Marilyn Manson – Born Villain
08 May 2012 1 Comment
in CD Review, Rock Tags: Born Villain, Brian Warner, Cooking Vinyl, Holywood, Marilyn Manson, Twiggy Ramirez
There’s a tendency with artists whose careers have spanned as long as Marilyn Manson’s has to cast a lamenting eye on the glory days when each new release arrives. In this case, it must also considered that we’re dealing with a man who spent a number of years holding the prestigious honour of middle class America’s favourite hate figure around the turn of the millennium. Sure, the glory days of that era and Holywood, the album spawned as a result of the incredibly vitriolic campaign directed against the band after they were blamed for influencing the two teenagers for the Columbine High School massacre is now twelve years gone. It’s only natural that Manson eventually fell from the public consciousness and each new release since 2003 and the classy, stylised anthems of The Golden Age of Grotesque has seen falling interesting and declining quality. Time has certainly meant that the Marilyn Manson of 2012 is a far cry from a band who were once openly slated and hated almost daily by the media, politicians and every Christian league you could imagine, but Born Villain confirms that it’s also blunted their approach, their spirit and their ability to, at the very least, write a decent song.
The basic ideal of simplistic, thudding, rock songs coupled with Manson’s bleak poetry that has preserved a career remains largely unchanged on the band’s eighth release, but from start to finish Born Villain is a dull, sloppy album. Devoid of any hooks, it has no engaging tunes to speak of and offers little reason to come back for a repeat listen. Admittedly, long–term collaborator Twiggy Ramirez has written some great songs for this band in the past but this is a poor, loose and surprisingly juvenile collection. The main riff on first single No Reflection sounds more like something a twelve year old banging away on his first Fender Squire would come up with as opposed to a band that’ve existed for almost twenty years in some shape or form. Musically, Marilyn Manson were never going to be a progressively-engaging beast, but the lack of basic development or polish here is startling. The drums are heinously soft on the ears with an unforgivably sparse quality to them that limits any power these songs might have, and that’s even before you get to Manson himself. This is what awaits you for the chorus on Pistol-Whipped; “You’re a little pistol, and I’m fuckin’ pistol-whipped,” sounds as juvenile and weak as it looks, and this lowbrow stamp is all over the album.
Having recently managed to catch some footage of Manson performing The Dope Show from 1998’s Mechanical Animals along with No Reflection at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards last month, Born Villain simply helps to confirm everything that was apparent from that brief set; there’s nothing vitriolic or interesting left within this band. On that night, Manson stalked the stage almost as a parody of himself with some truly abysmal vocals and his band looked passive and disinterested. Manson has also described this record as having a “suicide death metal” style, which just goes to show you how far removed from reality his world has become. Everything about Born Villain, from the desperately schlocky lyrics and sloppy music suggests that Marilyn Manson almost believes that his band is still dangerous, still edgy and still subversive. What this actually represents is far more worrying, because this is a record of exceptionally low quality that Manson seems to assume that he can simply get away with it. God knows who he’s trying to fool, because there’s nothing dangerous and barely anything listenable on Born Villain.
4/10
Jenny Owen Youngs – An Unwavering Band Of Light
27 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
In some ways, the way Jenny Owen Youngs went about getting the ball rolling for her third album is so modern, charming and honest, it’s almost perfect. In July of 2010, wanting to keep control of her own work and make a record on her own terms, she contacted her fans about the Kickstarter campaign she has just begun, aimed at raising the funds for making An Unwavering Band Of Light. Within 28 hours, the $20, 000 target was achieved, and she went on to raise 38 grand within just a few weeks. It’s all the more impressive if you consider that Jenny’s nowhere near rolling in cash, self-released her first album Batten The Hatches and doesn’t have a label behind her to speak of at all. Even better is what started as a simple request from fans has helped to create the best work of her career.
