Cerce – Adieux

June 14, 2014 • Mayfly Records

Adieux is a compilation of various songs from three-ish years of Cerce's career as a Boston punk band (they've since renamed to "lovechild" for some ungodly reason). The tracks are a nice blend of hard-hitting, blazing-fast hardcore punk with a heavy dose of modern powerviolence mixed in. It's nothing terribly original, but they definitely do it well enough. There's also some more experimental stuff going on too—slower crusty sections, some noise, spoken word, and field recordings.

What's interesting about Adieux in particular is that it doesn't really feel like a compilation; the tracks are arranged in such a way that "normal" songs and noise interludes and experimental pieces follow one after another. I don't have any prior experience with this band so maybe that's just the way their stuff was presented before, but it does manage to stay pretty interesting throughout, though it does drag a little at the non-punk parts when not a lot is going on.

But it's short and sweet. Something to put on when you haven't heard any good hardcore in a while (I've been listening to a ton lately, so maybe that affects my opinion of this particular release). And, you know, it's free. A good send-off for a talented band.

Thou – Ceremonies of Humiliation

January 29, 2014 • Dead Tank Records

Is this really the same Thou that released the great album Summit? Because I really couldn't believe it at first; I thought this must have been a different band. This is because Ceremonies of Humiliation is simply a disaster.

Let's be clear, though: this isn't a regular album; this is (if I understand correctly) a compilation of tracks from various past splits and EPs from before Summit's release. So you can't really approach it in the same way you would a standard album, and it's all older material anyway.

Even putting that aside, I didn't enjoy a single minute of Ceremonies of Humiliation. Thou plays a very doom- and stoner-infused sludge metal: drawling, plodding, dark, and heavy. It's not my favorite kind of sludge, but the songs simply aren't good anyway. It just feels like there's no reason behind the song structures and the band just flounders around on weak riff after weak riff, going nowhere. Nowhere are the dynamics and interesting compositions I expected—just and endless string of notes and an insatiable desire to try to be "heavy" that they never really reach in a satisfying way. I think there's a point somewhere right between sludge metal and stoner metal that I inherently despise for some reason, and almost all of these songs hit that point on the nose.

And, by the way, this all goes on for an hour and a half. A full eighty-eight minutes, almost every one of them torturous. Normally I listen to any given release a handful of times before reviewing; I couldn't get through a second one with this.

Just stick to Summit (I checked; it's still a good album) and forget this thing ever existed.

The Locust – Molecular Genetics from the Gold Standard Labs

July 24, 2012 • Anti-

I have only a passing familiarity with The Locust, having heard merely Plague Soundscapes and their split with Arab on Radar, and they are still one of the most bizarre bands I've heard when it comes to heavy music (Melt-Banana comes close, I suppose). Gold Standard Laboratories, their old label, has released a bunch of old material culled from various splits and early material. Despite my usual aversion to this sort of raw, early "-core" music (mostly produced by crappy bands who can't sign on to anything more impressive than underground splits), this is a great collection.

For anyone who's heard the later albums, The Locust's older material isn't too much different—still the same old grindcore-meets-noise rock-meets-a total disregard for conventional songwriting and any sort of sympathy for their listeners. The music is as dissonant, spazzed-out, and unapproachable as ever, as each and every song provides an impenetrable wall of bizarreness. Noisecore blastbeats give way to jazz- and punk-influenced grooves and jump back just as quickly, as time signatures, tempos, and riff structures bounce all over the place. The assault never seems to let up for more than a few seconds total, and even though just a few songs break the one-minute mark, the lengthy tracklist makes for a real workout.

As a compilation of old and rare tracks, the long length and exhaustive effort it takes to hear this album is understandable—of course, these tracks probably weren't originally intended to be listened to in this way. Even so, the material here is surprisingly good (compared to old/rare material from similar bands) and definitely deserved this re-release. I daresay I probably enjoy this more than Plague Soundscapes as well, somehow; perhaps for the extra variety and unstoppable brutality.

Definitely a good place to start for anyone who's never heard of the band and a good place to continue for anyone who heard their newer albums but not the early stuff. Not for the faint of heart, but if you can take it, it's very much worth it.

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Sun God – Sun God

August 1, 2010 • Big Purple Records

Sun God is a band that I saw play with This Moment in Black History several years ago. They were selling this tape, essentially a discography of everything they'd put out on various singles and splits. It was quite limited so I doubt it's even available anymore, but it was a good place to get a quick feel for the band.

