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Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/08/26/193936.php WayneFor advanced listeners of metal and all the loyal extreme metal fans: Black metal, blacker mood I discovered two things today --- Uno, MINI drivers actually take themselves quite seriously and dos, there is a quite vocal minority of movie fans that think The Italian Job is brilliant --- I've seen it all now, on to the task at hand The metal scene in Sweden continues its very strong current tradition in contemporary metal styles with the new release from Marduk, World Funeral. Over the course of recent events, some fans have been jumping ship from the Marduk bandwagon since their last release --- as if Marduk had somehow lost the pulse of what is interesting in black metal or had eek, "sold-out" --- of course, thems is fighting words in the underground metal community World Funeral may disappoint some in that it is not that traditional all-out, speedy, thick with blast beats Marduk approach. This album features about a 50/50 mix of heavy sounding, gloomy numbers, and all out speedy, technical crushers. In other words, you're not getting Panzer Division again, but that's a good thing, isn't it? Here it most certainly is. World Funeral features a pretty diverse attack on your senses, heaviness, some excellent melodicism (Castrum Doloris) and also textbook Marduk explosiveness. This album sounds good and loud, there is something usually to be said about small label records sounding like they were recording in a tin can --- no such problems here There is quite a diversity in the metal here. From the more textbook Marduk approach "With Satan and Victorious Weapons", "Blessed Unholy", "World Funeral", to more heavy crunch of "Bleached Bones" and "Bloodletting", to some melodicism. It still isn't anywhere near palatable to the mainstream, yet Marduk should be commended for their willingness and ability to play a variety of styles , and play them really well. So, if you want a relentless and varied black metal assault for 45 minutes, this one probably will not disappoint. Again, not for everyone, but you never know until you try, no? Our grade: MARDUK - World Funeral: B+ For more rants and reviews, come visit us: Satan's Luau Music7857@blogcritics.org Tue, 26 Aug 2003 19:39:36 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/08/21/202620.php WayneAlthough I have always been aware of their existence, I never dipped into the musical bloodpool that is KREATOR and their catalog Well, recently on a whim, I picked up their limited live CD and then this live DVD set--- and frankly, what the heck was I waiting for?!?!?! --- Kreator proves its position as Germany's excellent contribution to the world of thrash Kreator's Pleasure to Kill album has always been that one album that tantalized at the record store back in the mid/late 80s that I never picked up --- Recently I picked up their 2001 effort Violent Revolution --- and was just wowed with their technical approach to thrash after all these years. I was more impressed that they didn't pull a Slayer and keep plugging away according to formula So, let's begin --- Kreator has released both a double live CD and this DVD set in many ways to reflect back on its catalog, and especially with the DVD to give some of the history of the band, show the whole set of its videos (KREATOR HAD VIDEOS?!?!?!?!), and paint out the full picture of one of the surviving bands from the 80s thrash era Some of the DVD and CD are redundant --- in other words, you get 17 of the 24 live CD tracks here in full flesh video --- and Kreator puts on a great live show whether it is among the concrete buildings in Korea or in an arena in Brasil Again the fun thing to watch is THE FANS --- like a typical thrash band, there's just the bob-mop thing going on -- but the fans are unbelievably popping and going nuts to Kreator's technical thrash assault Kreator literally just stands there and SHAKES DOWN THE THUNDER -- the lead singer is one of the best frontmen in thrash in terms of delivery and making you feel the vox --- one of the cool aspects of it is that as recently of 2002, Kreator can still bring it, and sound dynamic, fresh, and powerful --- not too much rust here --- (of course, one has to question how much of it was post-production, but it sounds really good) The special features of the DVD features a history of the band that includes interviews, videos, and photos --- you get to see some of the influences that went into the various eras and albums of Kreator, which is informative and cool. All the videos are there including the tailkicking return to form Violent Revolution and the not ready for MTV gruesome People of the Lie It's a shame that this band, much like Testament or Exodus got to be as huge as the original four of thrash --- but it's nice to see a band like Kreator still bringing it thrashy, original, and melodic in the present day Our grade: KREATOR - Revisioned Glory (DVD): A- For more rants and reviews, come visit us: Satan's Luau Video7753@blogcritics.org Thu, 21 Aug 2003 20:26:20 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/08/21/193244.php WayneTime to get back on the horse --- and do a review from a 30something metalhead's point of view On deck today is a DVD from one of the original four revolutionary bands of the thrash movement in the 80s --- SLAYER!!! But first, a side note: I have seen the real life Beavis of Beavis and Butthead, if you see this video, you will see which guy I'm talking about --- it's quite hilarious yet tragic -- and he is a SLAYER fan There's something to be said about this DVD. It's concert film from Slayer's 2002 GOD HATES US ALL (GHUA) Tour that is interspersed with fan commentary and short interview clips (of fans and band) The track selection (or setlist, whichever you prefer) is excellent. It's cool to see the three new tracks from GHUA live. PLUS, they went deep in the playbook for classic SLAYER, including a nice sized swath of Reign in Blood and Haunting the Chapel, with bits and pieces from Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits One of the things that is very noticeable about Slayer live nowadays is that Tom's voice is pretty cabbaged out after all these years of aggro vox. The music is still very technical, speedy and brutal, but Tom's voice at times sounds unable to CATCH FIRE like he does on the studio recordings (or even in former tours) The band does a pretty credible job of playing some of their songs, some of which are highly technical and speedy--- The thing I noticed, and I've seen Metallica and Kreator live recently, is that SOLOS are hard to pull off --- same here, some of the solos come off pretty garbled and not too close but heck, some of those solos are so precise and fast that you can't really blame them for trying One of the fun things of Slayer in concert is watching --- hmm, the FANS!!! --- not the band, they just stand there and do the bob-mop thing. LOTSA action for some songs in the pit, it's quite cool to watch --- the SLAYER pit remains if not the, then one of the few most dangerous pits in the world of live rock You also get the Bloodline video (taken from the Dracula 2000 soundtrack) which was banned by MTV is here as well in its GOREY entirety --- and it is damn cool The FANS RULE documentary is not as interesting as it could be, but it is rather extensive (50 mins) --- in fact, to be honest, the interviewer is quite sarcastic and asks really over the top questions to the naive bunch of really LOYAL fans (who in some ways are the butt of the joke --- tragic and darkly humorous)--- This is the first time I've seen the band as relaxed and answering questions about the fans, the music, what a Slayer pit is like, FINALLY having women at the shows (HAHAHA) --- and one of the funnier moments is when Kirk Hammett from Metallica is asked to describe the difference between a Metallica and Slayer fan (quite hilarious) In the final analysis, everyone looks good --- even Kerry, who apparently is trying to go HUMAN TATTOO on us -- the sound of this DVD is really good, and Bostaph shows why he can be one of the best metal drummers when he isn't injured --- and hey, it's about the MUSIC, really fun aggro music that has held up over the past 20. Our grade: SLAYER - War at the Warfield (DVD): B+ For more rants and reviews, come visit us: Satan's Luau Video7751@blogcritics.org Thu, 21 Aug 2003 19:32:44 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/23/054717.php WayneFriday evening, SheDev and I made it down to the local stadium multiplex and caught Ang Lee's vision of Hulk ... yes, that isn't a typo --- HULK. There is no preceding The or The Incredible --- this one is simply entitled HULK. The other thing as a word of caution for people who would bring their really youngsters to this movie --- this one definitely has the some, no wait, a damn metric ton or so of images too intense for children --- and you'll never look at FiFi the french poodle the same again So Marvel Entertainment has had another one of its great franchises adapted to the film format --- and there are a few more coming including Punisher, which there was a preview for during HULK --- yes, yes, no preceding The, so brainwashed and set in my ways, ha --- and Submariner --- and a few more Here's what I notice after this recent deluge of comic book adaptations, the film reviewers comment heavily on the film --- as they should. The fanboys of the comics comment both on the film and its fidelity to source material. I find that I fall into category number two, so every time I see my favorite heroes light across the big screen. Three things happen. Number one, there is an awe to see them come to life -- and this feeling seems stronger nowadays as opposed to former film adaptations just because the direction and production in these movies gets better and better. Number two, does the comic book movie really match up well with the comic book? Most of the time it does not --- so I look for at least some vibe that the director gets it about the story they are telling or the characters they are telling a story about Lastly, I should be enjoying the movie, I certainly am not observing the intricacies of surgically repairing burst capillaries --- sometimes, it's hard just to sit back and enjoy these movies, because of my familiarity with the other format, the comic book As a point of reference, my generation had three Hulk related things going on during our formative years. The campy, made for TV Bixby/Ferrigno classic series made its run, and most of my friends watched that show pretty religiously. There was also this serial cartoon much like how they have X-men Evolution nowadays on WB. Also, the Hulk had his own comic book and would make appearances from time to time in crossover issues --- so I believe the green altered human is pretty firmly entrenched in the popular consciousness of my generation of 30-somethings And back to the film --- there is always a tension between keeping it tight to comic book set character boundaries and plot --- with the freedom of film, its limitations of time, and the need to entertain the 99.9% of the audience who could give a rat's petoot about the comic book source material themselves. That being said, I leave it to other sources here on the Internet to fill you in with their textual interpretations as to source fidelity, they certainly can do it better than me I think that they'll have less to talk about this time because Ang Lee has taken most of the issues out of their hands. In other words, where previous films have hacked and slashed at storylines and continuities and cherry picked for the most dramatic or compelling aspects of a comic book series, Ang Lee took in what the Hulk was all about and basically gave us his vision of HULK --- and told us THAT, or his version of what the HULK means --- and what a fine vision/version it is I suppose that some of you would like me to cut to the chase and rate the film, I would place it in between the two best of the latest bunch. In other words, behind X2, and somewhat in front of Spiderman. I think that where this movie gets beyond its counterparts, and perhaps boldly dare I