Sure, JOY’s always been able to marry up thoughtful, smart, poppy tunes based around her acoustic, and as recently as last album Transmitter Failure, that’s taken on more of a rockin’ full-band approach. Still, every aspect of her work is more streamlined and focussed here. The uplifting, jaunty numbers like Love For Long and soaring closer Wake Up over up an almost illegal level of catchiness, the reflective fragility of the acoustic O God and piano-led So Long find new heartstrings to tug on and there’s even room for the angular, volume and Russian-tinged horns of Sleep Machine.
Perhaps the best thing you can say about this record is that it doesn’t sound like a penny of the money raised has been wasted; fair play to the lady in question as she’s surrounded herself with great musicians who play everything with effortless ease. It makes the energetic rhythms on the sugar-rush of Pirates or the insanely catchy whistled melody of Why You Fall stand out even more (seriously, that melody will burrow it’s way into your brain with the guile of an angry shark). Lyrically, it deals very openly with sticky situations of the heart, specifically their pitfalls and occasional futility, but it’s done in such a way that it doesn’t feel forced, and thankfully, massively contrived. “We make the most of the love we got, cos it won’t be love for long;” as an introductory chorus, it’s hardly swimming in aimless positivity but it’s honest, and it’s backed up by a ridiculously catchy and jaunty melody.
If this is the first you’re hearing of Jenny Owen Youngs then you’ll find instant evidence on An Unwavering Band Of Light as to why her fans responded so quickly and impressively to her call for assistance. It’s well written, varied and genuinely great to listen to. And what a note to an industry that we’re constantly told is in trouble that a singer/songwriter is able to ask the fans that buy her albums and go to her shows to fund the making of a record they were always going to get anyway.
9/10
Converge – Axe To Fall
27 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in CD Review, Metal, Rock Tags: Axe To Fall, Converge, Hardcore, Metal
Say what you will about the state of heavy music today. Say its convoluted, contrived and awash with identikit bands doing the same or praise the diversity and enjoy some absorbing times to be enjoying the most visceral music on earth. Regardless of your feelings, one thing that can certainly be said for it is that there are few bands offering up a real, genuine and absorbing experience with each record. With Converge, that has certainly never been a problem, and with the release of their seventh album, Axe To Fall, they continue to stand out like never before as a band who have never strayed from a musically brutal path, but continue to produce an asborbing, expanding cacophony of noise.
Axe To Fall also has the distinct honour of perhaps being the most accessible Converge album yet. Good lord, don’t think they’re slacking off or have watered themselves down, because it’s probably the most savage they’ve ever sounded. It’s just with a slightly cleaner guitar tone, a host of guests providing diverse clean vocals, solos and a continuation of the measured experimentation heard on all of their recent records, Converge have managed to make a brutal, emotive yet somewhat reflective experience.
One thing that’ll certainly hit you first is the album’s heaviness; the opening salvo of Dark Horse, Reap What You Sow and the title track provide some of the fastest, most brutal hardcore punk songs of the band’s career. Chaotic, visceral and impressively tight, it’s a thrilling start, make no mistake. But head the opposite end of the album, you’ll find Cruel Bloom and Wretched World. Both are slow, brooding numbers featuring sombre vocals that stray a long way from what you’d consider your average Converge song. They’re all the better for it, too. This, for the most part, is the album’s blueprint; more chaotic, yet better structured chaos punctuated by occassional moments of experimental respite. It makes for a great mix, and whilst it doesn’t always work (Worms Will Feed is a sludgefest that never really goes anywhere), it’s a record that definitely gets better on repeat listens.
It’s worth mentioning the guest musicians that appeared on Axe To Fall (members of Cave In, Neurosis and Genghis Tron all contributed), but after spinning the album for the first time, aside from the vocals on Cruel Bloom, the provided solos and vocals fit in so well with Converge’s established din created that they’re barely noticeable. With this, Axe To Fall represents another impressive chapter in Converge’s history. It might not quite hit the visceral highs of their classic, Jane Doe, but it certainly comes close, and that should be enough to convince anyone of its pedigree. Besides, Converge could probably write a good record in their sleep and it’d still rip your face off. Outstanding stuff.
