Friday, October 1, 2010

Albums Listened To In September (86)

There has been a lot of music and, more importantly, a lot of great music this month. 86 albums, Jesus Christ!!! So we'll skip the howdy-dos and dive right in:

Awesome
Argus' debut self-titled was a complete, but pleasant, surprise. I only listened to this album because I wanted to try something new, a band without a huge discography so I could get in and get out, but Argus was so much more. It's a bit like power stoner, with a full sound and big ideas. I'm thinking about listening to it again and writing an actual article about the group.
Cloudkicker fucking rocks! My favorite instrumental-progressive-metal-one-man-project ever! Check out my full article of the guy/group for more information.
The newest two Crippled Black Phoenix albums, I, Vigilante and The Resurrectionists, are both amazing examples of experimental/progressive metal. I've got a full article finished and prepped, so be on the look-out for that next week for more info.
Firebird's new album, Double Diamond, comes off much more classic rock then the blues rock of its predecessors. You'd be forgiven to assume this was another side project of anyone from Deep Purple. It's a nice break from the somewhat-lagging style of the past few Firebird albums.
The newer half of the Fu Manchu discography are really good examples of grooving stoner metal. I really like We Must Obey and beyond especially.
I've already gone into the awesomeness of Dax Riggs and his various projects.
A pair of great new releases from new(ish) bands; Quest For Fire's Lights From Paradise is a psychedelic lover's wet dream, and a much more solid release then their debut. This release has a bit of an edge to it, while their self-titled dives deep into the shoegaze. The release from Rocketchief, Rise of The Machine, is another healthy debut. It is hard rock/metal stoner at it's greatest; think mid-history Clutch (Blast Tyrant or Robot Hive/Exodus). I can't wait to hear more from this group.
I love sHEAVY and their second new album of the year, Disfigurine, did not disappoint. It is a new sound, having a new guitarist and all, and the band as a whole seems to be moving to a more status quo stoner sound, not the very Black Sabbath sound of Synchronized or Republic? I'm intrigued; I'll see where this trend goes before I pass judgment. But Disfigurine and The Golden Age of Daredevils are both worth a listen.
I was not too impressed with Stonebride's first album, Inner Season, so I was in no rush to listen to their 2010 release, because of this I was very surprised. Summon The Waves is a great showcasing of the way to make a good stoner/doom album. With only six songs (and one of those a one and a half minute intro song) the album clocks in at over fifty-two minutes of music. Sometimes with these long song collections the overall sound tends to lag, but not with this one. The music is great, the lyrics are great, this album is great! If you like doom, try out stonebride.

Heard Better
Above I said that the latest two albums by Crippled Black Phoenix were great, but their first two albums were not. While each album had a song or two that I enjoyed, they were too filled with long droning sections with only an annoying guitar loop and a spoken recording of someone saying something. Again I go into more detail on the article that is coming out next week.
Heliotropes has been described as 'pop-doom' on most of the sites that I have seen, which is an accurate description of the band's sound. Unfortunately pop and doom belong nowhere near each other in the world I live in. Not something I enjoyed, but probably better for someone who doesn't know/like a lot of doom.

C+ For Effort
Another stoner rock/metal band that couldn't make it over the hurdle, Black Rainbows is just a so-so band. They would be better for the casual listener to stoner, not someone who claims that genre to be among his favorites (like me). I listened to both albums, and really had a hard time picking two songs that stuck out above the rest. Try at your own risk.
Where Fu Manchu's later works were great, their first few albums - inventing their sound - are very ho-hum. As with a lot of the early stoner bands, their sound during this time is kind of boring. But they made up for it on their newer releases.

