with-Converge-on-bad-drugs blast that you can often accidentally miss half of it in a flurry of air-guitaring before you know what's going on.

Personally, I'd have to say that some of it can get a bit too choppy for my tastes and some of the more melodious passages can seem a bit crowbarred in for good measure but on the whole it's a nice mix of styles. Add to that the very crisp production and beautiful presentation (I defy anyone to ever accuse IATDE releases to be found wanting on these fronts, of course) and there's very little room left for grumbling.

So, do you (The) Need To Know about this album? Yeah, I'd say so. Anyway, I'm off to kick some poor bastard shitless to vent all this surplus aggression I'm feeling all of a sudden. Dunno where that's come from... *cd finishes* Oh no wait, I'm alright now.

A Horse Called War - 'We Ain't Proud Of This' CD-R Review

Strike a light! A UK sludge band that don't just rip Iron Monkey off blind! Who'da thunk it?!

On first listen this meaty little four tracker is easily one of the finest new arrivals on the Sludge scene for some time, arguably as a result of their refusal to follow the standard IM tribute band route. A Horse Called War combine elements of some of Britain's finest heavy bands - Lazarus Blackstar, the ubiquitous IM and Charger most prevalently - into a particularly nasty 16 minutes and 50 seconds, belching out downtuned, doom-tinged antipathy with fiery, uptempo stomp-alongs aplenty.

Rather unfortunately, however, after you listen to the demo a few more times a rather unpleasant realisation hits you: They don't sound like an Iron Monkey rehash coz they're far too busy pretending to be the afore mentioned Stoke-based fuzzbastards Charger...

Now anyone with any understanding of my listening habits will know that I absolutely fucking love Charger so this is certainly not a criticism per se but the second half of this demo in particular is pretty much just a slightly rejigged combination of several passages from Charger's Peaceville released 'Confessions of a Man (Mad Enough to Live Amongst Beasts)' full lengther. The doomy, bass and feedback ending to demo closer 'Cry Havoc' being particularly guilty of this considering it's almost note perfect to the pseudo-spoken word middle section from 'God Made Us In The Image Of His Ass' which, once you've noticed it, is so obvious as to get really rather irritating.

Having now raised this point, however, I would take pains to remind everyone (myself included) that at the end of the day, plagiarism is far from uncommon nowadays and is often just a stage in the development of a band as they find they're own direction. Sludge as a genre is somewhat limited in its scope for experimentation and unlike many other bands out there (Out For Blood spring readily to mind here) at least A Horse Called War can hold your interest for more than the first five minutes and regardless of how many of the riffs displayed here you've heard before, they're still fucking belting riffs so you can't complain too loudly...

The press release that accompanied the demo states that A Horse Called War will be reentering the studio early in 2007 to record a new five track EP proper, let's hope that the promise (and impressively mighty sound) on display here are combined with a bit more individuality as with some work I think these boys could well be capable of great things and if nothing else, this'll keep me sated until Charger manage to get 'Spill Your Guts' released next march...

Wooly Mammoth - 'The Temporary Nature' Album Review

Okay, so just as a bit of back ground for you, the reading public; this is actually the second time I've reviewed this CD now. The reason I'm doing it again is because my original review was somewhat unfairly dismissive of this rather mighty little collection of songs. For those of you unwilling to read two reviews of the same CD, the long and short of the original write up went something along the lines of: "blah blah blah Kyuss blah blah blah stoner rock cliches blah blah blah s'alright, like blah blah blah better than a lot of this stuff blah blah blah". Having continued to listen to the CD since writing that rather uncharitable effort, however, it has become clear to me that these boys are deserving of a lot more respect than I originally gave them so here goes...

Let's get the obvious criticism out of the way first, shall we? Wooly Mammoth are obviously three VERY big Josh Homme fans. Pretty much everything here has appeared already on either a Kyuss or a Queens Of The Stone Age record somewhere along the line.