say, it pushes the boundaries of the genre further is in its pacing. The pacing is highly, highly fluid. In fact, I read some review where they were talking about how it "reads" (I suppose, views) like a comic book. Your eyes are taking in all of the expansive vision of Lee's movie, however, he gives you most of the story visually --- and the dialog is compressed to to being minimal and only to get points across to carry us to the next scene --- what happens next, what happens next? -- the essence of seriality in comic books. His use of frames onscreen serve both as a visual reminder of the original comic form, but also as some kind of underlying visual-mind training of how to watch the film (in terms of helping your mind organize the story) --- sounds like psychobabble, yes, but I think that's the effect that is happening while you watch I don't think I'm going to get too deep into spoiler territory today. One of the really exciting things about the movie besides this almost revolutionary style of filming it is that Ang Lee gets it right about the Hulk. The Hulk, the comic, is a dynamic, powerful, energetic book --- often with heavy duty emotional undertones. The movie really captures this so well, it's very impressive --- at times its almost sensory overload, actually after the film we both felt as if we were stomped on a few times by Mr. Green Here's one minor complaint: the audiences know that movie is about perhaps the outer limits of science and ethics. However, the long and drawn out explanations of the science and the underlying technology does nothing but buzz in your ears (and dull your senses in a bad, boring way) --- honestly, in words, it doesn't convey the same as perhaps seeing heated amphibians blow up (to get your point across), if you know what I mean As far as the acting, Jennifer Connelly has the I'm concerned because I'm in love with a weirdo thing down pat (cf. A Beautiful Mind). Eric Bana ---I believe the hype over Mr. Bana is a bit misplaced, and I do believe the CGI outshined his performance (the Shrek effect or Roger Rabbit Syndrome). As far as the ensemble goes: Nick Nolte was brilliant, you may think about whether there was an Oscar moment in this one (you'll know it when you see it, trust me). General Ross is played as a genuine hard ass much like the comics, but the Lee treatment comes off more complex (it's almost as if he's torn at times). And of course, Talbot comes off as smarmy par excellence, good work You want action? This movie will give you all that and more. Effective action. Action that actually serves some greater purpose of moving the story ahead (the Wack Bros. of streaming green fame should take copious notes). Action that shows how unlimited the power of the green monster actually is This movie perhaps is the next step of the summer blockbuster genre. Action, but not just BLAM, wow --- BLAMM, wow. Prior to seeing this film, I would have doubted that such exists, but this is a somewhat intelligent summer blockbuster, and I am very surprised that it took so long to ever mix the two elements --- BLAMM with brains I think that the angle that most reviews do not hit on precisely is that this is a great monster movie. It has all the elements of psychodrama and tragedy, of free dynamic energy and deep misgivings, and questions the distinction of good/evil. Whether unintended or not, it is a postmodern Jekyll and Hyde, a cautionary tale about human genetic experimentation (and yes, dysfunctional human relationships) I enjoyed this movie a great deal, it falls short of X2 probably more in terms of performances from the actors, but that may have been by design. But this one is clearly, the second best of the bunch with elements that push the limits of genre, and hopefully take higher and better results for the next comic book adaptations --- I'm excited --- go see (the) HULK Our grade: HULK: A For more rants and reviews, come visit us: Satan's Luau Video6422@blogcritics.org Mon, 23 Jun 2003 05:47:17 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/23/052422.php WayneMy metal interest is somewhat submarine (perhaps you were thinking, sublime? I doubt that that is the case) --- in the sense that I don't just stop with what's on the surface. My interest in lesser known artists has been with me since 1984 or so, but it has not been entirely continuous. I returned to my roots may be about three years ago, what with all the Y2K hysteria and all --- ha I don't desire to be the preeminent source of extreme or small label metal here. I certainly lack the expertise or the pretense, but I may comment from time to time on some of the better kept secrets in the genre that really deserve a wider audience. Six weeks ago, Lamb of God dropped their new CD, and it is a crusher. What is the state of up and coming American metal? Well if Lamb of God and Shadows Fall are the prime examples, I think that things are in really good hands. In my opinion, these bands pull together the international sound with the American sound excellently, creatively bind elements, and rightly take their place in the vanguard of U.S. metal. They both incorporate the best aspects of deathy and thrashy riffs, Swedish melodicism, double bass, aggro harsh vocals, and just real tight drumming/rhythm --- and the lyrics especially with LOG are excellent, and *GASP* exceptionally intelligent Expectations were really high for this disc (as much as they were for Shadows Fall 'Art of Balance') because they got a lot of acclaim for their release three years ago, New American Gospel (or NAG, lovingly). Then LOG brought on Devin Townsend of Strapping Young Lad to produce, and I think expectations just went through the ceiling then. What we get from the disc is more of what LOG does best. The double bass and cymbal attack sounds even better this time. The vocals remain unabashedly harsh, seemingly staying away from the new trend of harsh-clean so prevalent in some new small label releases --- so basically brutal vocals is the soup of the day for this disc, and LOG shows a bit more range in terms of vocal dynamics I think that what you do see