Black Moth - The Killing Jar

The Killing Jar is quite possible one of the crappiest names for an album I've ever come across, but let's not let that tarnish things here. Black Moth are a dirty rock and/or roll band with stoner and doom metal influences. They've been around for a few years now but I hadn't heard of them until they were announced for Temples Festival this year. I was too smashed to watch them (story of my life) on the day but they did make my "check out everyone playing Temples" list on Spotify, from where I then migrated to checking out their entire album.

The Killing Jar is a brilliant record, combining raunchy swagger with heavy guitar riffs and a rocking pace. The vocals provided by Harriet Bevan are equal parts teasing, powerful and even cheeky. It's like somebody put the sounds of Kyuss and Blues Pills into a blender, along with some essence of garage rock. Opening track "The Articulate Dead" is a corker, and was even a single release for the band (on 7" too), but my favourite tracks are the hat-trick of "Chicken Shit", "Blind Faith" and "Plastic Blaze", which are towards the end of the album. 

This record was put out on both CD and vinyl by the New Heavy Sounds label, whose small roster includes fellow stoner/doom influenced rockers, Throne. But yeah, check out Black Moth, they rule.

Dave Stewart And The Spiritual Cowboys - Dave Stewart And The Spiritual Cowboys

Holy shit this is some chilled out stuff. I'm not talking dubby or ambient or anything, just nice and laid back rock'n'roll with easy, soft vocals and a purring bassline. I would never have bought this myself, mainly because I have never heard of Dave Stewart before; it was a gift from my old man (as the Americans say), who sometimes randomly sends a record my way, which is awfully kind of him. Apparently on a recent holiday my parents took, my father was mistaken for a retired Dave Stewart by the hotel staff. When I was told this story it became apparent that I had never heard of Dave Stewart, and a few weeks later this 12" landed in my possession. Ha!

As I opened up with saying, track 1 is chilled as feck, but track 2 "King Of The Hypocrites" brings all of the funk in the universe, chicken-grease guitars and all. The song that follows it, "Diamond Avenue" has a whole fast-paced abstract lyrical approach that reminds me of something that Bryan Ferry might have done at some point (think "Street Life" or "A Hard Rain's A'Gonna Fall" (that title might not be strictly 100% correct!)). The remains of the A side are fairly lackluster compared to these first three songs.

Side B opens up all guns blazing, with all sorts of shit going on; trumpets popping up left right and centre for the lively yet very rubbish "Party Town". In fact, "Party Town" is so goddamn awful that I call the listening a day right here. I've gotten an over-all feel for what's going on here! Ha ha! No doubt I'll spin this again soon but for the purposes of this review I have heard more than enough Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys. Mega recommends if you're into classic rock and/or roll, otherwise I wouldn't bother clicking.

Zonderhoof - Hakken!

Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself of the growing pool of talent in my local area. Zonderhoof were another local band that I’d somehow spent my entire life avoiding; that was until Terrorizer magazine gave their album away for free with an issue of their magazine, and at their stall in Damnation Festival 2011 (which is where I kindly received my copy). Even then, I only gave it a quick listen, and I wasn’t turned on to the band again until they supported Conan in a Cardiff show last year.

My first - and somewhat harsh - thought about this album is that Zonderhoof sound like a poor man’s Bongripper. Y’know one of those silly half-opinions you form after listening to something for the first time, like no matter how much you convince yourself otherwise, you really still haven’t got your head around it? Well, it was one of those. See, that’s why I can never understand “professional” reviews where a writer is given an album to write about*; I’ve found that you always need to let a record unfold for you over time. First impressions are just that; first impressions.

And with time I have come to appreciate Zonderhoof as an instrumental wonder of the metal world, playing a nice, almost progressive brand of lyric-free metal goodness. This CD is a long ‘un, which is really great considering it was given away for free (just think of the recording and production costs; sheesh!). My favourite tracks are probably opener “Smoking Ears Screaming Teeth” and the groovy “Hogslayer”, although the last couple of tracks are awesome as well. Well worth a listen, in my somewhat skewed opinion.

*a brilliant, recurring example of this is the writers that Kerrang! employ(ed). When a big band dropped a new album they’d always give it either an arse-kissing five Ks or a controversial licking, and within months go back on their own fucking word almost every single time, like clockwork. Mind you, Kerrang! is a heap of shit and probably a bad example, but there you go.  

