Waking The Cadaver - Waking The Cadaver

So I just found out that WTC split up, which is a shame, but IMO they have never been able to ever top their first album, Perverse Recollections Of A Necromangler. This final "goodbye" CD is quite misleading, as the title and the high quality cover art suggests a new record, however all we have here is a bunch of demos cobbled together onto one CD. Now, if you are a massive WTC fan, I guess you could get excited for finally owning the original versions of "Chased Through The Woods By A Rapist" and "Blood-Splattered Satisfaction", if it were not for the fucking abysmal remaster/remix job.

Yes, for reasons unknown to man, the demos appear to have been drenched in shitty reverb, as if this were a late 90s ambient black metal cassette. The other four demos do little to really add to the package, as does the 17 minute run time (especially considering "Blood-Splattered Satisfaction" appears twice). Disappointing send off. Definitely for collectors only.

Korn - Korn

It sometimes seems a bit detrimental to do reviews on albums that are really old, but as I trawl through covering a little bit about every piece of music in my collection (yes, that’s still an aim of Lines In Wax, despite the recent abolition of reviewing individual formats) it becomes an inevitability. A lot of people can take or leave Korn. In fact, I know tons of people who absolutely hate Korn. But, this album had a massive effect on the metal and alternative scenes in the early 90s. Maybe not as much as Korn would like to think (Jon D reckons Korn laid the template for dubstep, for fuck sake), but it can be blamed for cementing the nu-metal genre fully into existence and starting a mainstream craze in downtuning guitars. You can also blame this record for Sepultura’s Roots. Uch.

Korn is a rough but disciplined record. It has messy, raw metal hanging off a military-precise hip hop backbone, with Jon Davis attempting a more grunge-style vocal approach here than the famous whines and barking sounds that he would later become renown for. “Blind” introduced the unsuspecting world to the sound of Korn, whilst “Clown” was not only just another single but my favourite track off this album. There’s also the hat-trick of “Predictable”, “Fake” and “Lies” that lead towards the controversial, monstrous closing track, “Daddy”. I’m still not sure to this day if I like “Daddy” or not, but this album (or even Korn) would not be the same without this track.

All in all, Korn’s self-titled is a classic (or is that Klassic?) for me, and a definite staple in the evolution of metal music. It might have led to some pretty drastic music over the next decade or so (rap metal? Uch…) but it still gets the odd semi-regular spin. I’m looking forward to the 20^th anniversary tour for this album – even if it doesn’t come near me, I’d love to hear the band play through it again 20 years older and (presumably) wiser.

Are you ready?

Dead Meadow - Dead Meadow

Welcome to a world of fuzz.

Boasting one of the greatest (yet simplest) guitar tones that I have ever heard, Dead Meadow's turn of the century debut dreamscape of a record is a fantastic trip through a stoned, lush world of 60s and 70s influenced rock music. The opening track, "Sleepy Silver Door", is quite simply one of the greatest things ever put to tape. It's one of my favourite stoner-related tracks, with simple yet amazing riff, beastly guitar solo and epic lyrics: "Can't find a key to the sleepy silver door / I'm washed up on the shore of reality".

If you are prepared to wade through a swamp of steaming rock music, viewing life through the lens of a grainy outdoor camera that the BBC used in the 80s, I strongly recommend you some Dead Meadow. It is the perfect music for a serene low-dose trip on nature's finest psilocybin-rich fungi, to traverse forests and mountains - potentially barefoot - pondering the wonders of nature and generally just feeling really good about yourself and everything around you. 

I'll be quiet now. Spark up and love. 

Black Pyramid - Black Pyramid

When I first went to Roadburn festival in 2011 I was in waaaay over my head with my bands-I-know to bands-I've-never-heard-of ratio. I'm not saying I didn't have a wicked time (I went again the year after) but I spent a lot of time high, watching shit I'd never even heard of. Black Pyramid was one of those bands, whom I espied briefly through the packed doors of the second stage in Tilburg's 013 venue. When I came home I wrapped my lugholes around this album, which by some strange coincidence turned out to be bloody fantastic.

Black Pyramid are a good bunch, aye. They seem to mix driving, monumental rock in the vein of Mastadon with the slower, crunchy doom metal vibe. The result is a unique but refined sound that is somehow both all-go and stoned as fuck. The music isn't exactly challenging, but Black Pyramid present a take on the metal template which I enjoy very much. Guitar widdly-widdly-ness is present, but often in small, manageable chunks or catchy-as-fook hooks, like at the end of "Visions Of Gehenna". My favourite tunes here are the pacy "Twilight Grave", the stoned "Worm Ouroboros" and the epic as fuck closing track, "Wintermute".

The band do have other material but in my opinion none of it tops this shit. Check out "Wintermute" below - a seething masterpiece that takes a few minutes to kick in, but stick with it!

PS - I found out whilst writing this review that Black Pyramid are no more - gutted! 

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.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agoraphobic Nosebleed

 

Some of my most favourite ANb stuff ever! What a mess! There are like 28 songs on this 7", all of them micro-blasts of pure grinding hell. For those of you that have Bestial Machinery, these tracks are on disc 2, so you've probably heard them before. I can waffle on about like I can with any other ANb release but this really just has to be heard. It's been out since 1996 on Bovine Records and it's still essential today. If you're into grind you've more than likely heard this once but if not; get it down you, boyo!

 

There is no link to this on Youtube, however they do have disc 2 of Bestial Machinery uploaded. If you can figure out when track 25 starts (hahaha) then you can listen to the demo from there. It's worth a go? ;)

Iron Monkey - Iron Monkey

It has been a long wait, but I bet a whole bunch of people are happy with Earache for finally deciding to press both Iron Monkey records onto wax for the first time ever. They are pressed from digital masters, so I wasn't expecting the world but they actually sound absolutely fantastic. I've always been put off by Earache's CD comp of all Iron Monkey shit (I'm a record-in-it's-original-form kinda guy), so when I heard about these vinyl pressings I jumped at the chance to own each record individually. I got mine from HMV for like 3 pence.*

 

Anyway, this is a classic of the sludge sub genre (or at least I feel it is). For me it channels the vibe and sound of Take as...era Eyehategod and makes it more direct and streamlined; more, should I say, to the point. Also those vocals sound like they have a permanent flanger effect but they are a hundred percent natural. Shit blows my mind. I love this album but for some reason I don't feel I can talk about it in depth. Nevertheless, I am happy to final own a copy of it (coloured too!). Listen loud please. Rest in piece Mr. Morrow.

 

*PS: I take back everything I said about HMV's excellent vinyl prices! One day in early August nearly all of the records for sale fucking doubled in price for absolutely no reason. Fuck them!