album review: 'the human contradiction' by delain

So recently I was watching one of the new React videos from the Fine Bros., specifically the 'YouTubers React to Babymetal'. For those of you who don't know, Babymetal is a band fusing J-pop and heavy metal, amongst other genres, and honestly, they aren't really my thing. But one of the questions the Fine Bros. asked got me thinking: would there be a way to fuse pop and metal in a way that was accessible to the mainstream public? 

Because when we look back through the Billboard Charts, the periods of time when metal has crossed over into mainstream acceptance has been thanks to rock trends of the time - the punk and post-punk movements in the 70s, hair metal in the 80s, and nu-metal and post-grunge in the 90s and 2000s. But if you were looking to skip the conventional definition of rock altogether to fuse metal and conventional pop, how might you do it?

Well in my opinion we already have something of an answer, and that lies in what I'd call the most accessible genre of metal: symphonic metal. Often featuring clean vocals, pretty and upbeat melodies, soaring choruses, this was the method I got into metal and with the commercial success of a band like Evanescence, it's proven to work. 

And if I was looking to answer one of my recent questions of 'how can I get into symphonic music', I now have an answer if you're coming from pop: Delain, the Dutch symphonic metal band formed in 2002 by former Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt and who might be without a doubt the most commercially accessible symphonic metal act from a pop landscape I've ever heard. Now that's not a bad thing: I've stressed a number of times pop music is worth defending and a transitory step between the two very different genres isn't a bad thing. However, Delain also strikes me as a band that instead of effectively blending the two genres chose to water down the metal side significantly. The highest praise I can give the band is that lead vocalist Charlotte Wessels is a really good singer with a lot of emotion and range, but the melodic progressions are simplistic, the guitar solos are inexcusably basic, and the production is shallow at best. On top of that, the band often seems to have a painfully high school sensibility to the lyrics, which can make some of the self-esteem and 'social commentary' anthems come across as overwrought and lacking in nuance. And while symphonic metal lyrics are often arch or borderline-irrelevant, here the arch subject matter comes across as a bit pandering to me, and that rubs me the wrong way.

Now let me stress I don't think Delain is a bad band - but in a symphonic metal landscape that has Nightwish, Tarja, Within Temptation, Epica, and others, Delain doesn't really stand out for me. But I figured that I'd give them another chance with their newest album, The Human Contradiction - how was it?

video review: 'the oath' by the oath

The streak of metal reviews continues with this, and it's awesome. Some great riff-based metal, definitely worth a look.

You know, I'll think I'll continue this streak with Delain and continue to ignore Emmure's existence. Stay tuned!

album review: 'the oath' by the oath

Let's talk briefly about simplicity in music.

Now I tend to get a lot of... well, let's call it constructive criticism on my pop reviews saying that, 'Man, it's just pop music, it's not trying to be high art, you're too hard on it!'. And while there are points where that has been true, here's my common rebuttal to that statement: good pop music - indeed, good pop art - can require just as much, if not more talent as any other brand of art. Crafting something that has artistic purpose and can appeal to a wider demographic besides yourself, that isn't easy. And on a similar note, creating something compelling from a decidedly simple formula can be just as difficult. Sure, if you can play a couple chords you can probably make a decent pop song from that foundation, but making that foundation special so it can transcend that simplicity is an entirely different challenge.

So when you move into riff-based punk and hard rock, you might notice some of the compositions of the songs are pretty damn simple when it comes to chords and progressions. And yet through delivery, through songwriting, through presentation and production, you can make something entirely unique. But even putting that aside, there's something to be said for purity, refining a simple approach down into something so visceral and effective. I keep bringing up Andrew W.K., but there's a reason why his album I Get Wet is a near-classic in my books: it takes a simplistic approach to composition, lyrics, and delivery, but it uses that simplicity in creating powerful melodic hooks and pumping everything up to larger than life status. It's a perfect fusion of artistic intent and execution, and it's a reason why simple hard-edged, riff-based rock and metal will never go out of style, in that quest to perfect that visceral thrill.