from both this disc and Shadows Fall's AOB is that the young bloods have taken direction from their American thrash predecessors, and the riffs take the next steps in thrash progression --- crunchy and melodic. And, yes, I do realize to some metalcore or death purists, that that may not be the best choice in terms of their ideas of progression, but, in my opinion, this CD just crushed all genre classifications to bits --- its a real category killer of an effort What makes this effort by LOG so devastating is what it does so well (for the sake of undue repetition), harsh vox; aggressive drumming; tempo breakdowns; subtle melodicism (that is not hook driven) and now the influx of really potent thrash crunch. It must really be heard to be appreciated, but in this reviewer's opinion it is some of the most compelling metal this year, bar none The freshness of LOG's sound is just really great for an old thrashhead like me to hear. Just seeing the evolution of different sounds from the past, Slayer, Celtic Frost, Death, Testament, etc. --- and how they can get expression in really new sounding stuff makes me pretty damn happy. I think there's a lot to like here without going overboard and saying that they do a Meshuggah here, a Slayer there. The fact that they can play such compelling multi-faceted new metal is great --- and there's something here that every metal head can like, there's technicality, aggression, powerful and compelling riffs, great structure --- In many ways, LOG reminds me of when Slayer sounded fresh and new: aggression, technicality and brutality There is a fresh new direction in American small label metal that is really great. There's still time for some old metalheads (the reviewer included) to get to listening to fresh new directions in metal that nod to the old school, yet take their own creative ways to evolving and revitalizing metal -- and that's not bad at all. As the Palaces Burn is a great place to start, and is one of the metal genre's best works of the year so far Our grade: Lamb of God - As the Palaces Burn: A- For more rants and reviews, come visit us: Satan's Luau Music6421@blogcritics.org Mon, 23 Jun 2003 05:24:22 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/20/172646.php WayneWhat does it mean that I am still listening to "metal", "hard rock", or loud music at my age? --- gasp, Peter Pan has nothing on me, and perhaps I have the all the taste capability of a tongueless squirrel. Perhaps I should re-dedicate myself to finding musical truth, genius, and listenability by increasing my listenership of Radiohead, or perhaps "tune-in" with some MTV artists Then again, maybe not! Six weeks ago, we in the North American region managed to get our grubby metal hands on Anthrax's new one, "We've Come For You All". A quite long two months after Europe got theirs, and all comments about the practicality of file sharing with my European counterparts aside, the delay did buzzkill some of the initial excitement that I had over getting this CD I first found out about Anthrax while in the 9th grade, one of my classmates had --- surprise, surprise, a well beat up denim jacket (well converted "vest") with the sleeves roughly chopped off and fraying. And of the many rock patches he had, on the back was a full sized one of the Anthrax Fistful of Metal logo. I saw it and was like, wow, that looks so damn brutal. Twenty some odd years later, the art looks a bit dated and goofy, but that's my first experience of knowing about Anthrax, besides looking it up and identifying properly as a cattle borne respiratory disease which is largely fatal to humans I never got "Fistful", though at times I thought about it while in high school, I was into the two of the Original 4 --- Metallica and Slayer, not so much familiar with Megadeth or Anthrax. Although I would grow increasingly familiar with Anthrax from my buddies in college and seeing them live a few times in Los Angeles, but I would hardly consider myself to be the premier Anthrax afficionado. My collection of Anthrax is far from complete, and focuses largely on the middle portion of their catalog, or the Joey Belladonna ex-vocalist years. So, I'm not a humongous fan, but I do feel they are an essential part of my metal collection. I had fallen off with following them after John Bush came on to be their vocalist, in fact, the last album I have from them is "The Sound of White Noise" in 1993 (I believe), which I really liked but most fans are in the middle about or down, and they have had two releases since that time and WCFYA So enough babble, on to our review: I don't usually talk cover art, but with this disc, you get a pretty interesting looking cover, done by infamous comic book guy, Alex Ross, which is a really neato, kind of nice to look at art concept with reaching hands and the band members. Oh and that pentagram Satan thing, keeping it old school and campy, no complaints from me I apologize that I have made you read so far, and have yet to tell you what it sounds like. So, what the heck does it sound like? That's an interesting question to ponder, it definitely sounds like the John Bush era Anthrax. In other words, you're not going to mistake this for "Among the Living", as there is some dabbling with different rock styles (outside of purist 80s style thrash) albeit with that traditional Anthrax crush Not to engage you with a track by track account, it all begins with an intro --- how many bands are employing this technique nowadays? --- I can think of more than a few --- this one sounds like maybe the dissonant noise aliens would hear in our atmosphere as they came to invade the Earth ... now, I don't know if that's what they intended, that's what it struck me as The middle section of this CD really stood out to me, so let's start from the middle. "Refuse to be denied" creates a nice intense vibe with a slower heavy cruncher of a riff and nice vocal work by John Bush. "Safe Home", what a change of pace track for Anthrax --- it has all the stomp you'd ever want in the verse, and a great bridge and audience singalong chorus --- very radio friendly, accessible, and