Reviews – Page 114 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: Dr. Who ‘The Name of the Doctor’, aired 7pm Saturday 18th May 2013

The ultimate episode of this series of Dr Who, in the lead up to the 50th anniversary in November, was written by Steven Moffat and produced by Marcus Wilson. The Doctor’s big secret, his name, is at the core of this episode. The storyline brings together the major characters of this, and previous, series to do what a time traveller should never do: go to their tomb.

I’m not going to spoil the story for anyone who didn’t watch it tonight by telling you what happened but I have to say, I did feel it didn’t have a strong structure – a beginning, middle and end – and is instead a prologue to the 50th Anniversary episode in November. It was unsatisfying, and Moffat can write better.

Next up, a review of ‘Star Trek: Into darkness’ and that ebook I’ve been reviewing for Book Inc.? Yeah, I finally got that read. The review will be here a.s.a.p. After I’ve had my tea, that is.

Bye, for now,

Rose

One band I like, One band I think are a bit bad mannered and Two bands I’m not fussed by.

Yes, it’s another round up of the bands that follow my Twitter account. Aren’t you lucky devils?

So the first band on my list are Demise, a band from the West Midlands that formed in 2008. They describe themselves as a ‘heavy band’ and say they sound like Pantera, Down, Metallica, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Black Label Society.

Band Members:

Mick Hatton – Vocals
Craig Williamson – Lead Guitar
Leigh Gittus – Rhythm Guitar
Don Whitehouse – Bass Guitar
Richie Rogers – Drums

They have several tracks available a:

I listened to ‘The Contender’.

Opinion

I’m not incredibly impressed, but as I’ve said multiple times I prefer clean vocals to shouting and screaming. I know other people like that sort of thing and if you do they might be to your taste. Either way, don’t let my personal preferences prevent you from at least giving them a listen.

Next on my list is an American band called Stellar Revival. I have somewhat limited internet access so it was about a week between them following me and me being able to get online and listen to their music. By the time I had a chance to they had unfollowed me. As a result I haven’t listened to their music, but if you want to, their website is:

http://www.stellarrevival.com

Third on my list is another American band, or as they describe themselves an ‘industrial-metal/shock rock performance art act’ from Portland, Oregon.

Members

Cody – Vocals

Freeman Manfree – Guitar

Brick – Drums

The Human – Keys/Sequencing

Unlucky Eddy – Bass

Enygma – Hype and Shenanigans

Their website is:

Their facebook page has a quite comprehensive ‘About’ page, but here’s a small sample just to give you an idea

‘Amerakin Overdose is an Industrial- Metal / Shock Rock performance art act from Portland, OR. Known for hypnotic dance beats and horror style theatrics, blended with heavy driven metal riffs, the band brings a very user friendly sound that promotes accidental cardio via involuntary movement of your head, feet and body. The combination of heavy dance music mixed with onstage antics are a freak show in action, a nonstop visual and auditory stimulate from the first note to the last. True to the band motto; they “Get Shit Done”.’

Apart from the bad grammar and slightly off spelling, I find their expression of intent slightly obnoxious.

I listened to three of their songs after downloading them from reverb nation.

Opinion

Er, no, just, no.

Seriously, that’s what I’ve got written in my notebook.

I see what they’re trying to do, it’s very much in the ‘Slipknot’ mould but it’s just not my thing.

Finally, because they’re the last in my notebook, a band whose music I actually liked, A New Tomorrow.

From London and formed in June 2009, they describe their music as modern rock.

Members

Alessio Garavello – Vocals/Guitars
Andrea Lonardi – Bass Guitar
Dan Panza – Guitars
Tim Hall – Drums

This quartet have a comprehensive website:

Main Home

and their music is available on iTunes, Spotify etc. They also have a few tracks on sound cloud

Opinion

I listened to the tracks this band have on Spotify, their EP ‘Incandescent’ and the single ‘Believe’. On first listen I preferred ‘Love Utopia’ and ‘What they can’t steal from you’ because I found the lyrics of ‘Brighter than the sun’ and ‘Believe’ to be a little repetitive. On listening a second time I found that I actually quite liked all of them; the songs are enjoyable with a positive feeling about them.

Alesso Garavello’s singing is not necessarily to my taste, his voice is a little too high pitched at times, but still good. Occasionally (especially in ‘Love Utopia’) he sounds like someone has got his balls in a vice.

The guitars are not mind blowing, although they certainly seem competent enough, and Tim Hall is a steady and skilled drummer.

