Friday, July 25, 2014

Songs for Snakes "The Year of The Snake"



 San Francisco melodic punk rock band, Songs For Snakes are back with a new album.  The Husker Du and Jawbreaker influences are still shine clear.  The band's knack of writing tight catchy songs certainly hasn't disappeared.


There's a Simon and Garfunkel fights 90's Epitaph pop punk and wins feel to "Small Talker".  In case you were wondering, this is actually a good thing.  "A Perfect State" has Husker Du written all over it.  A poppy indie feel washes over "A Caffiene Sugar Mean"  due to the jangly guitars coupled with the bouncy rhythms.  For my money, album closer and title song, "The Year of The Snake" is the highlight of the album.


Although as an album "The Year of The Snake" is a good listen it's difficult to shake the feeling that there are too many songs on offer here and it'd have been a much stronger album if about three songs had been cut.

3.5/5

Songs for Snakes on bandcamp

Songs for Snakes on Facebook




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Thursday, July 24, 2014

Clouds Taste Satanic "To Sleep Beyond The Earth"



  Instrumental albums have always been tricky beasts to review.  New Yorkers Clouds Taste Satanic wear their influences and sound a lot like "Dopesmoker era Sleep. There's that same Sabbath at a turtle's pace vibe over two long songs.  That's one more than "Dopersmoker" had!   However, it's clear at times that these guys come from a post-rock background and ambience takes over as heaviness isn't always the goal. The two songs are an enjoyable listening experience.

3/5


The band are selling CD's from their bandcamp site.


Clouds Taste Satanic on bandcamp



Clouds Taste Satanic on Facebook





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Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Silver Screams - Creep Joint Scratch (2014)



 I usually don't quote one sheets or band bios but this one is worth it as it actually sums up the band due to being written by the band rather than a publicist.  "Silver Screams is a punk rock and roll band from Boston, MA.  Like it nihilistic?  How about three aging punkers playing the best music they know how to nobody, with no career aspirations, zero street cred and no greater point whatsoever.  It's a power trio screaming into a void before they die, because they're not dead yet.  They have jobs and families and the whole thing is very nearly a waste of time.

Whatever.  Every single one of us is going to die and Silver Screams is going to play some killer sets before it all goes down in flames."

I love that attitude.  There's a big love of early English punk here as the band's name is taken from a song by The Damned.  There's a mixture of punk and post-punk that is highly reminiscent of UK Subs "Endangered Species" album."The Evidence" will put a huge smile on fans of the UK Subs more anthemic material.   There's a nice and sleazy Stranglers bassline that opens "Climbing Mt Rumpke" which has a 999 meeting Dischord bounce-along feel to it.  If I was forced to pick the best song on this five song release "Climbing Mt Rumpke" would be my choice.

That they got The Descendents artist, Chris Shary to do their artwork is more points in Silver Screams' favour.  You can buy their CD and MP3's from their bandcamp site(linked below) but be quick if you want a CD as they're limited to 50 copies.

3.5/5



http://silverscreams.bandcamp.com/album/creep-joint-scratch


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Sunday, July 20, 2014

Ad Patres - Scorn Aesthetics




(Kaotoxin Records)

I first heard of Ad Patres a couple of weeks ago when I threw one of the free Terrorizer mag CD's into my player and the French band's track was one of the death metal standouts on the compilation. Patre's music is of the brutal death metal variety with rapid machine gun trigger drumming.  Vocals consisting of death grunts and guitar playingwhich moves from distorted downtuned into impressive soloing.

 Opening track "The Lock" provides some welcome respite from the brutal all out death attack when the guitars get louder in the mix.  Ad varied pace  in "Scars of Compromise" works very well for them and once again it is only towards the song's conclusion that the guitars are allowed to shine through.  The title track is the shortest track and the playing here by all parties is best described as frenzied.  Often the pace is terrifying with the drummer's blast-beats setting the pace for the guitarists while the music is grunted over.  There's also  little bit of breathing space in "Emphasize Nihility" when it slows down a few times from neck-snapping blast-beats to a more foot stomping pace but true death metallers can rest assured that this change never lasts long.   "Anti" is chaotic death with grunting over the top.

French band Ad Patres have made an enjoyable death metal album that most death metal fans will enjoy.  Unfortunately though it's unlikely that they will make their way to the top of the death metal hoards as they often sound generic but even that can be a strength since many genre fans simply can't get enough.  If the guitars had been allowed to come through a lot more "Scorn Aesthetics" would have been a much stronger album.

3/5

Ad Patres' Website




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Beastwars - IV

After over a year off for various reasons, we have returned solely because we wanted to review the new Beastwars album. I really w...