the outro picks up the pace to let you know Anthrax did this --- nice song, one of the best on the album, even though its not that typical Thrax sound. "Any Place but Here" --- this is the song that I couldn't help playing like 3-4x in a row when I first got the CD ---this song paces so well, from the ominous acoustic opening which picks up the pace into the most complete compelling thick sludgey riff from Thrax in a while --- put together from the grooving verse, to the singable bridge and chorus --- more hard rocking than metal in style, but excellent song If you like the sound of the post-Belladonna era, "What doesn't die" and "Nobody knows anything" (and "Superhero") are straightforward examples of what the Bush era Anthrax's current sound is. "WDD" has a machine gun opening that compares well with Metallica's "Frantic", and more old A-style verse thrash-chug to it, but the start-stop choppy style of the post-Belladonna era. "NKA" has the first of the Charlie Benante really outstanding drum work, and the song is really a compact cruncher, under 3 mins., no meander, almost like a song that accompanied a drum solo ---odd but that's how I would describe it So what about if you are old school in your hard rock/metal tastes? Anthrax takes care of you here with "Strap it on", which is a SERIOUS homage to Priest Defenders era, good old fashioned heavy metal ---I'm not much for Pantera, but Dimebag Darrell can play a damn thick HEAVY riff with the best of them -- this song is about the classic metal era, and at the end you hear a tribute riff from Priest if you listen close. "Cadillac Rock Box", nice little 70s style hard rocker, reminds of Desmond Child era KISS (who does a voice message in this one) --- just damn groovy stuff, really interesting song choice on this album --- Dimebag plays a great lead here too Is Anthrax capable of laying out underground sounding stuff for the current metal kids? "Black Dahlia" --- Charlie plays unbelievably fast Blast Beats and the band turns it up doing the Slayer-style vocal aggro/Death Metal groove --- not the most listenable song, but it gives some underground sounding juice to Anthrax Overall, "We've come for you All" is a pretty compact feeling set of tracks that gives you all you want of Bush era Anthrax stomp, and a sound that is mostly heavy rock, but the metal portions are tasty. For me, it's a nice intro back into the state of current Anthrax. It's not really a classic compared to some of the albums of the Belladonna era, but it is a fun listen. And I find that it is one of those CDs that kind of stick out to me, and get more than cursory plays --- I can't really say why I like it, but it's a fun listen and a recommend if you like your music (like I do) taste-free and loud Our grade: Anthrax - We've Come For You All: B For more rants and reviews, come visit us: Satan's Luau Music6384@blogcritics.org Fri, 20 Jun 2003 17:26:46 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/20/164730.php WayneOk, I admit it, I was influenced by a music video to purchase a CD --- I almost feel dirty now. Of course, you know with me, it never comes easy. So as I was browsing the streaming vid portion of the loudest website on the Net (hint, hint), I discovered this really weird vid with this guy in a black tophat and all DENIM, King Diamond streaky grease paint makeup, chamber dancing, and ballerinas --- oh yeah, and the music was good too. The vid title I can't write out in full because of the language, but its acronym is well known "FTW" --- or for you students of vernacular, I am quite indignant and dismayed with the state of the world Our first crack of this new dawn of reviews concerns a little band from Norway called Turbonegro that once broke up due to ahem, religious differences --- how serious that rationale is, is of no consequence ... for the music, ah yes, the music! ... is quite good in my opinion. This band is one that many opinionmakers in the music industry view as the most controversial in the 90s, all due respect to Mr. Spooky, Marilyn. The album "Scandinavian Leather" is their first in 5 years or so, the title almost smacks of that cheap cologne "English Leather" (but that irony may be mine alone). The way that they rock on this album --- wow, it's the rock of a very hungry band. The vibe of this CD is so dynamic and the performances so full of zest that you almost wonder whether "they missed working together". This is one of those albums where you wish you could describe it better than to say, it rocks, but that's quite simply what it does: it rocks! Their sound is a melange of styles, tempo and attitude. The closest descriptor I can put on it: punk/post-punk attitude (and structure on some songs), 70s style big arena rock homage sounding guitar stylings and power choruses, some dabbling with metal, progressive rock sounding elements, glammy vibe. And the lyrics are fun in all capital letters, they take their performance quite seriously, but their topics are interesting to say the least. 'Everybody sell your body', 'sell your body to the night' is an example, and if this was '85, this group would be hit on by that long standing arbiter of gore, fun and culture, the PMRC The highlights on this album include: The second track "Wipe it till it bleeds" is a really great example of what this band's music is like, you have this kind of blend between Bowie-ish post punk with Deep Purple Woman from Tokyo feel. This is kind of big splashy 1970s vibe that the first incarnation of KISS would put out, just great mutated arena rock with a terribly infectious hook and chorus The punk origins of Turbonegro are explored with "Gimme some". Real straightforward punk styled rhythms with elements of hard rock that remind of The Donnas or HalfCocked --- punky straightforward riff rock that is catchy as hell. "Turbonegro must be destroyed" sounds like Mike Muir and Suicidal guys did the song, again just a really listenable straight forward punky/metal/groove vibe. You want some really unique ear candy, it is here as well. "Sell your body (to the night)" sounds as if it were the B-Side from