In other words, they’re okay, not quite as heavy as I usually like but still appealing. And they get extra points for spelling my name correctly when they answered a Tweet. I didn’t actually mean for them to answer it, I was just commenting on the music when I listened to it. But still, kudos for that.

And that’s the round up for this week.

Bye

Rose

Review: Sacred Mother Tongue ‘Out Of The Darkness’

At last! I’ve been album since I saw them live in mid-March. It does not disappoint.

Andy James’ guitar playing is amazing and Darrin South’s lyrics and vocals are so damn good. Josh Gurner (Bass) and Lee Newell (Drums) tie it all together nicely. And together it’s perfect: a heavy sound with well written, honest lyrics, and excellent musicianship. There really isn’t a track on this album that I don’t like and I can’t wait to see them play at Download Festival next month. They may just be my new favourite band.

Review: Bring Me The Horizon ‘Sempiternal’

I didn’t like BMTH’s earlier stuff, because as I’ve said before I prefer singers who actually sing rather than shout, and Ollie Sykes shouts far more than he sings. That’s unfortunate really because as ‘Deathbeds’, the final track on the ‘Deluxe’ version of Sempiternal, shows, Ollie Sykes can sing quite well. That isn’t the onbly track on the album that shows BMTH’s growth as a band, and as people. The raw pain in the lyrics of ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ contrasts with the anger of ‘The House of Wolves’. Just when you think you know what to expect they change the emotional tone of the songs, although the whole is tied together musically.

I had to listen to the album twice to really get in to it, but once I did I was willing to admit that while they will never be my favourite band this group of lads from Sheffield are okay. I can see why they are considered one of the best young British metal bands around.

Metal Hammer presents HIM Tears on Tape Limited Edition Collector’s Pack: Was it worth it?

YES!!!!!

You know I said I’d stop fangirling? Well, I lied. I’m back with another post.

I pre-ordered the fan pack as soon as it was available (if I’d waited I wouldn’t have had the money to pay for it). It arrived the on Monday, the official release date and came packaged in a sturdy cardboard container.

It contains

· a comprehensive magazine edited by Ville Valo and covering everything to do with the new album,

· two double-sided posters (although one of them might be for pre-orders only – it has the names of everyone who ordered before the 2^nd of April printed on it), one A1 sized and the other full door length

a drawstring bag (again pre-orders only?),

· for 1000 lucky people, signed cards (I didn’t get one of those *sigh*),

· a code to download five bonus tracks from DXX records.’

At £14.99 I’d say that was a bargain. Even if you take out the stuff that’s for pre-orders only that still leaves a thick magazine, an album, several bonus songs to download, and a very large double-sided poster. At a quick estimate, let’s say the album costs £10 on its own, the poster, 3 or 4 quid, the magazine is at least £4, plus the downloadable tracks? £2 or £3? So about £20 in total? If you could get any of the extras on their own, which I don’t think you can, that’s good value for money. Now the only decision is, do I hang the posters up, or keep them safe in the packaging?

So, purely from a monetary viewpoint, the fan-pack/collector’s pack is worth it. From a fan’s point of view, the insights into the band, the album and everything that goes with it, the magazine is a treasure house of information. So yes, definitely worth the money if you like HIM.

Bye,

Rose

Review: HIM ‘Tears on Tape’

Firstly let me declare my biases.

I’m very fond of HIM, they’re probably the only band I fan-girl over

There’s a good chance I’d love this album anyway because it’s the first album of new music they’ve released since I first heard their music

Now that’s out of the way I’ll get on with the actual review. Bearing in mind what I’ve just said, and my major fan-girling on Twitter on the morning I received my copy of ‘Tears on Tape’ (29/04/2013), it actually took me a while to get in to the album. It was only on my third listen that it started to grow on me; I really liked ‘Love without tears’ the first time through, and then ‘Into the night’ replaced it as my favourite song on the album. The opening riff on ‘Hearts at war’ is very reminiscent of ‘Love Metal’ era HIM.

Ville Valo’s voice has definitely changed in the last few years; it’s not as strong as it once was although he still manages to carry the songs well, and reprises of old hits ‘Buried alive by love’ and ‘Kiss of dawn’ – live from Finnvox, show that he can still sing their older material. Linde’s riffs are great, Mige’s bass sits quietly in the background holding things together, Burton is still a virtuoso on the keys and Gas is still hitting those drums way too hard. I really like the intro ‘Unleash the red’; it sets the tone for the whole album right from the start. More bands should have instrumental intro’s on their albums.

