Agolloch - Pale Folklore

I'll admit, it took me repeated listens to get into this. Folk-influenced black metal is hardly my strong point, but there's always been something about this Agolloch record that keeps dragging me back to try and listen through it again. Now, I identify with a subtlety to the music, something which took me a while to understand whilst deciphering the three-part epic "She Painted Fire Across The Skyline"; an incredibly ambitious piece to open up an album with. I think that's it, actually - getting through this mammoth opener to the continuing gems beyond.

Past this point the epic journey continues in leaps and bounds, but with - what I feel - more room to breathe, not having to constantly reprise the thematics of "She Painted Fire...". Case in point, "Hallways Of Enchanted Ebony" and "As Embers Dress The Sky" are two fantastically spellbinding compositions of song-weavery; black metal's dim, lo-fi velocity meeting the intricate web of forgotten folklore, resulting in tracks positively dripping with magic.

Taste:

John Nolan - Sad Strange Beautiful Dream

(Words by Burra)

Sad Strange Beautiful Dream is a solo album from Taking Back Sunday guitarist/backing vocalist John Nolan. I've been meaning to give this a listen for a while, after being a fan of Taking Back Sunday since the beginning as well as enjoying the Straylight Run project, so I thought I'd actually sit down and give it a good listen.

This is a very mellow and minimalist album. I actually find it quite refreshing and laid back to listen to; it's quite nice to get an album like that, so this is definitely an album I would turn to if I'm looking for something to put on and just chill out too. There's quite a bluesy, maybe folkier-style sound here than what the masses would know John Nolan for and a break away from the emo/post hardcore sound those would maybe associate him with.

There is definitely a few stand out moments here, especially with the quiet ballad-like number "Drinking Your Way To Confidence"; one of the album's finest moments, and one that really showcases John as a songwriter and his comfort-ability in this style of music.

Overall a great album, and one that could easily hold it's own without the Taking Back Sunday association, if such is the case. Well worth a listen.

Death In June - Nada!

Nada! is my favourite Death In June record. Brown Book is kind of similar but I prefer Nada! for its dominating dark 80s synthpop vibes and martial background. There’s also less Nazi imagery flirtation going on here, which is always a plus. I believe that this album was the last the group did as a three piece; and seems a fry cry from the acoustic solo project that Death In June has been for so many years now.

I love the dense electronic sound on most of these tracks. I’ll have to find out what equipment was used here, especially the drum machine (not so I can go out and get one, but see if any .wav rips exist that I can import into iDrum or something like that). “The Honour Of Silence” opens things up on a haunting, sombre note (what else would you expect though?), and “The Calling MKII” sounds like it could have been in regular circulation on the radio back 25 years or so. “Rain Of Despair”, “Foretold” and “Carousel” bring those dark synth vibes in by the truckload, which is just what I want. My favourite track though has to be “Crush My Love” with its excellent synth lead and unusual vocal approach (for DIJ). To top it off, Nada! is probably the best place to start with Death In June, although I could be slightly biased.

Lifelover - Pulver

I’ve always been a bit hit and miss when it comes to black metal. I think it’s because black metal is easily one of the most over-saturated genres of music out there. There seems to be an endless stream of black metal projects the world over, constantly vying for grimness and struggling to flog their shitty limited run cassette-release demos. In all honesty, I only ended up checking out Lifelover because of the extremely interesting (and quite ironic) band name. If they were called Sataniiik Invokkkor Ov Frostbitten Warbeasts or something equally as hammy I would have been much less inclined to bother listening to them. I’m just not kvlt enough.

Lifelover however, are (or were) grim as fuck. They are (or were) lumped in by pedantic metalheads into the ridiculous sub-genre called Depressive Suicidal Black Metal, or DSBM for short. Now, whiney self-loathing bullshit cried out by well-off Europeans living in countries with phenomenally high quality of life (90s Norway scene, I’m looking at you!) usually drives me up the wall, but there’s something really creepy about Lifelover’s folky, morose approach to black metal that feels so genuine. At first, compared to powerhouse black metallers like Marduk or 1349, Lifelover’s music can seem a little lazy, but as it unfolds and you adjust to the guitar playing style you come to realise that whoever is strumming that thing is in fact very, very tired with life.

