Stubb - Stubb

Stubb

Stubb

Superhot

If one thing is certain about psychedelic rock and blues rock, it is that they will never die. Any style of music that can continue to pervade and influence some fifty or more years after bands started shoving them together in a drug-addled, scuzzy haze is obviously completely incapable of being killed off and might well outlive humanity. Until that day, we might as well continue to enjoy it, particularly when it comes to Stubb, a London three-piece comprising two members of the avant-garde grunge sludgers Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight (in the form of the rocking rhythm section of Chris West on drums and bassist Pete Holland) and guitarist and lead vocalist Jack Dickinson. Sent to me a few weeks ago by the band, ‘Stubb’, their debut album, is something of a diamond in the rough.

Failure to Follow - Wasting Away

Failure To Follow

Wasting Away EP

ITG

It’s my own personal opinion that British hardcore is in need of a band who doesn’t just scream anger and basically play with complete punk energy all the time. There’s no harm in doing that particularly, but however much maligned old-school hardcore seems for its focus on brutal breakdowns and slam moments, I really don’t think it would harm for one or two bands to real smash listeners’ faces in by supplying these moments more often, rather than retreading what seems to have become old ground. If Bristol’s Failure to Follow are anything to go by, my message is perhaps somehow transmitting across.

Iced Out - Demo 2012

Iced Out
Demo 2012

I'm not saying I totally dislike the UK hardcore scene, but it largely falls on the melodic side, whether it be acts like Gallows, The Ghost of a Thousand, etc. It's not really like the US scene which features a fair whack of tough guy hardcore, full of bruising beatdowns, self-motivating/depreciating lyrics and macho pride. You can't really say one is better than the other in general - its how you do it that counts.

Coilguns - Stadia Rods

Coliguns
Stadia Rods EP
Dead Dead Dead

I hadn't heard much from Coilguns before, despite their links to The Ocean, so when around two minutes in to the opening track, 'Parkensine', my ears and my mind were suddenly alert, that had to be a good sign. 'Stadia Rods' is some heavy shit indeed, mixing elements of Dillinger Escape Plan-esque mathcore, sludge metal and more. It's slightly disappointing that this is just an EP - I'd love to hear a whole album of Coilguns if this is the sort of quality we're going to get from them.

Live Review: The Devil's Blood @ Moho, Manchester, 17/02/2012

Due to my poor timing and the journey taking longer than planned, we managed to arrive moments after Funeral Throne finished. Now, with only candles set up around a shrine in the middle of the stage, and droning atmospheric ambience for entertainment, we waited for what seemed like a long time. The 'scary music' was unceasingly dribbling out of the PA system, giving a restless and cheap feeling that probably wasn’t what The Devil's Blood intended. Not to worry, this at least gave me more opportunity to spend over three pounds a pop for cans of lager.

Eventually five very serious looking figures covered in mud, blood and adorned in tight leather pants enter the stage. The frontwoman or 'priestess' remains out of sight for the moment, while her brother, the creative and spiritual force behind the band, tightly harmonises and solos with the other two guitarists.

The guitarist closest to me chants to himself whilst staring directly ahead in a way that makes me think he might have seen action in ‘Nam. The Devil’s Blood haven’t ever given the impression that they do this for the love of music. Anyone who’s read up on the band will know that their objective is possibly more sinister and occult; it’s also of much less interest to me. Obviously I can’t speak for all as Ghost's recent success has shown; there seems to be a lot of people who find it fascinating. Still, The Devil's Blood were crazy long before Ghost started dressing up as necrotized Klan members and spouting their devil worship. The Devil's Blood’s explanation of their agenda and belief seems cryptic and long winded, but is basically aimed at instilling rebellious behaviour, and it’s no surprise to me that they ideologically align themselves with the likes of Jon Nodviedt from Dissection, whose beliefs lead him to shoot himself instead of making another fucking album.

The band's creation of atmosphere is the first thing to be emphasised. Songs seem to be more of a ritual than played track after track. Lengthy build ups lead into a sublime moment where songs such as 'On the Wings of Gloria' come in with a spine shattering bass line. This is where The Devil's Blood’s brilliance, which is their strength of their songs, becomes apparent. The vocalist stands close to the crowd, her arms open wide, beckoning, with wild hair and shrouded in smoke. Her powerful, melodic voice slices through the mix like a razor through flesh. It would be easy for her to over indulge, yet the performance fits the band's psychedelic rock influenced style perfectly, adding another dynamic that makes The Devil’s Blood special. Another is the bands ambiguity in terms of their musical design, their certainly black metal fans but draw just as much in their style from the likes of Fleetwood Mac amongst an array of trippy 70s rock. I find the band avoids mediocrity and distastefulness completely, even lyrically, on a subject I generally find to be arrogant and stupid. 'The Yonder Beckons' was certainly a highlight in the set, with the band at their most imposing, creating a powerful energy to the haunting march of the song, which gives prominence to the bands most powerful weapon which is their musical subtlety.