Now let's actually bother to listen to what's on offer here and give credit where credit is due shall we? What we have here is an unashamedly stoner rock album: fuzzed out bottom end, grooves deeper than a maternity wards waiting room floor and an obvious love of 'good times' (ie Wild Turkey and executive length cigarettes) permeate every second but when it's all done this well you can frankly stick your cynicism (or rather, my cynicism) where the sun don't shine as this album is an absolute fucking belter!

Opener 'Head Full Of Collision' sets the tone here brilliantly, managing to be reminiscent of (personal Kyuss favourite) 'Gardenia' whilst showing it's own character and a more uptempo approach. The album then proceeds to take the listener on a tour of Wooly Mammoth's understanding of what rock music is all about through doomier fare (track two 'From Meridian Hill' and the atmospheric monster of a title track 'The Temporary Nature') whilst injecting some more uptempo riff fests (indeed I defy anyone to not feel the urge to scream 'RIIIIIFFFFF!!!' in response to the start of QoTSA/Nebula tinged third track 'Black Spider, Red Spider') into the mix before rounding the whole affair off nicely with closer 'Mammoth Bones' which is an out and out tribute to Kyuss' parting behemoth 'Spaceship Landing' with it's bruising, lolloping belief that a good groove shouldn't be rushed and needs to be given at least ten minutes to breathe properly (and breathe it does as the song is positively HUGE)!

Basically, this album is proof positive that there's no such thing as too much of a good thing. Every song here pushes all the right buttons and will be welcomed into your life like an old friend you haven't seen for years within a few (honest) listens. Anyone who still listens to the bands mentioned so far will immediately love this record but I can't stress enough that for those who, like me, got tired of all the substandard Clutch/Kyuss etc impersonators who popped out of the woodwork shortly after QoTSA's initial success with 'Rated R' that with a little persistence and an open mind, Wooly Mammoth could well just remind you why you loved this kind of material in the first place. Excellent production, mature song writing... personally, I don't think anyone could ask for much more.

The Abominable Iron Sloth/Charger/Ghost of a Thousand @ Camden Barfly, London - 14/10/2006

*PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN EXTRACT FROM A MUCH LONGER MYSPACE BLOG AS I GOT TOO DRUNK AND COULDN'T ACTUALLY REMEMBER THE WHOLE GIG TO WRITE A PROPER REVIEW FROM!*

...upstairs we meet Wez who has become a good net-friend over the last year and grab beer numero 3 and then openers Ghost Of A Thousand take to the stage. a groan escapes from Wez at the sight of them as it's skinny fit tshirts, tight jeans and daft hair as far as the eye can see but they bound into a decent sub-Botch set of angular 'core n' roll. i will no doubt buy the album as i liked what i heard but both guitarists seem strangely unaware of what the bridge pick-up is for and hence the sound is tinny as hell and rather cheapens what otherwise i think would've been a fine set. comedy moments also abound throughout as the vocalist (who appears to have robbed his on stage moves wholesale off of a certain Mr. Jagger) has fallen off the stage before the end of the first song only to then not be able to get back up on it for a few songs although this indirectly leads to the 'save of the night' as he careens into a three-pint bearing BigJon who somehow manages to not spill a drop earning himself a spontaneous round of applause from those who witness it and finally, as they finish a song toward the end of their set, Wez (who is looking somewhat less than impressed by them) shouts 'TAXI!' perhaps a little louder than he was intending and a ripple of laughter floats around the gradually swelling crowd. in the meantime i have decided it would be wise to let BigJ toddle off to do his gig photography thing and match Wez pint for pint. unfortunately for me Wez is a big lad more than capable of drinking his weight who has been gripped by The Thirst so i'm already half way leathered by the time GOAT leave the stage to appreciative if rather luke warm cheers and applause.

