So your weekly CD release day has come. I tends to be a good day for those enthusiasts, like myself, who are always on the lookout for a new CD that just makes you go "wow". A few of these albums I have had the chance to preview of the last week or two (I Am War, Obey The Brave, The Chariot, etc), and a few I have wanted to check out as well.
I have to note two decent Canadian albums dropping today. Between the always popular Alanis Morissette and the debut album from Obey The Brave, I strongly urge you readers to pick up a copy of either album, as they support Canadian music. Not only to show some love to the artists north of the border, but also because they're just all around great albums.
Also on the roster are a few notable other genres, such as the A&M Records 50th Anniversary release, Robert Cray's 20th LP "Nothin But Love" and newcomer Sean Rowe and his newest LP "The Salesman And The Shark". Anyways, make your way down to your local record shop today or an online retailer to grab any of the following notable albums:
"It’s a tag-team approach that feeds off itself. Beginning with the assertively titled ‘Don’t Worship Assholes’, I Am War allows the listener in. Things get intense with ‘The Poisoning’. The drums give way to the album’s true highlight. It takes away the fluff and focuses on tenacity rather than technicality.
Perhaps, ‘Outlive You All’ is guilty of staying in the same range. There are a few passages that blend into one another. However, this isn’t Meshuggah. Listeners press play realising that this is an ‘up front’-type of musical creation.
All songs are short and sharp with none of the twelve clocking in at over two-and-a-half minutes. ‘Chipped Shoulders and Heart Attacks’ hits its marks, while ‘Nihilistic Motivation’ is another fast moment towards the tail end. Worth a look-in." -Kill Your Stereo
"Havoc and Bright Lights (August 27, 2012) 3 Stephen Thomas Erlewine Rebounding from the breakup record of 2008's Flavors of Entanglement, Alanis Morissette is in a sunny mood on Havoc and Bright Lights, her first album in four years and first she's released since leaving her longtime home at Maverick Records. A new home suggests it's time for a rebirth and Havoc and Bright Lights certainly fits the bill, Morissette exuding a quiet bliss as a happy newlywed and mother, a sensibility that's tempered somewhat by Alanis also embracing her role as an elder statesman, hectoring all those young folk eager to become a 'tattooed sexy dancing monkey' so they can become a 'Celebrity.' Such mild condescension doesn't surface all that often, probably because Morissette is in an unusually benevolent mood, settling into her happiness without raising a single doubt or misgiving. Naturally, it follows that her music also feels quite comfortable. Working once again with producer Guy Sigsworth -- he helmed Flavors -- along with his new partner Joe Chiccarelli, Morissette flips Flavors inside out, winding up with a wide-open, cheerful set of adult pop, the kind where the sound matters more than the song. And that's not quite fair to Alanis, for as content as she is, she's still exploring the depths of her satisfaction, working out its pitfalls and plateaus. If the music shortchanges this struggle, presenting it as nothing more than a foregone conclusion, at least Havoc and Bright Lights is as soothing as a Sunday afternoon nap or a warm bath: it's music for when you know you're right where you want to be." -All Music
"The year was 1962 and the location was a garage in Hollywood. Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss started A&M Records, kicking off their new label with the hit single The Lonely Bull by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
Before long, their label was a major force in the industry, one that is being celebrated on the new three-CD set A&M 50: The Anniversary Collection.
The roster that the two men built was multi-genre, from the Mexican sounds of the Tijuana Brass and the Baja Marimba Band to the pop of the Carpenters and Sergio Mendes to the rock of Procol Harum, Supertramp and the Police to the R&B of Janet Jackson and the Brothers Johnson to the jazz of Chuck Mangione and Quincy Jones." -Music News
"Much like MTB's previous offerings the last track on the album provides an intense audible journey. Cold Company, feels like the song that has been waiting to punch you in your face after listening to 9 good but not great tracks. Musically it has everything a MTB fan would want all packaged into a 5 minute closing track. Maybe the best part of the song is that it makes the listener feel like there is something worth waiting for on their next album.
Minus the Bear is one of those bands I just can't put my finger on. The talent is there, they have their own sound and have blueprints to making incredible music with their first 3 LP's, yet they make songs catering to adolescent love. In the search to produce another Pahucca Sunrise (i.e. Listing) MTB has lost the edge that made them a must-hear band. It's true that Minus the Bear should be a household name on par with Modest Mouse or Death Cab, it's just too bad that they haven't put anything out on that level since Planet of Ice in 2007.