Unfortunately the electrical atmosphere these moments created did not last, and the band did not attempt to keep it flowing by moving on quickly. Jams inbetween and during songs were far too lengthy; there would come a point where the crowd, nodding along, would expect the start of the next song, and instead were subjected to another five minutes of solo trade-offs between guitarists. I felt sorry for the bassist having to hold onto what shred of a riff they were playing ten minutes ago. Although it would have worked in moderation, there were several point’s when I wanted them to stop fucking about and play a fucking song. It was a shame that these moments had to contrast so much with the great ones, and also with the band's ability to write songs with none of the bullshit or ego that was displayed live. This, combined with the venues' consistently bad sound didn’t stop the band from being an impressive, enjoyable experience and I left happy, also I'll know at what points to go to the bar when I watch them at Hellfest.

Michael Collins

Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II

Earth
Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
Southern Lord

At this stage in their career, there's been so many words used to describe Earth's ever changing sound that there's pretty much no more superlatives available to describe them. So we'll keep it simple and describe new album 'Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II' for what it is. Recorded at the same time as part I, 'Angels II' sees Earth supplying yet more lush riff-orientated sonic soundscapes, continuing down the drone desert blues path forged since their reinvention by mainman Dylan Carlson seven years ago now.

Shameless Plug - Wort supporting Fleshgod Apocalypse!

It’s been a while since I did one of these, owing largely to becoming a father and secondly to getting a new job, both of which have prevented me from returning to my band Poison Dwarf. That hasn’t stopped the remaining members getting the opening slot at an all-dayer taking place this coming Saturday (10^th March) at The Parish, Huddersfield, instead now performing as new band Wort when Italian symphonic death metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse come to town, headlining the event with their main tour support acts Dyscarnate and Bloodshot Dawn in tow!

The Well music venue in Leeds is closing down

It was announced last Sunday evening (26^th February) that the team behind music venue The Well in Leeds are to pull out of running the venue and that their doors will close for the final time on Saturday 10^th March. A statement by The Well’s general manager Kevin Berry was put out explaining their reasons for the closure:

‘Hi all, with deepest regret, we as a team are going to be pulling out of The Well music venue after March 10th. We’ve loved helping rebuild this once great venue’s reputation back up these past few years, and would like to thank all who mucked in.

The Chisora-Haye Brawl - a musical analysis

[Credit for above picture unknown. Apologies]

Dereck 'Del Boy' Chisora probably wasn't known to many people outside boxing circles before his clash with WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitchko a couple of weeks back. So its safe to say, this was a huge opportunity to make a name for himself. And that he did. For all the wrong reasons. Slapping Vitali at the weigh-in. Spitting water at Vitali's world champion brother Wladimir. Trying to get at Vitali after the result was announced. All this, yet he'd possibly redeemed himself a little bit following a gallant performance in defeat to the elder Klitchko. Of course, that wasn't the end of it. David Haye, former world heavyweight champion and somewhat tarnished by his defeat to Wladimir, which he infamously blamed on his little toe. Haye was at the post-fight press conference and heckled from the back, angling for a fight with Vitali. Chisora threw insults at Haye. Haye retorted back. Chisora got up and went eyeball to eyeball with Haye in the middle of the media scrum. The rest is now history.

 Above: The brawl that shamed boxing

At this point you may be asking, what has any of this got to do with this blog, or rock and metal music in general? Well...

Gorerotted - Only Tools and Corpses

(from 'Only Tools and Corpses', Metal Blade, 2003)

OK, so now you may be wondering, really what has this got to do with boxing at all? Well you'd be right. The title track from UK goregrind/death metal nasties Gorerotted's definitive opus hardly screams out as a boxing anthem a la Survivor's 'Eye of the Tiger' or LL Cool J's 'Mama Said Knock You Out', with it's macabre and tongue-in-cheek lyrics about carving up the dead. That said, the song doesn't half pack a punch and it doesn't mess about in assimilating everything that stands before it.

Gorerotted - Only Tools and Corpses

Think about it symbolically instead. In Chisora and Haye, we have a couple of proverbial tools whose actions that night shamed the sport they love. The corpses in question are potentially Chisora's career - though I expect his remorse will ensure he still has one - and almost certainly Haye's legacy, which could have been something great but will instead now be something of a joke. Plus, this choice of song is more than ironic, given its obvious tealeafing of the classic TV series Only Fools and Horses' opening theme tune drumbeat, and dear old Dereck's love for the show (whose theme tune he normally walks to the ring to). Whatever happens, its certain that Chisora and Haye might have some wheeler-dealing of their own to if they're to salvage anything from this mess.

Peter Clegg

Also in the series:

The trial of Conrad Murray - a musical analysis
The 2011 England Riots - a musical analysis

Beneath the Massacre - Incongruous

Beneath the Massacre 
Incongruous
Prosthetic

The metal scene is absolutely flooded with bands of a technical variety, and it goes without saying there's a fight to get to the very top. Based on their previous record, 'Dystopia', I wouldn't count Montreal, Canada's Beneath the Massacre in that upper echelon, as my expectations for that record were somewhat dampened by a lack of creativity that stifled the promise shown on their debut effort 'Mechanics of Dysfunction'.