Lifelover glorify death, self-harm, suicide, murder and all sorts of other horribly depressing shit. But, it’s delivered with such authenticity and worrying sombreness that it really gets to me. It does not surprise me at all in the slightest, that four albums later, Lifelover’s main songwriter (known only as B) winds up offing himself, effectively ending the band. This was a very, very serious reminder that Lifelover were not joking or simply looking to shock with their music.

None of the other Lifelover albums hold the same haunting, nihilistic self-loathing that Pulver does. It’s a difficult listen, but well worth it if you’ve got the stones for it.

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica

Okay then...how do I tackle this one (no pun intended)? This is a revered classic of sorts, but I've always had a hard time listening to it (I suppose that is kinda the point? I don't suppose it was recorded with 'easy listening' in mind), but now I have this crazy trip on double vinyl there is no longer any excuse to keep putting off the review/post like I did with my CD copy. Again, let me take this opportunity to briefly waffle about music being on the right format. Considering this was originally recorded in 1969 on analogue equipment, it is understandable that the CD version I have sounds a bit flat. This 2000 Warner Bros pressing on 180 gram vinyl on the other hand, is something to behold; a work of art. I'm often sceptical of the 'boom' in 180 gram 'high fidelity' records on the market, but this is really, really sweet sounding. Captain Beefheart's psychedelic, funky blues is now more of a pleasurable listen, rather than a challenging one.

If you're not familiar with the ways of The Magic Band it can be a bit of a headfuck at first; even for myself, and I've been plumbing the depths of the sonically challenging for quite a while now. With Trout Mask Replica though, it's the horrendous clashing of almost out-of-tune sounding guitar work, mashed together in a 'djent' manner with a random assortment of other instruments - percussive or otherwise - and then all lamented over by what sounds like a crazy hobo just stringing words together for the sheer fuck of it. Typically, I like it, but I can't understand how this record is held so highly all over the world. Fair, in noise, avant-garde and even the fringes of jazz and blues scenes I can see why this would be held in a positive light, but as for the rest of the 'music mainstream' I cannot see why people would like this? Maybe I'm an idiot.

Anyway, some of my favourite Beefheart tracks are here on this monster; "Dachau Blues", "Frownland", "Ella Guru", "Neon Meate Dream Of An Octofish", "My Human Gets Me Blues", "Veteran's Day Poppy" and the "Hair Pie" series...all scatterfuck, weirder-than-your-average approaches to the traditional songwriting structure. I don't know what drugs these guys were on, but I want some.

Death In June - Brown Book

Death In June is one strange-ass project. For something as simple as acoustic, folky shit, DIJ sure do have a wide, eccentric discography. Brown Book is pretty weird. Death In June's lazy campfire strumming and monotone vocal meets 80s-to-the-max drum programming and fairly awful female vocals. It kinda sounds like a poor man's mid-career Swans. I might be slightly biased here however, and even factually incorrect as Death In June were doing this kind of thing first.

Although, for some reason that isn't entirely clear to me yet, I quite like this. Perhaps it is because I am pretty interested in some other DIJ material, and this is just a perplexing variant on that sound. It is almost soothing, yet at the same time quite unsettling. "Red Dog - Black Dog" is like a cross between a lullaby and a nightmare. "Hail! The White Grain" and "Runes And Men" must be deliberately Third Reich-y? "We Are The Lust" is almost ritual like, with thumping percussion, haunting synth work and chanted vocal mantra. "Burn Again" rounds everything off with a menacing yet pensive tone. 

Make what you will of the nazi-related imagery (but they ain't nazis, yo - it's art, see?), but all in all this is a pretty interesting recording, if you have an open mind.

Blood Ceremony - Blood Ceremony

Blood Ceremony's self-titled is one of my go-to feel good "doom metal" records (I use the term doom like that because I find that this isn't miserable enough to fall under the doom tag proper, although it does incorporate a lot of elements from that genre). As mentioned elsewhere on this website recently, my distain for the explosion in female-fronted edgy rock music continues to grow, but let's fuck all that trend-jocking shit for a minute and focus on Blood Ceremony.