It seems that the electronic feel is here to stay with Minus the Bear and we may never have another POI. That in itself may make every album forthcoming a disappointment. However, Infinity Overhead is still a very good album and in the fairness of an objective review shouldn't be compared to the bands previous efforts in grading it. That is why I give it a 3.5-Great. It is a great album with lots to be appreciated on it, new fans could start at this album and work backward in their catalog, and boy would they be in for a treat..." -Sputnik Music
"Whilst listening to this album I seem to be painting pictures in my head and imagining myself in other worldly landscapes. Judging by the superb and perfectly fitting album artwork it feels like the band had this in mind when making Moments. Seriously, listen to this album in the dark through headphones and just see where it takes you. The last two tracks ‘Moments pt1′ and ‘Moments pt2′ are a delightful journey that combined clock in at around 23 minutes and what a great way to spend 23 minutes!
Like I always pick up on with this new breed of technical metal, the pace does seem to stay around the same zone but as I mentioned in my recent review of (Stealing Axions’ peers) Monuments’ debut album Gnosis , when the quality is this high you really don’t mind.
Get on board with this band now and be the one that shows them to your friends, because the thanks will be endless." -Daily Dischord
"Halfway through the album, we come to a track titled 'Grim'. 'Grim' is a 30-second interlude that sounds like it belongs on a hip-hop/rap album. It is pointless and it most certainly doesn't belong on a metalcore album, but again, it's only 30 seconds long so this is a minor flaw. The bigger gripe that I have with this album is the fact that there is not a whole lot of variety.
Young Blood gets back on the right track after 'Grim' with a handful of great songs before the album comes to a close with the strongest track, 'Burning Bridges'. It contains melody, heavy breakdowns, and surprising-but effective-clean vocals. The clean vocals heard in the chorus are very similar to the cleans that are heard throughout Your Memorial's new album, Redirect.
Individually, the songs on Young Blood are spectacular. They're heavy, fairly melodic, really fun to listen to, and bound to wreak havoc at a show. The album as a whole, however, becomes a little bit stale. If there was a wide range of sounds, Obey The Brave's new release may have been a serious contender for album of the year." -Megusta Reviews
"Perhaps cursed by their reluctance to fit into predetermined metal subgenres, it has taken Katatonia two decades to receive the recognition they deserve. Diehard fans will recognise Dead End Kings as the latest in a series of beautifully conceived and subtly inventive exercises in atmospheric heaviness. But there is a sharpness to the songwriting in evidence on the Swedes' ninth full-length recording that promises a bridging of the gap between metal and modern prog. As with obvious peers such as Opeth and Anathema, Katatonia seldom take the obvious melodic route. Instead, songs such as the gently menacing The One You Are Looking for Is Not Here and the film-noir throb of Leech mask singer Jonas Renske's low-key hooks behind intricate arrangements and a shimmering haze of eerie ambience. The band's metal credentials remain undeniable, however, as the strident riffs that underpin show-starter The Parting and the restless physicality of the closing Dead Letters noisily demonstrate." -The Guardian
"Rowe's new album, 'The Salesman and the Shark', was recorded at the historic Vox studio in Los Angeles. Recording in L.A. and performing in New York are odd fits for Rowe, who says he prefers the rhythms of nature and the outdoors.
'It's a bit of a paradox for me. I do enjoy aspects of the city: I love the arts, I love people. That's about where it stops,' Rowe says. "There's an energy in the city that doesn't sit right with me.
'I have spent an extended period of time in nature — the longest was about 24 days,' he adds. 'I slept in a shelter that I built. I was hunting, I was trapping primitively and I was consuming a lot of wild plants. And that was a tremendous lesson — in humility, bit also in nature connection.'" -NPR
"The slow minor blues 'I’m Done Crying' is a self affirmation that it’s time to pick himself up and get on with his life because in spite of losing everything he still has his dignity ‘cause he’s still a man. 'Great Big Old House' continues dealing with the theme of loss through the repossession of a home and the resulting emptiness of the home that use to be filled with a loving family. Which is a subject that many can probably connect with currently.
The album suddenly winds down with 'Sadder Days' which is a lyrical slow blues in which Robert combines his soulful voice with an emotionally restrained solo.
Cray’s ability to blend the blues with rock and other rhythm’s has always been one of the skills that has allowed him to expose another generation of the fans to blues. Do in no small part to the contribution of Kevin Shirley and phenomenal skills that someone who has been playing and singing the blues for 30 years, Nothin But Love will garner Robert another Grammy nomination and most likely a win. It will also be a hard contender for the blues album of the year." -Blues Rock Review
With samples like snatches of dialogue or the whir of a dentist's drill, sudden changes in mood and rhythm, and a dense layering of sound and techniques, The Chariot take real delight in bombarding the listener with as much complexity and violence as possible.
One Wing is not an easy record, but its density and challenge holds riches. For the first time, they have released a record worthy of their live performance and demonstrated that they are not content to rest on their reputations, but continue to push and innovate." -About.com
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