As such, I was really looking forward to the debut album from the German heavy metal act The Oath, who were already building a reputation for monstrously powerful riffing that called back to the classic years of heavy metal. So I bought the album and prepared myself for a glorious trip back to the past. Did I get it?

video review: 'bang!' by gotthard

Wow, this album was fun. And since I've been listening through the Pharoahe Monch discography in preparation for his new album, I've been awash in great music lately. Times like these I really like this job.

Okay, next up is The Oath. Stay tuned!

album review: 'bang!' by gotthard

I've made no secret of the fact that I have an unironic love of hair metal and hard rock, the sort that was most prevalent throughout the 1980s. Sure, it was dumb, cheesy, and occasionally ridiculously chauvinist, but it was a genre that at least was willing to go over-the-top when it came to instrumental prowess, bombast, and sense of fun to elevate the material, which was a huge redeeming factor for me. And thus, I can appreciate the irony that the hair metal and hard rock I would come to love effectively died out around the time I was born, replaced by a grunge and alternative scene I never really embraced in the same way.

But the fun fact is that Nirvana and Pearl Jam didn't really kill that genre more than the genre simply killed itself through over-saturation and a lot of mediocre bands riding the trend, especially in the tail end of the 80s. And thus in 2008, off of listening to 01011001, the newest magnificent progressive metal project from Ayreon, I decided to check out the band of Steve Lee one of the singers associated with the project.

That band was Gotthard, a Swiss hard rock that started in 1992, a few years after its brand of hard rock was supposed to be dead and yet still managed to sustain a career... and they're one of my favourite bands of all time. No, I'm not kidding, a retro-hard rock act with a terrible pun for a name is one of my favourite bands, and they're also the act I point to when I say this brand of hard rock is worth defending over their decades-long career. Their cover of Bob Dylan's 'Mighty Quinn' has been my ringtone for five years!

So what makes Gotthard worth a damn? Well, in comparison to most hard rock, Gotthard had a melodic focus, which leaned towards killer hooks over displays of sheer instrumental prowess. And while the band had its fair share of cheesy ridiculousness, they also weren't bad songwriters and weren't afraid to take risks with their material or venture into different genres altogether. The combination of those two factors has meant Gotthard has made some killer rock ballads over the years, especially in their mid-period work in the late 90s and early 2000s. However, most people remember Gotthard for their frontman Steve Lee, who honestly might have been one of the best hard rock vocalists in the industry. It wasn't just that he had an impossible range that remained emotionally compelling and expressive, but he made it look easy.

Sadly, Steve Lee passed away in a motorcycle accident in October 2010, and Gotthard brought in a new replacement with Nic Maeder for their 2012 album Firebirth. And while that album is pretty good, it's also decidedly transitory, as Maeder is trying to step into some pretty big shoes and he didn't quite seem to fill them, at least initially. And thus, when I heard they were releasing a new album this year with Bang!, I was excited. Hopefully touring and songwriting with the band had improved their chemistry, and this new incarnation of Gotthard would impress me. So how's the album?

video review: 'here and nowhere else' by cloud nothings

And that was the second album that I had to get out of my system! Whew, that feels good.

Okay, this week we're going headlong into hard rock and metal, because Gotthard, The Oath, Delain, the solo record from Tuomas Holopainen, and hell, I'll even throw Ratking under this umbrella - they all dropped albums and I'm going to cover them. Hell, I might even cover Emmure's new album!

Just kidding, that won't happen. I actually value my time.

album review: 'here and nowhere else' by cloud nothings

It's always a risk when a band makes a choice to go dark.

Because let's face it, while there have been several acts who have made the shift work, it's always jarring for the initial audience and there's the long list of bands whose careers imploded by making a 'dark' album. And depending on the critical or popular acceptance, it can shape the course of bands for better or for much worse.

So when power pop group Cloud Nothings announced they were working with legendary audio engineer Steve Albini and were tackling darker material, some original fans had to been feeling uneasy. This was a band who had been steadily advancing with pretty damn solid power pop that skirted the edges of lo-fi, and the question of whether they'd be capable of delivering the same quality - even with Albini, who worked with The Pixies and Nirvana - had to have been raised.