Blue Oyster Cult - Cultosaurus Erectus

We've all heard "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", possibly hundreds of times in bars, pubs and on shitty "best-of" 3 disc rock music compilations. I'm pretty sure that "THE BEST Driving Album In The World, EVER no. 198234" even has it on there twice for good measure. But despite my over-exposure to their biggest hit, I had absolutely no knowledge of Blue Oyster Cult at all. Well, when I was in sixth form my teacher used to insist that Blue Oyster Cult secretly invented the heavy metal genre, but other than that, I knew nothing of them.

 

It was a random fluke then when my parents bought me this record as a present on their recent trip up to Birmingham. I don't really know why, but I guess they saw a record shop and thought of me, which is nice. Being entirely unfamiliar with the Blue Oyster I immediately threw it on the deck and gave it a spin. And you know what, it ain't half bad. I got a lot of spacey Hawkwind vibes from the cover, but the overall feel is a lot more rock and/or roll than Hawkwind. It holds that unique production sound of the early 80s, where the feeling and natural tone of most 70s records met awkwardly with the digital studio production of the future. The production is very clinical, and each instrument stands out perfectly, but at the same time it doesn't lose much of the "olde-y worlde-y" charm. It's quite the paradox!

None of the songs are anywhere near as good as the previously mentioned tune about the reaper, but the opening track "Black Blade" is a stormer, and track 3 "Divine Wind" is my second favourite. Side B is definitely weaker than side A, but "Deadline" is by far the worst song here. All in all, a nice experience but not something I'd run out and buy.

One bitchin' poster. 

Anathema - A Fine Day To Exit

This is one of my favourite Anathema albums - if not my favourite out of them all (that I have heard). It was also the first "soft" Anathema record I got hold of after discovering the band didn't play doom metal anymore. I spent a while worshipping the Serenades album, which was probably one of my first introductions to the ultra-slow and miserable side of doom metal. I was so excited to see the band play live at Download 2007, as they were one of the few decent acts on the line up. Having only heard Serenades, you could imagine the fucking shock I had when the band took to the stage (with Lee Douglas in tow, as I believe they were still touring A Natural Disaster at the time). 

It took me a while to adjust to these fancy English-folk with their flowery shirts and uplifting music, and A Fine Day To Exit helped me greatly to appreciate the softer side of music! For somebody who through 2007/2008 was pretty much 100% living and breathing shitty grindcore, A Fine Day... was one of my more experimental purchases, but it has through time cemented itself as one of my favourites. I don't really listen to it that much, but when I am in the mood for it, there really isn't anything else that can be accepted as a substitute. 

Opener "Pressure" is epic as fuck, which a huge piano leading a stomping drum beat and soft vocals. Second track, "Release", starts off all twinkly and acoustic but develops into something much more progressive and "rock-band" based. This song can really sum up what Anathema is all about! "Underworld" has one of the weirdest (and best) guitar riffs in the history of music and track seven, "Panic", is one of my favourite songs of all time, sounding like an upbeat and slightly heavier (and a whole world less boring) Radiohead. I won't go into every song here, but the four above are probably my favourites so I'll just leave it at that.

 

If you've never heard Anathema I implore you to check out the link below and chillax to the fuckin' max. If you're a regular on the metal or rock festival circuit, keep your eyes out for these charming gentlemen as they still seem to play a rather large amount of heavier festivals. I guess that's where their roots are, as are a lot of their fans despite their softer sound, and whilst they do seem out of place sandwiched between the likes of Candlemass and Turisas etc., I promise you it will be a refreshing and eye opening break. 

Linkin Park - Bleed It Out

I've never been a big Linkin Park fan, even though Hybrid Theory was the first album I ever bought with my own money when I was 11 years old. I'd lost all interest by the time the second record came out, but when the third album came out around 2007 the band (or more likely the label) came up with the idea to release the singles off that album on mini 7" picture discs, which was pretty cool. I missed the first one but ended up getting Bleed It Out and Shadow of the Day before realizing that my money was better spent elsewhere.

I've tried to sell Shadow of the Day to no avail but will keep my hands on this version of Bleed It Out as it has an absolutely fucking wicked remix of "What I've Done" on the flip-side  IMHO "What I've Done" was the last half-decent Linkin Park song, and this nastier, dirtier remix was right up my street, and makes it worth keeping this record. Out on Warner Bros., that I won't be linking to.