9/10
Thrice – Beggars
14 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
Back in 2005, Thrice ripped up their own rule book and created Vheissu, a career defining release that sounded nothing like they’ve ever done. Sure, it still had a penchant for rock riffs and the passion they’d always been known for, but with these riffs came mellotrons, pianos and a new-found expansive melodic sensibility. The Alchemy Index, four EPs covering each element in totally different musical landscapes including rock, electronica, country and folk followed a few years later, and that again stretched the band’s creativity to a level most Thrice fans couldn’t have imagined. Now, we have Beggars, a release completely at odds with the band’s recent output. There’s no lush instrumentation here, just a collection of stripped down, soulful, oddly lightweight songs. It’s also the weakest thing Thrice have released in a long time.
Given the expanding nature of Thrice’s music since the middle part of this decade, it’s totally understandable that there would eventually have to be a reaction to it. Beggars is the opposite of its recent forefathers in that even its loud numbers are pretty restrained. There’s barely any distortion in the guitars, and frontman Dustin Kensrue’s vocals are rarely close to straining themselves. This wouldn’t be a problem if the songs on offer were absorbing affairs, but they’re just not. Mostly everything on Beggars lacks a memorable melody, riff or passage to really get you interested or hooked. Doublespeak, At The Last and The Weight are some of the louder songs on the album, but are devoid of anything to really interest, let alone excite.
Thrice are still capable of writing some brilliant tunes, and the evidence is all over Circles. A quiet, slow burner of a song building to the kind of emotional crescendo the band do so well, it’s the album’s highlight, but is followed by another plodding song that doesn’t get anywhere near interesting territory.
Don’t get me wrong, Beggars is hardly bad, but considering what came before it, it’s a let down. In an attempt to move away from previous efforts, it feels like Thrice have taken a very deliberate side step almost to see what would happen. Beggars doesn’t feel as focussed as The Alchemy Index or Vheissu, and fails to really grab the listener, which is something they haven’t had a problem with for a long time. There’s no pining for the days of The Artist In The Ambulance here, just a desire for Thrice to expand upon their last few years of work as opposed to stripping things away from it. Then again, brilliant bands are allowed to miss the mark from time to time.
6/10
Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic
16 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in CD Review, Rock Tags: Every Time I Die, New Junk Aesthetic, Rock, Wanderlust
There’s something very comforting about listening to Every Time I Die, predominantly because whilst you do know exactly what you’re going to get from album to album, what you’re getting is too damned fun and good for it to become stale.
New Junk Aesthetic finds ETID moving racously on from the career high of 2007′s The Big Dirty with an album every part its equal. It’s got everything you’d expect; catchy, southern inspired riffs, Keith Buckley’s instantly quotable sarcastic and sardonic lyrics and enough groove to fill ten hodowns. There’s certainly a bit more of a reliance on clean vocal hooks than on previous efforts, which is great when they’re used as well as they are in Wanderlust and White Smoke. It helps that Buckley is one of the best vocalist in heavy music around, of course, but he’s equally at home screaming his lungs out on The Marvellous Slut as he is singing an impossibly catchy chours on Wanderlust. Musically, it feels very much like a sister album to The Big Dirty; solid production, big riffs and thick grooves. That may be easy to criticise but when your music is this enjoyable to listen to, sticking to what you know will still get you good results.
Every Time I Die have turned into one of the best heavy rock bands around over the last few years, and New Junk Aesthetic will bring them more fans whilst pleasing the faithful. They needn’t break major new territory with each release, because there are few bands making music as thrilling, fun and downright dirty than Every Time I Die. They’re the band that you wish you could get to play the party you’ve never had. Cracking stuff.
8/10
Video for Wanderlust:
