Monthly Archives: April 2013

Review: Nerve End EP’s Axis/This State of War

I mentioned it last night but I’ll re-cap for those who haven’t read the post.

Yesterday afternoon I was wandering around Facebook when a post by some random Finnish metal band appear on my timeline. I suspect because they had tagged a band I like – ‘Reckless Love’ – in the post. Anyway, I thought I’d go and have a look at their website:

http://www.nerveend.com/

I like some metal but I’m not over-fond of the tendency to shout that some metal bands seem to find essential.

Nerve End describe themselves as ‘a four piece metal act from Joenssuu, Finland’ and their genre as ‘metal/progressive/alternative’. They played their first live show a year ago and have since played over twenty shows across Finland, several in some of Finland’s most well-known venues.

Their EP Axis (2011) is available to stream and download for free on SoundCloud. As is their 2010 EP ‘This State of War’. So I did.

Since I was awake stupidly early and got everything else done first thing, I thought I’d give them a listen.

And my opinion?

They’re not too bad. I couldn’t understand what the vocalist was singing a lot of the time; he doesn’t seem to enunciate very clearly, or the rest of the band were playing too loudly.

I was trying to decide who they sound most like but I couldn’t. The sound is familiar but different enough that I found a comparison hard to make. I think it’s more that their vocal and musical style is a part of the same milieu and so there is a continuity in the sound with other metal bands. Does that make any sense? I don’t know, this sleep deprivation is beginning to get to me.

They have one of their videos on youTube, ‘The Squid’ from the EP Axis. It’s pretty representative of their sound.

I don’t dislike them, and I certainly don’t find listening to this band objectionable. The guitars – at least to my ignorant and untrained ear/brain – are cool, the random tinkly bits in the instrumental sections (I think they must be from synths?) are an interesting contrast, and the vocalist really is quite good. Little too ‘shouty’ for me to be able to listen too all the time, but that is what ‘shuffle’ is for.

The tracks aren’t what I’d call catchy but they have the potential to become earworms. The tracks vary between 3 and 6 minutes with more instrumental passages than I was expecting. They were unexpected but pleasant moments; the musicians are certainly talented.

Finland is supposed to have more metal bands per capita than any other country; it could be said that metal is their forte. Nerve End are a capable edition to their ranks.

In addition to their website they also have facebook (like most people) and twitter. From what I can see, someone tries to reply to comments/posts made.

https://m.facebook.com/nerveendband

Their Twitter is @NerveEnd

Check them out. They might appeal to you.

That’s it, I’m done for the day. My brain hurts from lack of sleep.

And I still haven’t had anything to eat.

Bye

Rose

Short story competition

http://www.britishfantasysociety.co.uk/news/the-bfs-short-story-competition-is-back-2/

I saw this on Twitter about a minute ago and I’m already cursing the fact that I don’t have internet at home. The website is too big to open on my BlackBerry. I’m actually considering entering the competition, but I want to read more of the details.

Going now, I still haven’t had breakfast and I have more music to listen too and write about.

Rose

Review: Stone Sour ‘House of Gold & Bones Part 2’

Stone Sour
House of Gold & Bones Part 2

Roadrunner Records
Producer: David Bottrell
Recorded @ Sound Farm Studios

Released
3rd April 2013 Japan
8th April 2013 UK
9th April 2013 US

• Corey Taylor – Vocals, piano and also wrote the associated short story
• James Root – Guitar
• Josh Rand – Guitar
• Ray Mayorga – Drums, synthesisers, piano

And in addition to the band
• Rachel Bolan, of Skid Row, filled in on bass
And the following added strings to ‘The Conflagration’
•Kevin Fox – Cello
•Karen Graves – 1st Violin
•Kate Unrau – 2nd Violin
•Anna Redekopt – Viola

I had to do a bit of reading when I decided to review this album. I’d heard of Stone Sour, obviously, but had never listened to any of their music. It made interesting reading.

Corey Taylor and Joel Ekman formed Stone Sour in 1992, several years before Slipknot formed. In 1997 they went on hiatus during which Taylor concentrated on Slipknot. In 2001 they got back together and produced the first of their four (if you count House of Gold & Bones as a single album) albums. There has been some line-up changes, with Ekman leaving in May 2006 (replaced by Ray Mayorga)and bassist Shawn Economaki leaving in May 2012. For the album he was replaced by Rachel Bolan, of Skid Row.

