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Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Music Releases For February 4th, 2014

Well Happy Tuesday everyone.  Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to jump back in the saddle for this week's music releases.  There are a handful of great albums here I have been waiting to get my eager hands on (and with good reason).  I have personally had the chance to preview a few of these albums such as Within Temptation, For Today, Caliban, and Les Claypool's Duo De Twang.  All of which were top notch and rather creative.  Well, at least for Within Temptation and LC's Duo De Twang, I found myself listening to fresh material not heard before in their respective genres.


Superbly mixed to bring out warmth and depth, Hydra is a treat for the ears on multiple levels. Not only is the overall sound excellent, but the solid engineering also serves to highlight the strength of den Adel’s voice (and the voices of the guests) and displays the raw talents of the band to their fullest. Within Temptation’s songwriting continues to evolve, and their performances are without flaw.

There are not enough superlatives to fully describe Hydra. The band is undoubtedly in top form, den Adel’s voice is unmatched, and together they have released an album that will not only appeal to their own corps of fans, but one that will bring new blood into the fold. Complex at times and elegantly simple at others, Hydra is Within Temptation’s best work by far. It is not a rehash of their old style – rather it is a strong evolutionary step that blends new elements with old, enhancing rather than changing the band’s traditional sound. -Hard Rock Haven

Within Temptation specifically have been on and off for some time.    Being a big fan of their 2007 album "The Heart of Everything" and easily passing by 2011's "The Unforgiving", I was weary about what to expect with "Hydra".  But much like the mysticism behind a hydra, this album have multiple faces when it comes to their dynamics.  Going back to Les Claypool and his somewhat new sound he's finding himself theses days, it's a different take on what you would expect from a funk/rock front man like him.  Being at the helm of Primus for the past 25 years, it's nice to see that his priorities are not changing, but offering new sounds that he finds himself enjoying in his [now] 50's.


Like a lot of the material Claypool has released under his own name, Four Foot Shack is a mixed bag. But this time around the positives outweigh the negatives by quite a bit, and the album’s relaxed vibe is a nice change for Claypool. Somehow, the “two dudes playing on a back porch” style of this project finds a middle ground between the intensity of Claypool’s Primus material and his often meandering, sometimes boring jam band-oriented solo material. -Pop Matters

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John Butler certainly likes to keep his fans waiting when it comes to new music. It’s been a few years now since Butler released ‘April Uprising’ back in 2010, but the lengthy wait between albums is something that JBT fans have come to expect - and really, it’s not all that much of a problem, because John Butler always delivers, making the wait well worth it.

A lot of Butler’s most popular songs (Funky Tonight, Better Than, Zebra, etc.) are driven by catchy choruses, and while there isn't a great deal of that here, we see it work its way through in tracks like lead single ‘Only One,’ which has already been winning over fans of the John Butler Trio, and ‘Devil Woman,’ the shortest, most energetic track on the record. -Kill Your Stereo

New comers to AFGM would have to be John Butler Trio, Whiskey Myers, and the Moonshine Bandits.  I best be brushing up on my JBT tunes as I am seeing them in concert this week!  From what I have heard thus far on the new album "Flesh & Blood", John Butler is never short of funky riffs and infectious grooves.  The first single "Only One" paints a Walking Dead picture with some rather comical music for the setting.  nothing like Zombie dance off!  Whiskey Myers and Moonshine Bandits will have to wait until the weekend when I have some relaxing time and able to take in the mellowness of their country attitude.


(Whiskey Myers - Early Morning Shakes)

Visceral and dynamic, the album’s 12 songs encompass an impressive range of perspectives and emotions – while finding the band’s musicianship honed to a razor’s edge. And though Early Morning Shakes is a great step forward creatively, it’s an organic one. As guitarist John Jeffers explains, 'Staying true to ourselves and to our music has gotten us to the point we’re at. We really wanted to continue on that same track'. -Lonestar Music


(Moonshine Bandits - Calicountry)

Their unique sound, a blend of West Coast hip-hop and rap beat and country twang, is a strong representation of the California of which they grew up. With their rowdy shows and unique sound, their music is quickly moving beyond their regional boundaries.

The album is full of hip-hop/rap music with country lyrics and a twang. They have enlisted numerous artists to sing along with them including Colt Ford and The Lacs. -Digital Rodeo

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And in conclusion, we end up with the metalcore tested and true groups Caliban and For Today.  Both at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to their image and lyrical content, but the overall sound seems to flow in and out of each other.  Not that I am going to compare the two in contrast.  They both have different labels, different sound, different stages in their career, and a different audience.  In the grand timescale of metal music, Caliban are the veterans.  They have adapted to the trend of metal over the years but at the same time do not lose that core image and sound they harnessed years ago during their "Vent"/"Shadow Hearts"/"Opposite From Within" era.  Being a group for the better part of 17 years, you would assume the guys have a good formula patented for future releases.

Now we move onto the sort of newcomers.  For Today have been playing and touring together for the past 9 years.  Being their fifth LP to date, not much can be said about these guys from my end.  I don't like the bible thumping attitude and don't like the preaching to the influential minds of the youth but that's my opinion based out of my experiences with religion.  Everything else about the band leads to a great album.  The vocal mesh seamlessly with the rest of the group.  The drum work and bass are chest pounding, met with the crushing distortion of the guitars.  Overall, makes for a great album.


The thing I love about Ghost Empire is the atmospheres that each of the tracks contain. There’s a healthy amount of synthetic textures making the space of each song feel so vast and spacious. And there’s also plenty of layered guitar melodies during choruses and other passages to complicate the textures a little more. This isn’t anything new to metalcore or to Caliban, but it’s still done very well. Songs like “I Am Ghost”, “Who We Are”, and “Devil’s Night” demonstrate some of these atmospheric textures beautifully. 

But it really does pop up in virtually every track.  Clean vocals also make appearances, as in the past, and they’re as catchy and memorable as ever. “I Am Rebellion” has probably the most memorable chorus in Ghost Empire, with guitarist Denis Schmidt still taking the lead on those. -Metal Injection


For Today have never been ones to shy away from presenting bold, activating/challenging messages in the past, but this album still finds ways to kick it up a notch; including covering growing up without a dad (“Fatherless”), being hated and betrayed by friends (“Hated by the World”), and even in presenting powerful moments of auditory redemption (“For the Fallen”). Combined with the increased “catchiness” of many of the songs, these accessible moments will likely make this the band’s most challenging, yet most broadly appealing record to date.

For Today is back with their signature blend of hard music that includes indelible passion, boldness, and lyrical aggression. Mattie Montgomery and company are always willing to step out for what they believe and often wear their faith on their sleeves, but Fight the Silence is somehow an even more passionate call to action than usual. Fans who were engrossed in their last two albums will eat this album up. However, it should be noted that the similarities to those records is strong enough that others may leave feeling that Fight the Silence is really Immortal part 2. -Indie Vision Music

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So leaving this till the end of the article does not negate the fact that we all should in some form help out the bands we like and love.  Buy a ticket, buy a shirt, buy a DVD or pick up an album at your local record store, online retailer, or other legal source for music.  Cheers and enjoy!

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