at this point Cyrus Grissom (another mate from the UG boards) turns up and we get chatting before Charger wander on stage. the boys pile into an almost exclusively new material set and it immediately becomes apparent that GOAT can't necessarily be entirely blamed for sounding a bit weedy as the sound guy manages to somehow produce a flawlessly clear but entirely bassless sound for them. bearing in mind this is Charger we're talking about i have to admit this is a feat in itself but none the less irritates me for the duration. Ives is his usual edgy and nervous self on stage but nonetheless chats to the crowd throughout the set explaining the songs and talking about their lack of gigs this year and the forthcoming album and i have to say that (whilst i admit i was pretty much battered by this point so have large blackspots in my memory) from what was on display here, 'Spill Your Guts' due early 2007 will be something rather special indeed. i think one or two older songs may have got an airing though i honestly couldn't be certain and then suddenly from nowhere they tear into 'Cult vs. Cunt' and the crowd who have all been digging it as much as me go mad for it as the boys do their level best to destroy the place. then the set ends and it's all too soon for me, by now i've forgotten about my back problems and have been headbanging quite severely for some time. awesome stuff, can't wait for the album!

more beer is consumed and i beg the sound man to turn the bass up only to get a dismissive sneer for my troubles and then The Abominable Iron Sloth appear from nowhere. again, i can remember little other than they're A. W. E. S. O. M. E! i'm not sure if the sound man did take my advice after all or if it's just the somewhat more likely case that the yank Sludgsters are just too heavy for him to control but finally the wall shaking bottom end we're all here for is in evidence and the now packed venue goes mental. they are, in fact, so heavy that it takes me about half the set to realise that there are only 3 men on stage which impresses me all the more. the majority of their superb self title debut album gets an airing along with a fair amount of new material as well (i believe, don't quote me) and we're all lost in a Sludge-Tsunami that threatens to be the end of all of us and then the highlight of the evening (both musically and comedically) fires in as they launch into album opener 'Hats Made Of Veal And That New Car Scent'. the crowd double their efforts rocking out and as i look over my shoulder for the first time since they took the stage i realise that not only myself, Wez and Cyruss but in fact the entire audience all respond in kind throwing The Claw and screaming along to 'RRREEEEEZZZZZZUUUUUURRRRRREEEEEKKKKKKSSSSHHHHHYYYYUUUUUNNNNNN!!! which nearly makes me fall over laughing but as i'm rocking out and throwing The Claw so hard myself i manage to stay upright. about two songs later they end in a hail of feedback and we amble back downstairs. somewhere along the line i've finally managed to buy myself that Charger hoody i've been after for so long and then Ives collars me at the bar and i have to go to the cash point to get more money to buy him that beer i've been promising him for just as long. this puts me in a foul mood for no explainable reason and then (i think) we say our goodbyes to jay Charger and Jon manages to herd me out the door so we can find this pub his mate is having a birthday bash in. somewhere along the line we proquire chips and i rant about Ives before Jon delicately enquires if maybe i'm not overreacting and i collapse into a brief fit of despair at potentially having acted like a cunt to the poor guy whilst absent mindedly wiping ketchup and mayonaise all over my new hoody...

These Arms Are Snakes - 'Easter' Album Review

I'll warn you now, once again I'm reviewing a band I absolutely adore so please don't be surprised when you find it dripping with my trademark fanboy exuberance.

You may now continue...

These Arms Are Snakes, despite featuring a former member of the almighty Botch, seem to be a reasonably unknown commodity amongst a lot of people involved with this music 'scene' of ours and (rather unfortunately for me) attempting to describe what they sound like can often prove somewhat frustrating as the person you're trying to describe them to will invariably end up looking rather confused and distinctly less than impressed. As a result of this I shall attempt to set the tone for this review by describing what the band are doing, rather than their actual sound per sé.

Basically, TAAS are somewhat of a rarity in that, in this day and age where every guitar band going are desperately trying to convince you that they're 'The New Heavy' whether they even have the slightest understanding of what that term might mean or not, TAAS are furiously trying to convince people that they're not heavy when they're actually skull crushingly so. 'Interesting statement' some people will no doubt think, especially those who do know any TAAS material but let me explain further: I don't mean they're heavy in the same sense as a doom band are heavy, all huge amounts of gain and gut wrenching roaring, but rather that the general vibe and intensity behind the music will (if given a fair chance) utterly floor you, and it's this that makes them so special. Their music is the very essence of barely restrained intent. Abrasive rather than aggressive, provoking rather than punishing... They could rip your head off and shit down your neck if they wanted to... but that's not what they're trying to achieve, it'll cause notably more problems if they simply almost sever your neck and then leave you laying there trying to put yourself back together.

When I first received 'Easter' on pre-order a week ago I played it simultaneously filled with huge anticipation and great trepidation... I knew it was going to be brilliant, but would it match up to their previous full length effort 'Oxeneers: Or The Lion Sleeps When His Antelope Go Home'? On first listen, I honestly thought it didn't. It was another fine example of their ability to craft intricate, occasionally beautiful and always intensely intelligent songs but where were the stand out tracks? Every TAAS release up to date has had that one song that simply blows you away. 'Oxeneers...' had 'Your Pearly Whites', 'This Is Meant To Hurt You' had 'Drinking From The Necks Of The Ones You Love' but these seemed to be lacking here and my initial enjoyment suffered as a result.

Good God, was I ever wrong...

'Easter' takes the already stupidly high standards set by 'Oxeneers...' and frankly, laughs at them whilst pushing the bar even further beyond the reach of other bands.

The reason there are no stand out tracks on this cd is because they all stand out. From start to finish there isn't a superfluous note or wasted idea. The album takes the established, near-tech Seattle sound of their previous releases but shapes it into a far more complete, and therefore complex, whole. The electronic elements of their sound have finally been fully incorporated into the song writing and the guitar work is simply phenomenal, somehow blending rocked-up Botch-esque tech with delicate indie sensitivity and at times a new, almost country-like swagger. On top of the musical progression, singer/madprophet/bornagainJohnnyRotten Steve Snere continues to allow his punky, but never unnecessarily aggressive delivery chase you around the musical landscape as his lyrics continue to tease and provoke, refusing to lay it on the line unless he absolutely has to. You know he's saying something important but he'll make you sweat to earn that understanding, if it ever comes at all and yet i dare anyone to try losing interest in his performance.

All of this sinks in somewhere around the fifth or sixth spin of the album and then you suddenly realise... actually, there are stand out tracks... and there's more than one! 'Subtle Body', 'Abracadabraca', the two-parts-of-the-same-song 'Perpetual Bris' and 'Corporeal' and album closer 'Crazy Woman Dirty Train' all, for different reasons, bore slowly into your heart, oh so very quietly over the space of the first few listens before finally exploding into bloom, gripping you completely. Indeed, 'Crazy Woman...' is perhaps the perfect example of this new enlivened TAAS sound as it slowly builds into what will obviously be a gigantic, tumultuous album finale only to refuse to do so at the very last second. Guitar, Bass, Drums, Samples and Vocals all rage into it but there is still restraint as the band refuse to take the easy option and give you what you want, or even what they want as you can almost feel the tension as they hold it back to where it's supposed to be. This album isn't supposed to be Botch, remember? and TAAS will only let their music happen on their own terms.

Thought provoking, at times beautiful and delicate, genuinely original and searingly visceral, 'Easter' serves up the goods as only TAAS could. Frankly, I pity any band trying to move within similar circles at the moment as if this is what they're capable of after only a few years I am quite seriously scared to see where they will go next.

Faultless.

Cyruss - 'Hate/Human' Album Review

In direct correlation with the Out For Blood review, here we have another band fond of chucking the word 'Sludge' about the shop. This Vienna-based three-piece's website (which, rather handily, appears to be riddled with AdWare...), however, prefers the use of the term 'Brutalized Stoner' which is certainly more accurate as, if OFB are more or less Sludge, these Austrians are clearly no such thing.

What they are, however, is actually all the better off for it. Basically, what we have here is fairly standard, ramped-up stoner with an Isis style roarer, able to avoid many of the Sludge cliches that can have such a negative effect on other bands humping the Iron Monkey dream. A good comparison would be to think Karma To Burn or maybe SixtyWatt Shaman with the edgier, more aggressive vibe of Clutch's 'Trans-national Speedway' era. Unfortunately this 'edge' can sometimes feel rather tacked on as if as an after thought ("Wait a minute lads... It doesn't sound very angry. Quick! Add a 'malevolent' sounding intro!") but fortunately doesn't really spoil the flow of the cd as I don't think they could actually write a 'nasty' riff if they took a bucket full or bad speed and spent an hour slapping each other in the face before trying to do so...