For years, due to Slipknot’s musical ascendancy, Stone Sour has been known only as Corey Taylor’s side-project, despite the fact that the band had been together longer than Slipknot. This double album (Part 1 was released in late October 2012 and contains the first 11 tracks) finally puts that fallacy to bed once and for all. A concept album, with accompanying comic book (first issue released 17th April 2013, Dark Horse), the tracks are a mix of melodic hard rock tunes and Mr Taylor’s shouting – toned down quite a lot.

The albums were recorded simultaneously in mid 2012 and tell a coherent story, although the storyline does not overwhelm the songs and they can be listened to out of ‘context’. It’s more like a theme that runs through both albums. I had to listen to both Parts 1 and 2 to see it.

Unusually, the full album was available for streaming from the band’s official website from the 2nd April 2013. I wonder how many people have been encouraged to buy it after listening for free? It is now available to buy on DVD or vinyl, and is still available for streaming on the website, as well as Spotify, iTunes and Sound Cloud.

My Opinion

I really enjoyed this album. Definite 5/5. I might even buy a hard copy when I have a bit of spare cash (sorry but if you give it away for free I’ll take it, I’m broke).

They’re at Download on Sunday 16th June, I have every intention of going to see them there. Might give Slipknot on the Friday night a miss though. Stone Sour’s more my thing.

Random Information if you want to know more about Stone Sour:

http://www.stonesour.com/

Corey Taylor was in Kerrang! magazine this week discussing Stone Sour, Slipknot, the many facets of his personality and how the two bands express him differently. Also, an explanation for those horrendous costumes he’s worn to the Kerrang! Awards.

And there’s always his book ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ (yes, I read it when it was published last year; our library has some interesting books, someone must have ordered it). It’s quite an interesting book. It could easily be subtitled ‘all the stupid shit Corey Taylor did before settling down a touch’. Interesting structure as well. There’s not much in it about the formation of the bands he sings in but it does seem to explain all that anger.

Ha! I’ve just been to check the details on http://www.amazon.co.uk and it looks like he has another book being published this year, called ‘A funny thing happened on the way to heaven’ (Ebury Press, 20th June 2013). I might have to read that.

Well, I’d best be off, I want my breakfast. See how dedicated to you all I am? I get up stupidly early on a Sunday morning to listen to music and write before I even consider necessities like food, and a cup of tea. I definitely need tea.

Bye

Rose

A band I’ve never heard of, but the EP was free.

A band I like, Reckless Love, were mentioned by another band I’ve never heard of called Nerve End. Facebook does that sometimes. I went and had a quick look at their website and their EP  ‘Axis’ is free to listen too, so I shall. And then I’ll get back to you.

In the interests of fairness though, in exchange for free music I thought I’d share their web address and a link for the EP.

http://nerveend.com/

I found their EP from 2010 on Sound Cloud, so I’ve added a link to it as well.

I’ve got a few things to listen to tomorrow I can tell. And then there’s that ebook I’m reviewing for Book Hub. And then I have that short story to type up…oh, I am going to be busy.

Rose

Review: Ernie Beckett’s Traditional Fish Restaurant, Cleethorpes

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Ernie Beckett’s Traditional Fish Restaurant, 21 Market Street, Market Place Corner, Cleethorpes DN35 8LY, England
It would appear that someone doesn’t know the difference between a comma and an apostrophe. Which is a catastrophe.
 
 
 

This afternoon I went out for my tea; I tried a fish restaurant I’ve never been too before. I’ve heard about Beckett’s from quite a few people so I thought I’d give it a try. When I arrived I found that the restaurant was full and there was a party of three already waiting. Beckett’s appears to be popular, both with locals and visitors, although it is early in the season. While I was waiting I perused the take-away menu. It was fairly priced. Having a quick look at the already cooked fish, they appeared to be generous portions. We were waiting about fifteen minutes for a table but when tables became available the staff quickly cleared away the debris and took orders.

The Food

menumenu2menu3

Beckett’s serve basic fish and chip shop food, traditional stuff, nothing exotic.

We ordered three large fish, chips and mushy peas (one without the mushy peas), tea and bread and butter. £8.50 each.

The fish a beautifully cooked and very good quality; the batter a was light and crispy. The chips were just right. They were generously proportioned, although I wouldn’t have minded another slice of bread and butter. The tea pot was large and we got several cups each, and there was plenty of milk.

food

My fish and chips – so big I couldn’t get it all in the picture!

The Staff

Friendly, polite and efficient. The fish cook, James, especially made conversation with customers.

The Restaurant

It is a cafe really. It is small and the tables just about accommodate four people. The doors to the seating area are narrow. They do not take cards, cheques or fifty pound notes. On a nice day it’s probably quicker if you get your meal to take away and find a bench on the seafront. But on a chilly April afternoon it’s quite a pleasant place to sit down and eat.