KISS "I was made for loving you" --- 70s/80s styled glam metal guitar rock vibe --- ear candy that then takes you on a driving outro that is Motorhead-esque ---sleazy and dirty as hell. You want more ear candy? Try on "F---The World". This is the "single" --- What happens when a song rocks hard and has a great postmodern feel? I think it should mean airplay, however the topic and language kills that idea dead. This is the best track on the album, it has a creepy quality to it that recalls the vibe of scary guy Mr. Alice the Golfer, but it is just an over the top, orchestra laden, hard rock masterwork --- brilliant The band manages to blend style so well and effortlessly that they must be commended on that. There are many examples of blending punk stomp with 80s hard rock lead guitar doodles; blending glam, punk, and hard rock like that late 80s Los Angeles experiment of ballistic weapons and valentine's flowers; or blending Ramonesy vibe with 70s styled power rock vocal harmonies This band does it all --- oh yeah, FLUTE SOLO!!!! I make fun of Jethro Tull quite a bit, and lots of times in reference to their Metal grammy. "Ride With Us" is such a great hard rock song that has so much punk attitude and just good old rockingness--- that has an EEK! Flute solo! But even with the flute, it isn't cheesy I guess that's my conclusion about this band, they take a lot of styles that perhaps in the singular many would consider to be passe or old hat --- or even worse cheesy, and retune them, blend them, and creatively present them in a way that is really fun to listen to I suppose that if you saw their unique look of denim and makeup, felt the alternative sexual vibe, and their lead singer's antics which combine buttocks and igniting small pyrotechnic devices --- and perhaps knew that they were bigger than hell in Europe, perhaps you would consider them maybe a bit too cool ... or weird, for the room to a listener in the world's lonely --- I mean, only superpower I guess it takes a particular person to love their music, but I think everyone can find something to like about this music, and that's not in some made for airplay way. This is just good old fashioned fun rock that takes many of the elements that I like from the distant past, freshens them up and turns out great sounding stuff ... and if you don't like that, they LOOK scary From the Luau, this one is really worth a listen especially if it's in a listening station at your brick and mortar of convenience. We think you may just like what you hear from this eccentric yet accessible band. Our grade: Turbonegro - Scandinavian Leather: A For more rants and reviews, come visit us: Satan's Luau Music6383@blogcritics.org Fri, 20 Jun 2003 16:47:30 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/12/182054.php WayneWorthless: Name Change for Godsmack's new CD Does anyone remember 1998? I'm afraid to say that I can't really differentiate 98 from 99 from 00 ... and it's not because of drugs or anything, its just that life somehow went groundhog's day for me around this period (ed.note: a review of FACELESS by Godsmack follows ... and some evaluation of Godsmack's body of work) Godsmack - Self-Titled: B One of the things that stood out to me about 1998 was ... well, besides graduating from law school hell ... music from a little band from Boston known as Godsmack In fact, I can remember hearing the strains of KEEP AWAY on some mediocre MTV reality program that I can no longer remember the name of ... the song was heavy and catchy sounding ... and some things never change, I needed to know who the hell was behind it I would hear another track from this album called WHATEVER on some wrestling show ... and I liked it too, and figured that ok, I better get serious about finding out who the heck these guys are Ok, let me say something about the way I acquired my GS collection ... the first two I got for FREE from BMG ... I actually paid 9 bucks for Faceless ... so maybe free makes me happier to listen, and for pay makes me more of a critic What you notice by listening to this album (even in 03) is that these guys are the product of their environment ... I mean, in the wake of the violent shakedown when the grunge sound just totally IMPLODED ... and yeah you can hear some of the old masters heavy guitar sound: Metallica and Black Sabbath Concisely, these guys sounded like the next big thing in hard rock, or so I thought at the time --- I will acknowledge it: I am a big fan of Alice In Chains Facelift and Dirt and Stone Temple Pilot's Core ... and I think that I thought GS sounded like the next step to this style of music ... AIC never sounded like that again, nor did STP for that matter So needless to say, I was happy to see someone willing to play HEAVY, new sounding hard rock in a way that was pretty much straightforward and jam-oriented... Now that I think about it, its like a wing of the "new-metal" sound, I think this style stays clear of the new wave and rap influences ... but only GS seemed to play it this way (ed.note: yes RATM is equally as strong musically, but they have a tight rap component ... now I think Audioslave is the prime example of this style of nu-hard rock) Ok so back to the debut, the first three tracks are just classic examples of great new hard rock: Moon Baby, Whatever, Keep Away ... Voodoo is another song that got push from radio and MTV, that track has a weird trippy progressive rock rather than heavy vibe ... the rest of the songs kind of show a willingness of the band to go and just jam some heavy music, including instrumental ... and some show big time homage to early AIC, track 8, is that Layne Staley???? So anyway, my analysis in 98 was --- I can't wait to hear more from these guys, its not a perfect album by any means, but it showed promise Godsmack - Awake: C+ Ok, so multi-MULTI platinum debut in the bank ... GS quickly turns it around and in the year of wasted dread 2K ... we the American constituency of commercial music consumership get the sophomore effort All I remember is getting a phone call one Sunday afternoon by a BMG sales rep ... I guess they were