sábado, 28 de noviembre de 2009

Zyklon - 2001 - World Ov Worms

Zyklon is the new full-time super group from Norway's most blackened regions, consisting of Emperor members Samoth (guitarist and bass) and drummer Trym, Myrkskog's Destructhor on lead guitar, and Limbonic Art vocalist Daemon. This is hyper-fast, extreme black death metal, not to be contended with from any region or country, as it blitzkriegs the listener with it's all-out sensory attack. Opener "Hammer Revelation" is just that: an over-the-top assault in the vein of old Emperor, Morbid Angel, Immortal, Bolt Thrower, or Behemoth all pushed to new levels of extremity. Resident murderer Bard Faust Eithun has decided to pen the lyrics to the album, and from what can be heard, they aren't too bad, focusing more on the apocalyptic than the overdone blasphemous tomfoolery of old. Razor-sharp production, futuristic samples, and cold, mechanical synths combine to give the whole album a degenerated industrial feel. One gets the feeling that they have entered the post-apocalyptic region somewhere between solitude and hell. Trym sounds back to old form, leaving behind his recent straightforward Emperor style, for the more experimental percussive rhythms of Zyklon with its varying tempos and mechanical persistence. Daemon's vocals sound like a black metal hybrid with old Godflesh/Justin Broadrick vocals, which accentuates the mechanized quality of the music. However, it is Destructhor and Samoth's string work, which holds the foundation of the music together, as layers of churning guitar grind through the listener with Ihshan or Trey Azagthoth-like precision. Once "Transcendental War," the closer, is reached, we are treated to the most savory morsel of all, a guest appearance by the infamous Garm. Bursting forth with boiling guitar, the song grooves into a mid-paced Morbid Angel churn at the four-minute mark, before Garm's sorely missed clean chants soar effortlessly over the music as the chaos winds down to a quiet doom. This aptly subtitled "Battle Between Gods" is a perfect, grim closure to an apocalyptic masterpiece. Those who love the extreme, commit musical suicide with Zyklon.


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Robbins, Marty - 1959 - Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs

The single most influential album of Western songs in post-World War II American music, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs touched a whole range of unexpected bases in its own time and has endured extraordinarily well across the ensuing four decades. The longevity of the album's appeal is a result of Marty Robbins' love of the repertory at hand and the mix of his youthful dynamism and prodigious talent that he brought to the recordings, and the use of the best music production techniques of the era. Add to that the presence of a pair of killer original songs that were ready-made singles, "El Paso" and "Big Iron," and a third, "The Master's Call," that was startlingly personal, and the results are well-nigh irresistible. The range of material on this album is extraordinary, from love songs to spirituals, songs so old they have no known author, and originals by the singer, all of which seamlessly fit together. Robbins' subject is mostly the west of myth and movie, which benefits from his ability as a storyteller — "Big Iron" or "El Paso" may tell tales heard or seen 100 times onscreen, but he makes listeners feel like this is the first time they're hearing them, complete with excitement and anticipation of a poet in the middle of a spellbinding recital. The guitars, played by Robbins, Grady Martin, and Jack Pruett, and Bob Moore's upright bass all have a crisp sound, and the Glaser Brothers' understated vocal accompaniment embellishes the singing in key spots without intruding on the spell cast by Robbins' singing. Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs has been reissued several times on CD, paired with its follow-up, More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, as part of Bear Family Records' Under Western Skies box, and in an expanded edition in 1999 with three bonus tracks. "The Hanging Tree," written for the 1959 movie of the same name, was actually Robbins' first commercial recording of a cowboy song, predating the album by six months. Meanwhile, "Saddle Tramp" was a Robbins original recorded eight months after the album — their presence adds another significant dimension to the album and its scope. There was a reason why the Western movies and television shows started to be called "horse operas" — at their best, they had a sense of drama and were driven by charismatic leads. "Saddle Tramp" and "The Hanging Tree" both show Robbins as a kind of cowboy heldentenor creating two beautifully wrought vestpocket Western dramas that significantly add to the appeal of the original album, with the chorus on "Saddle Tramp" among Robbins' most beautiful moments on record.


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Y&T - 2005 - Unearthed, Vol. 2

A follow-up to Dave Meniketti's first trawl through the Y&T tape vaults, Unearthed, Vol. 2 contains 18 more Y&T songs recorded at various points between 1973 (when they were a Bay Area hard rock band called Yesterday & Today) and 1989 (the end of their largely failed Geffen-era attempt at an Aerosmith-style comeback appealing to the hair-farmer audience). The album opens with the snarling "Face to Face," a riff-rocker co-written by Ronnie Montrose of the titular band with whom Y&T were most often compared in the early days, and skips around non-chronologically from there. Highlights include early versions of a few familiar tunes: "Dance Dance Dance" was eventually re-recorded in 1987 as "L.A. Rocks," but this rougher-edged version is superior, as is the original acoustic version of "Hands of Time," which smokes the later power ballad version that appeared on a charity compilation in the late '80s. Meniketti's impressively honest liner notes promise a warts-and-all listening experience, the most bumpy-sounding being the sluggish, overlong "More" and "Help Me Hear Me," which is rather blatantly ripped off from Deep Purple's "Gypsy."


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martes, 17 de noviembre de 2009

Yes - 1983 - 90125

A stunning self-reinvention by a band that many had given up for dead, 90125 is the album that introduced a whole new generation of listeners to Yes. Begun as Cinema, a new band by Chris Squire and Alan White, the project grew to include the slick production of Trevor Horn, the new blood (and distinctly '80s guitar sound) of Trevor Rabin, and eventually the trademark vocals of returning founder Jon Anderson. His late entry insured that Rabin and Horn had a heavy influence on the sound. The album also marked the return of prodigal keyboardist Tony Kaye, whose crisp synth work on "Changes" marked the band's definitive break with its art rock roots. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was a huge crossover hit, and its orchestral break has been relentlessly sampled by rappers ever since. The vocal harmonies of "Leave It" and the beautifully sprawling "Hearts" are additional high points, but there's nary a duff track on the album. [90125 was reissued by Rhino in 2004 with six bonus tracks, including the previously unissued "It's Over," plus remixes of the singles "Leave It," "Owner of a Lonely Heart," and "It Can Happen."]


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