Full Discographies
Black Rainbows, Cloudkicker, Crippled Black Phoenix, Dax Riggs, Deadboy and The Elephantmen, Fishbone, Firebird, Fu Manchu, Greatdayforup, Orquesta Del Desierto, Quest For Fire, Spice and The RJ Band
  1. AC/DC - High Voltage
  2. Airbourne - Runnin' Wild
  3. Andrew W.K. - 55 Cadillac 
  4. Argus - Argus - New 
  5. Baroness - Red Album
  6. Black Rainbows - Carmina Diabolo - New
  7. Black Rainbows - Twilight In The Desert - New
  8. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
  9. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
  10. The Bloody Irish Boys - Drunk Rock - New 
  11. Blowback - 800 Miles - New
  12. The Blues Brothers - Soundtrack 
  13. Cloudkicker - ]]][[[ (EP) 
  14. Cloudkicker - Beacons - New
  15. Cloudkicker - The Discovery - New
  16. Cloudkicker - The Map is Not the Territory (EP) - New
  17. Cloudkicker - Portmanteau (EP) - New
  18. Crippled Black Phoenix - I, Vigilante - New 
  19. Crippled Black Phoenix - A Love Of Shared Disasters - New 
  20. Crippled Black Phoenix - Night Raider - New 
  21. Crippled Black Phoenix - The Resurrectionists - New
  22. Dax Riggs - Say Goodnight To The World - New
  23. Dax Riggs - We Sing of Only Blood or Love - New
  24. Deadboy and The Elephantmen - If This Is Hell Then I'm Lucky - New
  25. Deadboy and The Elephantmen - We Are Night Sky - New 
  26. Deep Purple - Machine Head
  27. Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory
  28. Egypt - Egypt - New 
  29. Elephant Mountain - The Last Days of Planet Earth - New
  30. Enos - Chapter 1 - New
  31. Fireball Ministry - FMEP (EP) - New
  32. Fishbone - Chim Chim's Badass Revenge - New
  33. Fishbone - Fishbone And The Familyhood Nextperience Present: The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx - New
  34. Fishbone - Give A Monkey A Brain And He'll Swear He's The Center of The Universe
  35. Fishbone - The Reality of My Surroundings 
  36. Fishbone - Still Stuck In Your Throat 
  37. Firebird - Deluxe 
  38. Firebird - Double Diamond - New
  39. Firebird - Firebird
  40. Firebird - Grand Union
  41. Firebird - Hot Wings
  42. Firebird - No.3
  43. Fu Manchu - The Action Is Go - New 
  44. Fu Manchu - California Crossing - New 
  45. Fu Manchu - (Godzilla's) Eatin' Dust - New
  46. Fu Manchu - In Search Of... - New 
  47. Fu Manchu - King of The Road - New 
  48. Fu Manchu - Signs Of Infinite Power - New
  49. Fu Manchu - Start The Machine - New
  50. Fu Manchu - We Must Obey
  51. Gas Giant - Pleasant Journey In Heavy Tunes - New
  52. Gas Giant - Portals of Nothingness - New
  53. Greatdayforup - God Loves A Sinner - New
  54. Greatdayforup - Flores De Sangre - New
  55. Grinspoon - Guide To Better Living - New
  56. Grinspoon - New Detention - New
  57. Heliotropes - III - New
  58. hYPNOTIC hYSTERIA - Feed On Me - New 
  59. Infant Sorrow/Jackie Q - Get Him To The Greek Soundtrack - New 
  60. Ironweed - Indian Ladder - New
  61. Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick (EP) 
  62. Kingsnake - Book Of Promises - New
  63. Luna Negra - Soundproof (Demo) - New
  64. Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
  65. Metallica - Master of Puppets
  66. Mother-Unit - Brain-Massage - New
  67. Ogre - Dawn of The Proto-Man
  68. Orquesta Del Desierto - Dos - New
  69. Orquesta Del Desierto - Orquesta Del Desierto - New
  70. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
  71. Pink Floyd - The Wall (2 Discs)
  72. Pride and Glory - Pride and Glory
  73. Queen - A Night At The Opera
  74. Quest For Fire - Lights From Paradise - New  
  75. Quest For Fire - Quest For Fire - New
  76. Rocketchief - Rise of The Machine - New 
  77. Sahara Surfers - Spacetrip On A Paper Plane - New
  78. Scott Reeder - TunnelVision Brilliance - New
  79. sHEAVY - Disfigurine - New 
  80. Spice and The RJ Band - Shave Your Fear - New
  81. Spice and The RJ Band - The Will - New
  82. Spiritual Beggars - Return To Zero - New
  83. Stonebride - Summon The Waves - New 
  84. Styx - The Grand Illusion
  85. The Tossers - The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death
  86. Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards

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