trying telemarketing ... so I drove the poor lady crazy ... she goes Ok Mr. Ca-moor-eh , I see you like alternative and hard rock as your choices ... she then goes through a LIST of 30 CDs and I had them all ... quite funny, but you also see some musicaholic tendencies on my part ... well, she got to one I didn't have... I was interested because I was getting it for basically FREE ... it was AWAKE I can remember popping this CD into the player of my dead Solara (... look in the archives at Satan's Luau if you want that story) ... and I was blasted away by the first track SICK OF LIFE ... I remember being so stoked, YEAH, this is some heavy jam oriented stuff The rest of the album is another story entirely ... may I be the first to say that Awake is very listenable, in many ways, very radio friendly ... in other words, the songs are nicely timed for MTV and radio play and PUSSHH ... I dread hearing the term because I don't think it's possible --- however this CD gets close to being OVERPRODUCED Everything blends in with everything else like almost TOO NICELY ... the sound is really SAMEY ... not too much guitar crunch, not too much ARGHNESS from Sully, not too much feeling, EMO, passion, whatever you want to call it ... the ATTITUDE or INTENSE feel of the first CD is nicely MANUFACTURED but it doesn't come across ... its like Labsmack ... same but sterile Nice songs to listen to, I mean I could easily drive from here to there in traffic listening to it ... the public was fed Awake, Greed, and Goin Down ... and these are nice songs --- I guess the basic impressions of this album I got were, front heavy ... in other words, the second half of the album is pretty DUD-ley with the exception of VAMPIRES which is one hell of an instrumental, HIGH QUALITY ... almost reminds me of that jam-oriented band I liked in 98 ... and REPEAT OUR FORMULA ... heavy guitar and bass sound, and growly vocals (this time emotionally colder) So my final take on sophomore effort, CONSERVATIVE ... very very conservo ... yes, easier to listen to -- but selfishly, I wanted them to take nu-hard rock somewhere ... perhaps in their third album ... or at least that is what I hoped two some odd years ago Godsmack - Faceless: D- Oh, you're still here ... boy, you sure have a long attention span ... maybe you like trainwrecks, carwrecks, and rubbernecking ... because there's no happy ending today Ok, so why am I disgruntled here ... I PAID FOR THIS ONE?!?!?!?!? ... yes, part question, part indignant statement ... sheesh lucky it was on sale at Circuit City It is very listenable, very accessible ... yet very deja vu From its opener STRAIGHT OUT OF LINE and all the way through, yes oh yes ... this is a GS album ... ok, now I don't know if I'm right for saying this ... but this is how I feel about my music and the bands I like ... EVOLVE!!!, show me something that indicates creativity and life I believe I read in a review somewhere that unlike a lot of bands that have been out for a while, Godsmack's sound hasn't changed ... that for me equals band that will soon lose my support ... I think it was Lars Ulrich who once said it best ... WE DID MASTER OF PUPPETS ALREADY, WHY SHOULD WE DO IT AGAIN Well Godsmack ... I have your other stuff ... get my meaning? Ok, so I was trying to coin my own term five years ago and call it nu-hardrock and proudly say that GS was this great example of it ... well, NO, they're not! In fact these are fighting words to me, GS now goes into the NU-METAL bin ... their seemingly mindless and pointless apeing of their sound over and over now for THREE albums straight indicates brain damage .. and well, GS simply doesn't have the horses to be a vital band over the long term Enough with the vitriol, let's get on to the review: The opener "Straight out of Line" is the song getting the push from radio and MTV, and hey did you know 1 million morons ... Luau owner included ... have bought this CD ... stop the madness NOW! ... S.O.O.L is classic GS, it will go down as one of their greatest hits, no matter what I think "Faceless" and "Changes", the second and third tracks are far and away better ... why? because much like some songs on AWAKE ... it teases you that GS is actually a talented jam-oriented band that can create compelling songs ... these are the ONLY two compelling new songs on this CD The rest of the album, you have this feeling of DEJA VU about ... didn't I hear "Make Me Believe" somewhere before, listenable yes but deja vu "I Stand Alone" ... now, I've been teetering on the fence of belief in GS ... when I heard this song from Scorpion King, I was very pleasantly surprised bc it was the most creative HEAVY sound out of this band since what, 1997???? ... after being overplayed for the past 2 years, this song still stands as perhaps their best song of all time ... but its not NEW, now is it? "Re-Align" ... Godsmack goes totally listener friendly --- its like POPSmack, yeah it "rocks" in a very loose form of the meaning ... washed out cliched 80s sound For all the things you do (this Buds for you????) .... hahahaha, the for all line is the level of quality lyrics of "I FrocKING Hate You" ... again catchy as hell, maybe some angst-filled privileged mall rats will play this loud and annoy their suburban parents who will pi-- their pants thinking their child listens to Godsmack "Releasing the Demons" ... wow, who let Korn into the studio ... well, I shouldn't insult KORN too much ... GS now does nu-metal! ... BADLY ... someone stop me from going YAYY in total glee ... not "Dead and Broken" ... typical GS filler song ... consult any of these three CDs "I Am" ... wow, Korn took a break for lunch, I suppose ... GS does nu-metal AGAIN ... BADLY!!! ... Korn should beat the crap out of them for adding to the WRECK and RUIN of their quickly dying out genre "The Awakening" - oh wow, the CHAOS A.D. Kaiowas drummers ... Sepultura is next in line to beat the crap out of them ... not an original idea to be found "Serenity" - the new VOODOOOO VOODOOOO ... ha ... so lame, no more words ... I need Serenityyyyy .. in a place without Godsmack ... no joke Put