And yet in 2012, they delivered with Attack On Memory, a goddamn great album that showed the band taking huge steps in a more interesting and dynamic direction with a great melodic focus, solid lyrics, and a concept dedicated to rectifying their fans' preconceived image of the band. And what was better was that the album actually turned into a pretty solid commercial hit on its own, being many people's - including mine - first exposure to the band. And thus when they announced a follow-up without Albini or their former guitarist Joe Boyer, I was curious to see where they'd take their musical direction - would they advance even further or would they backslide?

video review: 'broken crown halo' by lacuna coil

God, this took too long to get out my system. Damn it, I wish this was better.

Okay, Cloud Nothings, then I've got a few more hard rock and metal albums coming up, so stay tuned!

album review: 'broken crown halo' by lacuna coil

I've mentioned in the past I have a complicated relationship with gothic music.

Because despite some of the things I've mentioned in the past, I do like a large chunk of it and a lot of the bands that pioneered the format remain favourites of mine to this day. And hell, even though I never had an angry white boy phase as a teenager, I won't deny that my unironic love for symphonic metal had more than a passing fondness for goth subculture. 

But maybe it's just greater exposure, but I only tend to tolerate gothic music of certain veins in small doses, and I liken it to that friend you idolize on some level for being a badass. Sure, he's cool and dark and edgy and can take you on a wild ride, but in the end that brand of darkness either becomes too depressing or too insufferable to tolerate. It's one of the primary character arcs in Edgar Wright's movie The World's End with Simon Pegg's character, and there are a lot of elements that ring true there. Plus, I'll restate what I normally say about nihilistic artwork: if you don't switch up the formula or innovate with it beyond standard goth cliches, it can get insufferable really fast.

The funny thing is that four albums into goth metal band Lacuna Coil's career and after the star-making double punch of Comalies and Karmacode, they seemed to have a similar revelation. For me growing up, Lacuna Coil was the good version of Evanescence and while they weren't really on the same playing field as Nightwish or Within Temptation, they still had a niche I appreciated. But after four albums of pretty damn solid gothic metal, they flipped the script somewhat with their 2009 album Shallow Life, an album that still had many goth cliches but a more mainstream-accessible focus. Unfortunately, they got this thanks to producer Don Gilmore, who is most famous for working with Linkin Park, Good Charlotte, and Hollywood Undead. And honestly, while I can't say Lacuna Coil delivered any of their best material on either Shallow Life or their 2012 album Dark Adrenaline, I blame Gilmore for why those albums are nowhere near as great as their predecessors, mostly thanks to placing the guitars on the surface in the mix and dampening the melody, and moving the vocal track closer to the front. And look, the lyrics have never been Lacuna Coil's strong point, and by lessening the focus on the melody, the songs got a lot more interchangeable and considerably weaker.

Thus, I was actually enthused when I saw they had ditched Gilmore as a producer for their newest album Broken Crown Halo. And while I wasn't expecting a return to the glory days, I did hope that the band would be able to recover some of their spark. Did they pull it off?

video review: 'z' by sza

Well, this was a bit of a letdown, but I'm glad I got to say my piece anyhow, because there are some great elements on this album that should be examined.

Okay, next up will either be Cloud Nothings or I'll finally have the chance to put Lacuna Coil out of their misery. Stay tuned!

album review: 'z' by sza

A few weeks back when I talked about Young Money, I made the statement that they were probably one of the few rap groups that had a consistent record in launching unique solo careers, at least in terms of chart success and the popular consciousness. Between Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and to a lesser extent Tyga, Young Money managed to have a lot of commercial success, especially in the past five or six years - and up until very recently, a fair amount of critical success as well.