Their style is pretty simple, a sort of garage rock revival reminiscent of early Dinosaur Jr. with a punkier, more anthemic twist. It's catchy stuff, with a lot of great melodies and riffs, though their approach is a little formulaic. It's still music that is relatively fun to listen to, however.

I'm still a bit unsure on my verdict of Sun God as a band, as they're probably a better live act—or at least more well-suited for splits and singles as their songs are pretty samey (even after listening to this a dozen times).

This tape is definitely a niche release, and their Bandcamp page is probably better suited to determining if they're up your alley, and of course probably the best way to experience them in the first place is to just see a show (if they're still around; to be honest I haven't bothered to see if they've done anything since 2010). But at least it was interesting for me to go back to.

6

Consume – Consume

March 2007 • Insane Society Records

I don't know a single thing about this band, Consume; I simply found this compilation on YouTube the other day and decided to give them a shot. It's decent d-beat stuff, though nothing terribly unique. I've been listening to a lot of this sort of punk lately, though, the old-school crusty sound of bands like Discharge and Amebix and all them. With its catchy, simplistic guitar lines and drumming, there's hardly anything about Consume's music to dislike. It's tough to pick out highlights since all the songs are pretty similar, but there are plenty of moments that make me want to air-drum along.

Therein lies the problem, perhaps—long punk compilations like this have never sat well with me. I love punk EPs for their brevity, their ability to deliver quick bursts of anger, and in short order. With eighteen tracks and a forty-plus minute runtime, this compilation feels like too much. I guess that's kind of the point, probably; this is probably their entire discography to date and if you want to listen to the band you get a lot to choose from. And that's not a bad thing. They may not the best band but this release is enjoyable for what it's worth.

6

Isis – Temporal

November 6, 2012 • Ipecac Recordings

If I hadn't made it clear before, Isis has long been one of the most important bands to me and the development of my music taste—I remember having my mind blown by "So Did We" back in 2004, eating up the rest of their discography, and eventually managing to see them on tour in 2006 before their breakup in 2010. I hardly need mention that they were a classic band, almost universally-revered by the rock fans who knew of them, and at the very least it was good to see them go while they were still near their peak.

Anyway, enough with the eulogy, and onto the hefty contents of Temporal, a collection of demos, B-sides, and videos, fit to round off their career. Most of the songs have been seen before on various limited releases like the two covers from Sawblade and the Wavering Radiant-era outtakes, along with a couple of B-side remixes. All of the non-demo material I've heard before and it's mostly solid stuff, even the "Streetcleaner" cover many people seem to dislike (I love their really old sound, very industrial and dirty). It's good to see some of the best songs that never made it to an album get a high-profile release, like "Pliable Foe" which quickly became one of my favorite Isis songs when I first heard it and I'm not sure why it was only on the iffy Melvins split and never on Wavering Radiant like it deserved to be.

The demo tracks, though, are just alright. For the most part, aside from the alternate version of "Wills Dissolve" and the fantastic acoustic version of "20 Minutes / 40 Years", essentially you're just hearing the same songs you already know, just a bit sloppier, sounding like live concert recordings. It's a situation similar to all of Isis' live albums: the studio versions are excellent classics, so any live or demo version just seems inferior and kind of pointless. Obviously that doesn't make these demos bad; I simply would rather listen to the albums proper. Perhaps it's all to justify the inclusion of the never-officially-recorded "Grey Divide", which is actually quite a good song in its own right, and it's a shame it never got its proper due.

The DVD is similarly a bit lacking—five music videos and no other footage, sadly (not that you'd need it if you have the excellent Clearing the Eye). I've never been a huge fan of their videos, but it's nice to finally have them all packaged together.

If my review sounds a bit negative, don't despair. I have a tendency to be a bit overly critical with my all-time favorite bands; I mean it's Isis after all. If you're picking this up, you are probably already a fan and you already know the kind of thing you're getting. And you probably already know if you're going to like it.

7

Naysayer – Down but Not Out / No Remorse

2011 • Reaper Records

I'm really not sure how I ever found out about Naysayer; this sort of music isn't something I'd normally get into. Now that I've heard this compilation, I guess I know why. While they're really not a horrible band, their music is simply not something I care for very much.

Essentially, Naysayer's music can be broken down into two essential elements: fast, thrash metal-style riffs, and slow, heavy breakdowns. I suppose you'd call it thrashcore or beatdown hardcore if you had to; I don't know much about those specific styles so it's hard for me to say. That's about all there is to it, though; if you like something extremely simple and straightforward, that's what you'll get here. Nothing showy, nothing unusual or surprising; just riffs. (Not that it's impossible to do simple and straightforward well, of course; that's what punk is about.)