Imagine mixing Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane and an enormously illegal quantity of opiates at a smoky blues club, and you're on the right track here. Songs about witches, covens, toads, wizards and smoking "black drugs from Saturn's bong" are abound, as is trippy flutework, masterful guitar sweepery and enough synthesizer alchemy to make Gary Numan prick up his ears. The opening song, "Master Of Confusion" is totally classic, and should be on the playlist of anyone with an inclination towards this type of stuff. The flute solo on "I'm Coming With You" is insane, and my favourite track is "Hop Toad", which is also mainly flute-driven.

I'm lucky enough to have caught these guys (and gal) live twice in the last 3 years, and I wouldn't hesitate in a heartbeat to go and watch them perform again. Stellar stuff! You can stream this on Spotify, buy it on CD or even take out a second mortgage to buy the Rise Above vinyl version, if you have a big enough hipster beard to qualify for that.

Now, onto those "black drugs"....

The Angels Of Light - We Are Him

To me, We Are Him is the heaviest of all the Angels Of Light material, for lack of a better way of describing it. In hindsight, their final album was a precursor to the reformation of Swans in 2010. It mashes together the usual artsy, folky vibes of earlier Angels stuff with heavy bass lines and thumping percussion attacks. Listening to the first ten seconds of "Goodbye Mary Lou" is enough to cement that We Are Him is still steeped in the roots from which the Angels Of Light spawned, but there is a palpable menace brooding over this record. 

Let's face it, "Black River Song" and "My Brother's Man" could easily have been on the Swans reformation album, My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky. Both are mind numbingly repetitive, driven by bass and heavy percussion, and narrated by twisted, slightly disturbing vocal lines. But, this is still an Angels Of Light record, and moments of clarity and beauty are in abundance. I never thought I'd ever be into something that resembles country and western, but Michael Gira will take you strange places if you are willing to follow. "Sunflower's Here To Stay" and "The Visitor" are simply stunning, intricately composed and immensely delicate tracks of American goodness. 

If you liked the softer side to Swans and haven't heard Angels Of Light yet, there's no better place to start than here. Self-released by Gira on Young God Records. 

Swans - Can't Find My Way Home

Ever onwards through collecting the Swans discography! Ever onwards....

Unfortunately, Can't Find My Way Home is one of the weaker tracks off the somewhat-hated The Burning World album (and a cover song to boot), so this single doesn't really do anything for me in that respect. It is merely a completists item for me, as I go on to collect at least one version of every release Swans have put out. I have the 7" version here, although there is a 12" version of this single in existence, which I believe possesses yet another extra track. 

 

The b-side here though, is a cripplingly-weak acoustic re-working of "(She's A) Universal Emptiness", which is one of my favourite tracks off The Burning World. This version, is for some godforsaken reason, sped up in tempo, and not only sounds rushed, but loses it's depressive and brooding feeling. 

To briefly conclude; this release offers nothing to the Swans discography in any way, and is entirely a completists item. I do not recommend purchasing it to anyone, anywhere.

The Angels of Light - Angels of Light Sing 'Other People'

This is the closest that Angels of Light ever came to Gira's bare bones solo work; ...Other People is a stripped down acoustic, folky romp that sees Gira and co. writing homages in song form to people that...well, deserve songs written about them, I guess. It's all very artsy-fartsy, and whilst I don't feel it's the best Angels of Light album in any universe, there is still a fair dollop of good tunes here.

The first notable difference here is that drums (or percussion generally) are absent for the entire album, rendering the whole thing with more of a Gira 'n' Pals kinda vibe than a full-blown Angels of Light record. For the most part, the songs are driven by Michael Gira's voice and a simple acoustic guitar, decorated now and then with some other sparse instrumentation and gang-style backing vocals on the choruses. 

My favourite song by a country mile is "Destroyer", although there is a whole bunch of decent tunes here, such as "On The Mountain", "Michael's White Hands" and "Purple Creek". For me, this is a funny one in the Angels of Light discography; in no way would I consider it vital, like How I Loved You, or We Are Him, but it is also by far the easiest Angels record to get a hold of on wax. I got this for a tenner, which was an absolute bargain considering how much original presses of earlier records of theirs cost.

In a short conclusion then; worth a listen if you enjoy the softer side of Swans or Michael Gira's solo work (the acoustic stuff, rather than the abstract stuff), but for beginners I'd say definitely start with one of the above-mentioned records rather than this one.