The more I listen to this album the more I love it. It definitely requires listening to several times to really get in to it and hear all the different aspects and, since the lyrics aren’t in the album, to understand precisely what is being sung, but it repays the time in the quality of the work and the pleasure I get from hearing these gents again. HIM have managed to produce another album of melodic, dark and heavy tracks that reference in their sound all their influences. I like the ‘dirty’ effect they’ve managed to get, like you would hear on a real cassette tape as it warps and changes with being played.

The album artwork, by Daniel P Carter, is rather gorgeously gothic; the new evolution in the

heartagram as a sigil, the skulls, bleeding hearts and beautiful geometric work is so very representative of HIM, yet so different from their previous album sleeve artwork. I love the cover; it reminds me of the sea under storm clouds. It also reminds me of the afternoon just after the cover art was first released that I spent with my nephew trying to decipher the lyrics written in the world snake. We had fun, and managed to translate the writing (my nephew was very proud of himself). I’m a sentimental git, the music appeals to me, what can I say?

The thing that made me laugh most was the way the album credits were concluded with ‘Ta & Ta Ta’ – thank you and goodbye in Midland’s English (someone’s been hanging around in England for too long methinks).

Right, I’m going to stop verbally fan-girling now and try to sum up.

This album is HIM; it references so many of their influences and yet is different from all of them, it’s a bit heavier than some of their earlier stuff, being closer to Love Metal than Screamworks, and it needs a few listens to really get in to, but it grew on me. A great addition and evolution to the band’s body of work.

Yours, in sonic insanity,

Rose

Aviator Shades

Twitter: @AviatorShades1

Facebook: aviatorshadesband

This band were surprisingly easy to find out about; their Facebook page has a comprehensive history of the band and lists all their social media URL’s, as well as influences, genre, and most usefully, who is actually in the band.

Aviator Shades are:

Dave Gorman Singer/Bassist

Jesse Waldron Drums

George Baker Guitar

Shaun Michael Thackeray Guitar

They are based in Vancouver, although at least one of them isn’t originally from Canada, and they list their influences as ‘Thin Lizzy, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Queen, Iron Maiden, Rush, AC/DC, Whitesnake and ZZ Top’ and their genre as ‘Classic rock, blues and a dash of metal’. I could hear the first two in their tracks but not the ‘metal’ elements. As to social media they have Facebook, Twitter, bandcamp, myspace, reverbnation, youtube and soundcloud accounts, so I suppose you can take your pick of how you consume their music. I personally prefer Sound Cloud because they have a mobile site and my phone likes it better than the reverbnation site or youtube. They plan to have an EP out this year.

Opinion?

I quite liked them; they definitely fit in to their genre declaration of ‘classic rock’. Their songs have catchy hooks and are quite anthemic; the singer’s voice is good. I was trying to work out who he reminded me of. The closest I could get was Meat Loaf, and even that’s not quite right. There’s also something very bluesy about them, almost shading in to folk-music-esque at times, especially on ‘Papa taught me how to sing (the blues)’.

A Second Reflection

Twitter: @ASRband_UK

Facebook: A Second Reflection

A Second Reflection is currently a solo project by Tim Merrick. Currently he has a few demos available on soundcloud – the links are on the ‘A Second Reflection’ Facebook page. He apparently hopes to have more songs written and recorded ‘soon’

I’ve listened to some of the tracks, they are ‘nowhere near complete’ according to their composer. I found them a little repetitive, although competent, and it will definitely be interesting to see what he does with them.

HIM ‘Tears on Tape’

It’s arrived!

I’m listening to it now; full review to follow when I finish fangirling.

Rose

Black Sabbath: God’s existence might be in question but Sabbath’s supremacy is not

Ah, Black Sabbath are back(!) with their new single from the album ’13’ due to be released in June. I can’t stop listening to their new song ‘God is Dead?’; Ozzy Osbourne still has a truly unique voice, Mr Iommi’s riffs are perfection, Geezer Butler is as good a bass player as ever and Tommy Clufetos makes an excellent addition to Black Sabbath as their drummer.

The lyrics question the existence of a God, because of all the religious wars in the world, but in the end Ozzy maintains that he believes that God is not dead. If this song is an example of what the new album will be like then I can’t wait to hear it. This song is a great addition to the Sabbath canon and shows that time has not diminished the ability of Black Sabbath to create great music.

Rose