Good afternoon! Here’s another highlight from last year, as I continue to work through getting caught up on stuff we missed talking about here: the latest release by this band from Saarland, Germany — located on the Saar river and right near the border with France. And while we’re on the subject, I’ll throw in their debut from four years earlier, for no additional charge!
Ok folks, let’s talk new music. Here’s one that just came out last Friday that you’ll surely want to acquaint yourself with. Two years ago, when north west England’s Boss Keloid released their second album Herb Your Enthusiasm, we described them by borrowing from a press release: “an eclectic mash of riffery, dirge, groove and sway that will leave you feeling heavy, warm and slightly damp in places.”
All of that remains true on this newer release Melted on the Inch, only more so. Very much more so…
Well it’s Thursday now, which means it’s almost Friday, which means the weekend is almost here, so I guess that’s a good thing, right? I dunno. I’ve been so tired all week, it’s tough to feel excited about anything. Although — again, tomorrow is Friday, and we’re now finding ourselves coming into what’s traditionally one of the biggest times of the year in terms of new music getting released. Which means a bunch of stuff will be coming out tomorrow (just as it has for the past couple of weeks and will over the next several). So at least there’s that.
I totally missed out on getting anything published here yesterday, due to some super lame crap that kept me busy all day, which means we’re already behind schedule in terms of what I wanted to be able to share with you people this week. So probably it’s about time to quit rambling and get straight to the music, right?
So I just realized in a few more days this year will be half over — and I also realized that I’m nowhere near halfway through writing reviews for LAST year’s top albums list… yikes! If I don’t want to still be working on these when I’m supposed to be putting together THIS year’s list, I guess I’d better get moving at a quicker pace. So here’s another one for you guys.
Monsterworks from London, England (formerly New Zealand) have been making crazy mishmashes of awesome music for nearly twenty years, and during that time they’ve released roughly seven hundred albums and EPs. I don’t know the exact number, but I’ve heard that they’ve done two more (Earth and Universe) since the one I’m currently writing about (which was only fifteen months ago) and they’ve just announced that they’ll have ANOTHER two (Overhaul and Existence) by early next year. Seriously.
I’m sure I’ll get caught up on all of that some day. Maybe. But for now, let’s talk about Album of Man, which came out last March.
Here I am again, writing another Person or Persons Unknown about another Pittsburgh band member, but this time I decided to change things up a bit. This time I am focusing on two guys actually: Steve Kaczynski and his son Aaron.
While I have never really had too much interaction with Steve in the past, I have seen their joint band Jericho Theory and was impressed with the chemistry and talent they both posses. I must admit, doing this particular article was one of the main reasons for starting these interviews. In truth, I have known Aaron for a while now, and I’ve liked him from the first time I met him. He’s got an infectious enthusiasm that you couldn’t fake if you tried. I have gotten to know him better through this journey of Facebook messages, attending shows together, and also attending shows that his bands have played. I am not sure if I have ever met a more honest and caring person in our music scene. He is that guy that knows all your songs, and knows what shows you’re playing; he’s the kind of fan that makes playing in a band in Pittsburgh worth it. I don’t even think people realize what a positive and caring member of this circle he really is. He has a way of making shows I attend with him more fun — even with my weird habit of buying him a PBR at least once a show — it’s more a level of comfort and happiness when I know he’ll be attending a show. He’s kind of turned into an unofficial little brother for the husband and me, and listening to him tell me at least once during each show that this is his favorite band or his favorite song makes me happier then I could ever state — because his influence has actually made me want to be a better fan.
So with that, I figured that this kid with his infectious nature and love of music had to have an amazing musical role model just like I did. Now that I have the ability to figure that out, I was on a mission to do so — hence the reason for this interview, so I could see if my inkling about him was correct. I am very proud to call Aaron a friend, and I hope after reading this you’ll want to be friends with him and his dad too, and I hope it will make you want to see them in action this Saturday, March 30th, at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern.
Iconic Seattle grunge/rock/metal band Soundgarden plans to release King Animal, their first new studio album in over 15 years, on November 13th, 2012!
The band had pretty much been on extended hiatus ever since I was in high school, during which time singer Chris Cornell put out a couple solo records (in addition to working with three-quarters of Rage Against the Machine as Audioslave), bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron formed Wellwater Conspiracy (while Cameron also served as a member of Pearl Jam — by far the longest-tenured drummer in that band’s Spın̈al Tap-esque revolving door at that position), and guitarist Kim Thayil occasionally popped up with guest appearances but otherwise kept a generally low profile.
However, the quartet emerged from the woodwork a little over two years ago, playing various shows all over the world. And now they are announcing that their sixth full-length will be available in just about two months. I doubt there’s anyone reading this who isn’t already familiar with Soundgarden, but just in case your only exposure happens to be the small handful of maddeningly-overplayed singles (for example, “Black Hole Sun”) that constantly grace the airwaves, you really owe it to yourself to dig deeper into their discography — over the course of a decade or so, these guys put out some incredible albums that never faltered in quality. From their earliest singles like “Flower” or “Loud Love” up through the gems from the Down on the Upside album (“Pretty Noose” or “Ty Cobb”, to name a few) in the late ’90s, there really aren’t any weak spots or low points in the band’s career.
Whoah.
Despite all my attempts to stay alert and focused on doing my job, I think I might have accidentally dozed off a little bit just now.
And let me tell you — I had one fucked up dream.
Picture this: King Diamond and his band, Chris Cornell and the rest of Soundgarden, Rob Zombie, Glen Benton and the rest of Deicide, and all four dudes from Mastodon somehow all met up at a party, where they ended up playing cards and drinking and having a good time, and suddenly they decided they wanted to collaborate on a musical project. All of them.
Naturally, with so much talent in the room, nobody could decide who should be the vocalist, so they figured the only fair way would be to let everyone sing — sometimes they’d take turns, or sometimes they’d all join together in like this massive heavy metal choir. Something like the chorus in the Blue Öyster Cult song “Extra Terrestrial Intelligence,” just on a much grander scale.
Another issue arose when it came time to start writing songs, since they all came from such diverse musical backgrounds. But this supergroup soon discovered that they at least had some influences in common — all the great old-school metal, proto-metal, and hard rock bands. So they let this sound be the foundation for their new music, and as they began working together on the songs, they found that the little bits of death metal, stoner metal, thrash, NWOBHM, and whatever else kept creeping into the writing process seemed to mesh together surprisingly well. (I know it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense — I told you it was a pretty crazy dream!)
Valley of Steel 