Well, okay, that might be overstating it, because of the group only Drake has proven to be the consistent critical darling, with increasingly uneven output from his peers, and their label collaboration album Young Money: Rise of An Empire being not exactly stellar - or, you know, good. No, if I want to look for more consistent critical acclaim, I've been looking more towards Top Dawg Entertainment, an independent hip-hop record label that's been getting some serious critical buzz over the last few years, especially after the release of good kid, m.a.a.d city by Kendrick Lamar. In terms of business expertise, I find a lot more to like with Top Dawg, mostly because unlike Young Money, they're working hard on establishing a relatively small stable of solid rappers before recruiting additional talent. And while I'm not the biggest Ab-Soul fan, I've been pretty impressed by the work they've done with Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, and especially Jay Rock.

But earlier this year they announced they were signing two new artists: Isaiah Rashad and SZA, the latter of which is an R&B singer influenced by 80s synthpop and soul. And as the only female artist on Top Dawg at the moment, I was curious how her material would be shaped from that label and I made it a priority to check out her full-length debut Z. How did it turn out?

video review: 'she looks so perfect ep' by 5 seconds of summer

There, are you happy now? I did not need this today...

Okay, next up will either be Cloud Nothings or SZA, we'll see. Stay tuned!

album review: 'she looks so perfect ep' by 5 seconds of summer

...alright, fine, I'll talk about 5 Seconds of Summer. But let me make this clear, I'm only covering this act because I need more time to write about a whole slew of other acts in my backlog and it shouldn't take me that long to cover a four song EP. And really, I don't tend to cover a lot of EPs - mostly because I like full-length albums with arcs and artistic statements, which, for the record, you can find in pop music.

But even if I did cover EPs, I could not be less interested in talking about 5 Seconds of Summer. At first glance, these guys look like a low-rent Nickelodeon pilot with the production values to match it. Yes, I've covered teen pop and boy bands in the past, and I'll even admit some fondness for some of it, but good shallow pop music has elements that make it work or stand out. Even dumb power pop - which has been around in some form or another for decades - has the guys who stand head-and-shoulders above the rest in terms of songwriting, melodies, or sheer presence and charisma. I'm talking about acts like Semisonic, Fountains Of Wayne, The Knack, some parts of Jimmy Eat World and Weezer. My point is that this isn't anything new, and the argument that 'well, sure, it's not new, but we can't expect teenagers to go looking for the classics because they're teenagers and they'll consume anything we shovel into their ears' smacks of real laziness and a degree of contempt for the target audience.

But hey, 5 Seconds of Summer could just be the next ones to top the heap, so I picked up the Australian band's EP and gave it a listen: is it worth your time?

video review: 'where it all began' by dan + shay

Another pleasant surprise, and this one completely unexpected.

Next up... hmm, might tackle a new hip-hop album, I feel like a change of pace. So stay tuned!

album review: 'where it all began' by dan + shay

Well, I shouldn't have been surprised this was happening.

And really, after the runaway success of Florida Georgia Line last year, it was all but inevitable that major labels would start hunting for other duos that could fill the bro-country mold. Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't tackled more groups of artists in this vein. I mean, last year there was Parmalee who were more of a band, and this year we had Sundy Best, who weren't remotely close to bro-country and were actually pretty damn awesome. And yet outside of them, bro-country has mostly been the genre of solo male artists in the vast majority - and despite many of them copying the same tropes and formulas, you could almost lay out a spectrum of how they present themselves.

And as tempted as I'd be to call it a spectrum between crap and not-quite-crap, that's not really fair or representative of a difference I find interesting within the subgenre, and that is how the acts present themselves. Let's face it, as much as some bro-country artists come across as swaggering alpha male douchebags, it's not indicative of the entire genre and there are some artists who are looking to opt a more sensitive side. And sure, it doesn't always work and some of the worse acts in bro-country have been when said affectations prove completely unconvincing, but given how many bro-country artists are trying to pivot in this direction, it's interesting to see how the newest crop make it work.

Enter Dan + Shay, a new country duo who started their career writing for Rascal Flatts before getting signed themselves. Now with the hit single '19 You + Me', they've got a debut album and a fair amount of popular buzz behind them, especially on the charts. So, I gave their new album Where It All Began a listen and hoped for the best: how was it?

video review: 'oklahoma lottery' by karen jonas

Damn, this was a welcome surprise. Seriously, check out this album, this woman deserves some real attention.