But probably because of their over-simplistic sound, and even despite there being the occasional neat riff and many of the songs are catchy, overall the album is just not very interesting. There's too much of that muted-open-string playing style going on; it all feels very lazy and uninspired, like they wrote these songs very quickly without thinking too much about it. Technically, it's mostly alright aside from the odd vocal quirk here and there, but what good is solid drumming skills if the songs you're accompanying are really dull?

I dunno, maybe it works better live (then again, Hatebreed, who is a bit similar, was one of the worst shows I ever saw, so who knows?). All I know is that something about this comp leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like I should be wearing a sleeveless shirt and a ballcap while lifting some weights when I listen to this. Not my thing.

4

Olivier Messiaen – Turangalîla-Symphonie / Quatuor pour la fin du temps / Thème et Variations

July 22, 2008 • EMI Classics

I'm always hesitant to listen to anything labeled "modern classical". It's such a diverse label you could get anything—a work like Gustav Holst's The Planets (one of my all-time favorite works) is so far from something like Karlheinz Stockhausen: epic, romantic majesty vs. cold, impenetrable dissonance. Olivier Messiaen is a composer who I'm not very familiar with but, even aside from him sounding like a very interesting individual, his work holds up as some modern classical that I can definitely appreciate and enjoy. This particular compilation presents older recordings of three different works: Turangalîla-Symphonie, Quatuor pour la fin du temps (the famous "Quartet for the End of Time", the piece that attracted me to this album in the first place) and Thème et Variations for violin and piano.

Turangalîla-Symphonie somehow manages to straddle the position between the aforementioned Planets and Stockhausen album I reviewed; it's composed on a grand scale for a large group, with some very dramatic and distinctive melodies and motifs, although it often jumps into more chaotic and dissonant segments, giving it a very disorienting and anxious feel. Normally I'd probably hate this kind of thing, but here I think it actually works pretty well; Messiaen keeps things way more interesting than I thought at first and it's impossible to get bored listening to this piece (although its length—ten movements! the nerve!—can be a bit daunting, and that means it does drag a bit near the end). There are a lot of nods to romantic period music (one of my favorite styles), but it never gets too sappy or droll thanks to the overall variety the piece has.

It's a bit of a tough piece to get into, though, and on my first listen I found it pretty alienating. Fortunately it's grown quite a bit on me, and I think it's helped me understand the more experimental side of modern classical a bit more, since it helps to balance out its serialist-type segments with more melodic bits. And, of course, I just like it—it's simply a really neat piece overall (although the slide whistle is more than a bit silly).

Quatuor pour la fin du temps presents a different side of Messiaen. It was written during his time as a prisoner during World War II, which helps explain the odd selection of instruments—it was apparently the only selection of professional musicians in the prison at the time. Now knowing a bit of history about the piece has made me listen to it in an entirely different way, as I can tell that the music is entirely appropriate for the situation.

Like Turangalîla-Symphonie, the Quatuor employs a lot of dissonant melodies, but obviously with much more sparse instrumentation. This really lends itself well to the very thematic approach taken with the piece, which mostly evokes the apocalypse (the book of Revelation was inspiration). Therefore the suite isn't just "sad" in the typical sense: it conveys a feeling of utter despair throughout; the music is often very slow and reflective, and when it isn't slow it's to contrast the despair and make it that much more intense. A standout example is the third movement, "Abîme des oiseaux" for solo clarinet, which alternates between low, incredibly slow droning notes and flittering runs (inspired by birdsong, in Messiaen fashion) that conflict brilliantly. I also enjoy the use of unusual tempos: movement III is merely 22 beats per minute, and movement V is "infiniment lent"—"infinitely slow".

Thème et Variations is a bit more generic compared to the first two pieces on this release, and it sounds like a lot of the other serialism pieces I've heard. It's kind of a shame that it was included because it's pretty much impossible to follow up Quatuor pour la fin du temps, let alone outshine it, and the movements are very short and breeze by so fast that it's just not very memorable, making it very difficult to comment on. It would have been nice to hear these on their own release, one that could do them justice, perhaps alongside similar duets. It's certainly not bad, and the last movement is quite beautiful in its own right, but I can't help feeling like the whole piece simply shouldn't have been included.

Still, if you're looking for something to help ease you into either Messiaen's work or the more atonal side of modern classical in general, this is definitely a recording to pick up. Both Turangalîla-Symphonie and Quatuor pour la fin du temps are fantastic works that should not be missed; I'm definitely glad I finally heard them myself.

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