Monday, April 2, 2012

Albums Listened To In March (65)

  1. Adrenaline Mob - Adrenaline Mob (EP) - New
  2. Alestorm - Back Through Time
  3. Alestorm - Black Sails At Midnight
  4. Alestorm - Captain Morgan's Revenge 
  5. Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
  6. Asteroid - Asteroid
  7. Asteroid - Asteroid II
  8. Backwoods Payback - Momantha - New
  9. Backwoods Payback - Use Magic To Kill Death (EP)
  10. Baroness - Red Album
  11. The Black Keys - The Moan (EP) - New
  12. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
  13. Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell
  14. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
  15. Black Sabbath - Never Say Die!
  16. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
  17. Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
  18. Black Sabbath - Sabotage
  19. Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy
  20. Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
  21. Causa Sui - Causa Sui - New
  22. Causa Sui - Free Ride - New
  23. Cinder - House Full of No Trust
  24. Colossa - Born To Make A Sound - New
  25. Colossa - Colossa (EP)
  26. The Company Band - The Company Band
  27. The Company Band - Sign Here, Here & Here (EP)
  28. Corrosion of Conformity - America's Volume Dealer - New
  29. Corrosion of Conformity - Animosity - New
  30. Corrosion of Conformity - Corrosion of Conformity - New
  31. Corrosion of Conformity - In The Arms of God - New
  32. Crippled Black Phoenix - A Love of Shared Disasters
  33. Crippled Black Phoenix - Night Raider
  34. Devil - Magister Mundi Xum (EP)
  35. Devil - Time to Repent - New
  36. Elf - Carolina County Ball
  37. Elf - Elf
  38. Elf - Trying To Burn The Sun
  39. Gentleman's Pistols - At Her Majesty's Pleasure - New
  40. Ghost - Opus Eponymous
  41. GiantRider - GiantRider - New
  42. Huntress - Off With Her Head (EP) - New
  43. King Giant - Dismal Hollow - New
  44. King Giant - Southern Darkness
  45. Lamont - Thunder Boogie - New
  46. Low Sonic Drift - Shadows of The Titan (EP) - EP
  47. Luna Mortis - The Absence - New
  48. Megachurch - Megachurch - New
  49. Megachurch - Megachurch 2: Judgement Day - New
  50. Nick Drake - Bryter Layter - New
  51. One Day As A Lion - One Day As A Lion (EP) - New
  52. One Inch Giant - Malva - New
  53. Orchid - Capricorn - New
  54. Ramon Zarate - Oyster - New
  55. Ramon Zarate - Ramon Zarate - New
  56. sHEAVY - Celestial Hi-Fi
  57. sHEAVY - The Electric Sleep
  58. sHEAVY - The Machine That Won The War
  59. sHEAVY - Synchronized
  60. Sherman Burns - The End Is All
  61. Spelljammer - Inches From The Sun (EP) - New
  62. Spelljammer - Vol II (EP) - New 
  63. Smoke - Smoke Follows Beauty
  64. Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - "The West Will Rise Again" (EP) - New
  65. Wizard Rifle - Speak Loud Say Nothing - New

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

New Album: Lamont - Thunder Boogie

Lamont caught my eye with their humorous artwork: a seemingly white-trash man (sorry if that offends someone out there, but come on) with a pair of shotguns/rifles, a dog/pit bull in the background, and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. It made me chuckle, give the album a second look - quite the feat with my huge collection, and the 96 artists (and 358 albums, give or take a single or two) that are waiting in my 'Must Listen To' list - and then the album title, Thunder Boogie (ignore the second album at AllMusic, obviously that is for a different band), lead to a listen. So there is something in the title and artwork: Bands take heed!

I was initially quite impressed with Thunder Boogie; the first track, "Hot Wire," was a down-and-dirty rock n' roll song. It had my head bobbing right from the start, and my brain rattled by the end. It was followed by the slightly less-energetic "Vegas," which I had a really hard time deciding if I really enjoyed the song or not. I literally changed the ranking of this song four or five times, before settling on a '5 Star' ranking by the end of the fifth track on the album. That song was succeeded by "I Saw Red," an equal step-down in energy as it's predecessor was from the previous, but this time, much more well delivered. Right from the get-go I had something that was kicking my ass (even with the rough patches)!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Albums Listened To In February (48)

This month's list:

