SH*T THAT COMES OUT TODAY – THE OCTOBER 4TH, 2011 EDITION
NOTE: When this column was first published this morning, we erroneously included the release of the new Jane’s Addiction album, The Great Escape Artist. That album does not come out until October 18. We apologize for our fuck-up.
Compared to last week anything would be considered a small release week, but this week’s slate still has almost ten new records. Highlights include music from Danava and Absu, so you’ll have a few new things to check out if you somehow already made it through everything from last week. Enjoy.
Absu – Abzu (Candlelight)
After a five-year period of inactivity, Absu returned with 2009’s self-titled full-length. The follow-up, Abzu, continues on the same path, with the band playing an excellent style of blackened thrash that’s both captivating and extreme. This is the second part of the band’s “Abyssic Trinity”, a set of three which will be completed with their next album.
Blessthefall – Awakening (Fearless)
Take a basic metalcore band with one foot in melody, but not completely focused on it — say a Deliver Us-era Darkest Hour — and you have the basic sound of Blessthefall. Complex yet captivating guitar parts, raspy and inspired shouts, etc. However, the band sneaks in the typical highly melodic singing chorus common in many songs from bands in the genre. The band has promise, but those choruses ruin the package for me. This is the band’s third full-length record.
The Browning – Burn This World (Earache)
Earache has come a long way from their heyday. The former authority on extreme metal now presents us with The Browning, which is a terrible name and had better be a poop joke. The band plays a style of deathcore with heavy emphasis on electronic elements, including tons of keyboard use, electronic vocal cutaways and other elements. It doesn’t really work for the band, as it still sounds like a typical deathcore band with a bunch of random extra noise scattered over the tracks.
Danava – Hemispheres Of Shadows (Kemado)
A new record from Danava is a definite highlight of the week. Danava’s style of bluesy psychedelic rock sounds similar to bands like Quest For Fire and Radio Moscow, based in retro sounds but adding a new layer to it. The track “Shoot Straight With A Crooked Gun” is streaming over at Brooklyn Vegan, and they’re heading on the road with Thrones soon, which amazingly is actually coming through my home state of Nebraska. Excellent.
Friend For A Foe – Source Of Isolation (Myriad)
FFAF’s take on adding complex melodies to their basic template of metalcore is what sets them apart from the pack. They use sung vocals, done naturally without autotune nonsense, and interesting, dynamic playing to make their songs really work. The easiest way to describe them is “the Opeth of metalcore,” in that they’re rooted in one genre but stay creative and don’t get held down by the genre’s constraints. This is FFAF’s debut release (it’s an EP) and it shows us just a small glimpse of what this band is capable of in the future.
La Dispute – Wildlife (No Sleep)
La Dispute are a post-hardcore band, in this instance meaning a punk band that plays driving riffs with less emphasis on volume and heaviness and more on lyrical depth and instrument clarity. The music itself is pretty good, but the vocals become somewhat aggravating on repeated listens. The band is excellent live, and I wish this record sounded more like their live presence. Wildlife has been streaming on the band’s Facebook page since September 22nd.
True Widow – I.N.O. (Kemado)
Self-proclaimed “stonegaze” from Texas, True Widow play some very spaced-out and groovy tunes that are more psychedelic sounding than stoner, but the product is still good. The songs tend to just roll along at a dreary pace, and they’re pretty lengthy, as the title track is 14 minutes long. The result is a chilled-out set of tunes prefect for winding down.
Wayne Static – Pighammer (Dirthouse)
Aaaaaand Wayne Static has a solo album. Ok, fine, let’s do this. Say what you want about Static-X, but I still have a copy of Wisconsin Death Trip somewhere in a box in my house. That said, I haven’t liked anything from the band since (Ok, Machine had a FEW good tracks…), and this music is exactly the same as the majority of Static-X’s catalog. Shitty sort-of-industrial mixed with big chunky riffs that never captivate the listener… ignore this. You’ll thank me.
-VV
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