In reference to the vocals, I have to say that it's probably rather fortunate that the singer has adopted the roaring approach as the lyrics printed on the sleeve are verging on absolute gibberish. I'm sure the singer refers to them as 'hate fueled' but rest assured, this is not the case. I think the poor boy's maybe trying just a little too hard to reach the misanthropic depths plumbed by your average Sludge/Grind screamer without realising that such bands tends to be at least a little bit tongue in cheek about it, with the end result that it just feels like a twelve year old trying to write 'clever' free-form poetry...

Still, daft pseudo-English aside, everything on display here is enjoyable enough and well played throughout. I'm sure it will have those with a place for stoner in their hearts nodding their heads well enough with a good production quality letting the fairly simple song structures employed here shine. I won't lie to you and say I'll be listening to this regularly (or indeed, probably ever again) but I certainly wasn't disappointed whilst it was on.

Now if only they'd stop worrying about trying to sound so evil all the time...

Out For Blood - 'Out For Blood' Album Review

Sludge. Seriously now, amidst the current slew of ridiculously named sub-genres that music-journo's seem to be falling over themselves to patent every time a band tries something even remotely original, what the fuck is 'Sludge' anyway...? And where do you draw the line between the different types of Sludge? What differentiates a band between being 'Sludge' and 'Sludgecore', for example?

Reason I'm wondering is that there has already been some rumblings on the 9Hz webzine forums regarding whether this lot are being entirely fair when they refer to themselves as 'Sludge' and whether listing Iron Monkey on your MySpace 'Influences' list actually makes you worthy of the title?

Anyway, this is a review, not a discursive essay so let's get back to the point.

I first found out about Out For Blood about a year ago and remember being mightily impressed with them (certainly compared to a lot of the other diabolical tatt that was attempting to add me on MySpace at the time...) and they're one of the few bands that I've made a concerted effort to keep tabs on as a result and so happily coughed up my cash when they released this cd.

And so to the nub: is it any good... and is it Sludge?

Well... Yes and Yes, but unfortunately, only rather 'Kind of' at best on both counts.

Basically, I've been listening to this cd for over a week now and I've encountered exactly the same issue every time with it. Yes, it's fucking bastard heavy with appropriately fuzzed-out, distorted bottom-end sounding guitars and bass. Yes, the vocals are suitably brutal, throat ripping and misanthropic. Yes, the tempo skips from thrashy hardcore ala Among The Missing (hence the 'kind of' Sludge statement, as the majority of the fare on display here is of the uptempo 'Sludgecore' variety) down to turgid, dead slow near-doom akin to the rightfully all-hallowed Iron Monkey with dirty, 'orrible grooves aplenty.

So we're doing well here on (at least my interpretation of) the 'Is It Sludge' Checklist. so far, so good you'd think then, right...?

Yes, but here comes the 'kind of'. Generally, I've completely switched off by half way through the third or fourth song (case in point; I was listening to the cd whilst originally writing this review and nearly fainted with surprise when it finished as I was writing this very paragraph considering I honestly thought I was only about half way through!). Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it all the way through and it's all done very well but I can't deny that we're back to the arguement sparked by me review of Bossk on the 9Hz forums again here, i.e: Is doing something very similar to what's gone before really well excusable, or should a band be trying for new grounds at all times at the risk of being rubbish?

In Bossk's case I have been arguing Yes, if only because they can keep my attention so any negatives are balanced by my overall enjoyment of the cd. Unfortunately I can't bring myself to do likewise with Out For Blood as, whilst this is all of a very high standard, the album is woefully formulaic and (at least in certain regards) a real disappointment for me as I was expecting good things from these boys.

Parting thought: I've now moved over to listening to Gojira (bearing in mind I would normally rather rip my own cock off than listen to anything remotely Death Metal-ish) as I consider it to be a safer option than trying to listen to OFB again as I simply can't be arsed to be disappointed by them anymore.

And I so wanted to be able to rave about how great this was, too...