  1. Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
  2. Bigelf - Cheat The Gallows
  3. The Black Box Revelation - My Preception - New
  4. The Black Keys - Attack & Release
  5. Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle Earth
  6. Buddy Revell - Bring Forth The Snake (EP) - New
  7. Cinder - Break Your Silence
  8. Cinder - House Full of No Trust
  9. Cirith Ungol - Frost And Fire - New
  10. Cirith Ungol - King of The Dead - New
  11. Cirith Ungol - One Foot In Hell - New
  12. Cirith Ungol - Paradise Lost - New
  13. Cloudkicker - Let Yourself Be Huge - New
  14. Cloudkicker - Loop - New
  15. Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West
  16. Crippled Black Phoenix - I, Vigilante
  17. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
  18. Eluveitie - Helvetios - New
  19. Enos - Chapter 1
  20. EYE - Center of The Sun - New
  21. Fifty Foot Woman - Fifty Foot Woman - New
  22. Lou Reed - Rock 'N' Roll Animal
  23. The J. Geils Band - The J. Geils Band - New
  24. The J. Geils Band - "Live" Full House - New
  25. The J. Geils Band - The Morning After - New
  26. James Blunt - All The Lost Souls - New
  27. James Blunt - Some Kind of Trouble - New
  28. Jeff Loomis - Zero Order Phase
  29. Goblin Cock - Bagged And Boarded
  30. Goblin Cock - Come With Me If You Want To Live
  31. Mechanical Poet - Handmade Essence (EP)
  32. Necromandus - Orexis of Death - New
  33. Night Sun - Mournin' - New
  34. Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon
  35. Root Spirits - Long Road Ahead (EP)
  36. S:T Erik - From Under The Tarn
  37. sHEAVY - Blue Sky Mind
  38. Sleestack - Altrusian Moon: A Lo-Fi Collection Of Psychedelia and Space Rock - New
  39. Stonebride - Inner Seasons
  40. Stonebride - Summon The Waves
  41. Uriah Heep - Demons & Wizards
  42. Various Artists - The Wall Re-Built (2 Discs)
  43. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground And Nico
  44. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
  45. Wench - Wench (EP) - New
  46. Whores of Tijuana - Psycholongevity
  47. Whores of Tijuana - Whores of Tijuana
  48. Wino - Punctuated Equilibrium

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Albums Listened To In January (52)

Now that I'm back from my self-imposed exile, I really don't know why I couldn't have at least kept up with the 'Albums Listened To' posts. I'm still getting back into the game, regaining my chops (both for typing so much and my attention span to one project), and struggling to keep it going, but so far so good. I'm going to do my best to keep The Guide updated at least weekly - it's the least I could do for all of your continued support!

The Good
I really enjoyed listening to Ape Machine's two albums; their blend of stoner and funky grooves was entertaining and uplifting, guaranteeing them some future replay time. Brant Bjork's various solo acts ('true' solo, with The Bros, and then The Operators) is always worth the listen, and I finally got around to finishing off his discography.

The Bad
After hearing so much positive mention of Acrimony over the years, I really expected something better then what was offered from their two releases; their second album, Tumuli Shroomaroom, had some positives to it, but overall I was disappointed. Both Birch Hill Dam and Camion have the same faults to their music: they are in the groovy-sludge school of stoner which has the needlessly screamed lyrics. Birch Hill Dam had some more reasonably calm songs in its collection, but Camion was nothing but the full bellows of the singer's lungs. Not to my tastes. Bruner was another band/singer that really wasn't for my musical tastes; apparently it was a demo/uncompleted recordings of some singer from the 70s, Linda Bruner (apparently the lead singer from some group called Piscis), that was just recently released (2010). It's a soulful, single-guitar-and-voice EP, but the recording quality isn't great, and frankly, Bruner's vocals aren't all that skilled; if it had been longer then twenty minutes, I probably wouldn't have listened to it all. Find better folk elsewhere.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

New Album: Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind) The Crafty Ape

With a band like Crippled Black Phoenix, I know of no way to accurately describe their sounds - both off past albums as well as current ones. Their music is different on each release, but somehow keeping the core 'feel' of CBP all the same. If I had to make a stab at labeling them (as I've attempted before), they are a blend of post-metal, ambient sounds, doom, and folk, into an one-of-a-kind sound.

I put Crippled Black Phoenix's release last year, I, Vigilante, on my 'Top 20 of 2010', a choice I still stand behind. While their earlier albums had a slight problem of uniformity (songs were often jarring in combination with the album as a whole), I, Vigilante was a much more accomplished work. I think this is due to the smaller track-listing off that album then the others, with only six songs while most of their other releases are over ten. This more concise selection, 'trimmed the fat' of their previous releases, with little truly ambient songs and sections then otherwise seen, and it is in this direction I hoped the band would have followed.