Up next... still not sure, so stay tuned!

album review: 'oklahoma lottery' by karen jonas

So here's a problem in the internet age that only critics will really complain about: with the advent of iTunes and Bandcamp, it has become very easy for a lot of music to be released independently - which, more often than not, is a very good thing, as it allows the artists to retain their unique sound and flavour and not get hammered into a marketable brand by the label system. But what it also means is that if I only covered new releases that showed up on Bandcamp and released reviews 365 days a year, I would still fall even more hopelessly behind than I already am.

As such, when an act from the independent country scene that I've never heard of starts to get some serious critical acclaim, I take notice, especially when I start to hear one of her biggest selling points is her songwriting. This takes us to Karen Jonas from Fredericksburg, Virginia and her debut album Oklahoma Lottery. Apparently, she has less of a web presence than I do - which, for an indie act building buzz, is a little startling - but then again, it's a little more excusable than mainstream country acts that have the same problem. And as always, I tempered my expectations: even though one of my top albums of the year thus far is the Texas indie country release Daylight & Dark by Jason Eady, I'm also very conscious of the fact that critics can tend to upsell indie acts that catch them by surprise. It's a natural human instinct, and sometimes it can eclipse critical thought and analysis. So with that in mind, I bought Oklahoma Lottery from Bandcamp and gave it my due: did Karen Jonas deliver?

video review: 'salad days' by mac demarco

Honestly, I thought I'd skip this review, but it turns out I had enough to talk about in this review.

Okay, next up... huh, not sure yet. Stay tuned, you'll see!

album review: 'salad days' by mac demarco

One of the biggest tropes in comedy is observational humour. You know the stuff, the material that fills the acts of the late George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, and Louis C.K.. The moment-by-moment notes about the little things in life in life that are quirky or odd or out-of-place, the things that might seem inessential until you dig into the reasons why we do them. And this sort of observational style shows up in other art as well, for obvious reasons: observing the normal world around you allows outlets to create plenty of stories, and implying depth in said stories can take elements that everyone can relate to and make them seem a lot bigger than they are.

And I'll be honest: with few exceptions, the sort of music that works through 'observational commentary' doesn't do a lot for me, especially if the tone of said music is more muted and mundane and actively seems to avoid drama. Sure, it's often effective in creating atmosphere and critics will eat this material up for its immersive factor and its relatability, but music that coasts by on mellow observations just does not interest me, especially when the 'insights' it presents aren't remotely revelatory. And that's not saying music about suburban or rural life can't be interesting - far from it, Arcade Fire, Lorde, Sun Kil Moon, and a whole slew of country artists have proven that wrong time and time again - but a slice of that sort of life without deeper commentary or insight often for me comes across as small-minded, bland, and rather pretentious.

And really, that was my first reaction when listening to Canadian singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco's debut album 2, an album that I don't really dislike but nearly puts me to sleep every time I listen to it - which, for the record, is not a good thing. Sure, the melodic progressions were interesting and the production was pretty solid, but with the too-smooth guitar tones, DeMarco's half-stoned delivery, and the lyrics that had some decent text but sparse subtext on suburban life, I just could not get invested in that record. It might not be strictly in the 'white guy with acoustic guitar' genre, but the tone and delivery of the album definitely fell into that category in trying to come across as having depth when there really wasn't much there, either through delivery or lyrics.

So why the hell did I pick up his follow-up album Salad Days? Well, call it curiosity, if you want, because buzz was suggesting this would be the album where the 'laid back bro grows up'. Now this was the same defense I heard used for the new Real Estate album, but given DeMarco's taste for weird melody lines, I had the hope that something on this record might be able to grip me - was I right?

video review: 'head or heart' by christina perri

Well, this took longer than I expected to get out. Glad to see it.

Next up, hmm... Dan + Shay, Lacuna Coil, Mac Demarco, Cloud Nothings, or that apparently amazing album from Karen Jonas. We'll see, stay tuned!