Overall

It was nice. I’d definitely go there again.

Rose

I’ve been working on a few things…

While I was travelling to Nottingham last month I started writing a short story from a prompt I found on Tumblr – which has some great writing blogs by the way, go and look. I finished it a few days ago. The only problem I had was that the idea I went with wasn’t the only idea I had; there were three I wanted to do something with. Consequently I wrote another short story and started a third which I need to get around to finishing.

I got distracted by a picture prompt from another Tumblr blog and started writing a short story for that. Then I found some ‘opening paragraph prompts’ I wrote on the train home from Nottingham in December, in another notebook. So I started writing another short story. Yeah, it’s got a little out of hand now. So, I was thinking, since I’m writing shed loads of short stories right now why don’t I do something with them?

That’s my current project, take two written prompts and two picture prompts and write three short stories for each of them. It’s going to be an interesting exercise for my creativity.

I suppose it’s a good job I have a few new notebooks about the place, because I’m using them up rapidly at the minute. I find I’m more likely to finish a story if I hand write it than if I type it straight away on my laptop. I think it’s probably psychological. It also allows me to do a first edit as I’m typing up.

There’s all sorts of things in my notebooks. I rarely let other people see them though. Not that anyone can decipher my handwriting; when I’m in full scribble mode my writing is terrible.
I’ll stop rambling now, and get some writing done,

Bye,

Rose

See, I told you my writing was scrawl, although that's actually not too bad...

See, I told you my writing was scrawl, although that’s actually not too bad…

Review: ‘Who Needs Mr Darcy?’

Jean Burnett

2012

Sphere (Little Brown Book Group)

Opening at Pemberley in September 1815 and concluding aboard a ship to Brazil in 1818, this novel follows ‘The adventures and exploits of the bad Miss Bennet’. Lydia Wickham, married three years and widowed at Waterloo, when her husband had the decency to die in battle (although not as heroically as Lydia was telling people), is at a loose end. Currently in residence at Pemberley, living as a dependant of her humourless brother-in-law Darcy and her sister Lizzy, Lydia dreams of escape, of London, Paris and Lord Byron, of making her fortune by marriage to a rich man and dancing among the fashionable world at Almack’s. She has become her husband’s mirror image. Darcy wants rid of her, and Lydia is eager to be got rid of, provided she can have an allowance from her relatives and the freedom to do whatever she wants.

By subterfuge Lydia gets her way and travels to London to stay with the impecunious and immoral Selena and Miles Caruthers, friends from her days as an army wife. On the way she is robbed by a handsome highwayman, in London she plays with marked cards and becomes involved with a banker. Travelling to Brighton she meets the Prince Regent, becomes involved in a murder and robbery, and is kidnapped by her highwayman

Eventually Lydia finds her way to the no longer fashionable Bath, as her banker is arrested and she acquires a new admirer. Plans are made for Paris, but first she must go to Pemberley. Here a letter arrives from Longbourne; Kitty, who Lydia has kept informed of all her adventures, has had an attack of conscience and drops Lydia in it up to her neck. Sent away to be a companion to a rich, elderly widow (it was that or the asylum, suitable husbands not being forthcoming) in Bath, Lydia despairs.

Until she hatches a plan and her employer is persuaded to end her retired life and go to the Continent. Lydia is ecstatic and finally gets to see Paris and Venice. But her past catches up with her and she is forced to work for the British Government in a delicate matter.

This Lydia is has learnt no restraint, no humility or respectability. She is as immodest, reckless and ignorant as would be expected from the youngest Bennet girl. She blames all her misfortunes on others and takes no responsibility for her actions. She sees her family as interfering, disapproving and spiteful.

She is not an endearing character at all, and the plot has too much gothic extravagance about it to be very enjoyable, and yet I raced through this novel. More could have been made of the royal intrigue, financial scandal and international politics, which are the main drivers of the plot and which effect Lydia’s fate the most, but the story, like it’s narrator is rather shallow. Leaving Lydia and her criminal beau aboard ship and bound for Brazil clearly leaves the way open for a sequel should the author choose to pen one.

I think this would have been a fun book, in the mould of Regency romances, if the main character had been an original rather than a pale attempt at writing Lydia Bennet. Jean Burnett simply does not write Lydia Bennet as well as Jane Austen drew her two hundred years ago. The character is a flat caricature. It’s enjoyable enough I suppose but I wouldn’t go out and buy it. That’s what the library is for.

And that is all I have to say on the subject.

Bye,

Rose