it simply, what remained of the novelty their sound had five years is now totally and completely gone I think that this band will be an interesting historical footnote of a seriously mediocre era of hard rock music from 1996-2000, and yes this also includes the KISS reunion ... %$#@#! ... a big FU to Gene S. who seems to have forgotten that it is the FANS that line your pockets with green you greedy guy! And as for us at the Luau, we leave GS for the others to cover, sorry we don't believe in you any more For more reviews and rants, come visit us at: Satan's Luau Music6139@blogcritics.org Thu, 12 Jun 2003 18:20:54 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/12/181935.php WayneWe are not GOTH, We are ...? DEVO? .... (what Wind-Up Records has done with its CREED money ... hmm) Actually one of the best discoveries by the Luau this year, which we have taken 8 million years to write about So it all begins with a mixed movie called Daredevil ... and two songs that really stand out on the soundtrack ... one a pianoey melancholy gut wrencher during the funeral of Elektra Natchios father ... the other a crushing nu-hard rocker while Elektra was taking out sugar bags that looked like Castaway's WILSON ... ha In short, our grade: Evanescence - Fallen: A- (Satan's Luau: Major Debut of the Year (to date) ... and yes, we do realize there was a disc before this one) Ok, so what are Evanescence ... are they GOTH .... are they eeeek, Christian?!?!?!? ... kidding ... what they are to me after all these many listens are the revitalization of GOTH music in that they freshen it up entirely, and bring it to the masses ... whether they are X-ian or not? who knows, but a ton of Christian radio playlists had them listed for a while because it seems as if that was this band's roots ... likely because some of their music is spiritual in content What is striking about the music is its darkness and moodiness and soulfulness combined with really amazing, clear, powerful, and HAUNTING vocals ... oh did I say Female vocals? ... yes, one of the most powerful female vocalists I've heard in a long time ... and the songs are compelling in their own individual way --- in other words, they don't blend into each other and put your ears to sleep with sameness sounding In debating whether to do a track by track, this CD is one where you must listen to it to appreciate it ... soft to loud, emotional vocals that go real thick on the EMO ... orchestras, pianos, heavy guitar ... it's all here --- And I think that one of the great things about this album is that there's NO POSE to it ... what I mean is that there's no aggression for aggression's sake ... or doing the Tori Amos for no apparent reason ... the songs feel wonderfully authentic even though really listener friendly and accessible To me, if you don't like 'Bring Me To Life", you don't like music --- its a testament to how powerful music and vocals can use diffrent tones and accents to evoke strong emotion ... and the first fresh sounding duet of clean vocals and rap in a LOOONG time There are so many standout tracks on this CD ... I guess what you come away with is this feeling that this is a really fresh approach to hard rock or so-called nu-metal music (or gothic themed music, for that matter) What really strikes our fancy at the Luau is the unique blending of typical TESTO rock crunch with heavy emo piano and haunting female vocals ... its like REESE peanut butter cups ... who knew that the two could go along SO WELL together I think everyone wants to dismiss this band as too derivative of Linkin Park or other nu-metal ... but having a Mike Shinoda soundalike rapper on ONE track, does not a LP make ... nor does nu-metal, or pop-rock, or hard rocking Tori-Amos-ishness cover the territory that this band covers (or seem appropriate as a label) Simply one of the best and freshest of the year, Christian, Goth, or any other adjective notwithstanding ... Evanescence is really, really good ... and highly recommended by your friends at the Luau For more reviews and rants, come visit us at: Satan's Luau Music6138@blogcritics.org Thu, 12 Jun 2003 18:19:35 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/06/12/181412.php WayneWell, I finally finished watching Broomfield's documentary on the murders of two of the most prominent rap stars of my generation ... Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (Biggie Smalls/Notorious BIG) This documentary portends to tell the truth, or at least make a good faith effort to search for some answers behind these murders I recall reading the stories in the LA Times in September, I believe ... relating to new evidence found in the murders of Tupac and Biggie ... the story pretty much implicated LAPD and gangs ... and well, to me, it added more questions to the stories that must lie behind the shootings of these men within six months of each other now close to seven years ago I was interested in seeing this movie at the theatres, it actually made a short run here in Hawaii of about two or three weeks over at Art House ... my girlfriend and I never managed to get out to see it Actually I started thinking again about seeing the documentary because now its a short commercial that you see on late night TV ... so in between being tempted at buying new Tony Robbins and the Snoop episode of Girls Gone Wild, while watching Blind Date ... hmmm Biggie and Tupac dot com ... something like that, you can buy this very DVD that I will review here In short, our grade: Biggie & Tupac: C+ The thing that I suppose is most fascinating about this movie is Nick Broomfield's willingness and perhaps stupid bravado to ask the questions that are most pertinent ... to the people involved ... some of which I suppose wouldn't hesitate to perhaps do some serious bodily harm to the eccentric director --- who spends most of the movie walking around with a mic and earphones asking point blank questions nonblushingly Broomfield does a great job of covering most angles to the story and actually admits to the viewer where dead ends are (or where he couldn't get more information out of, very refreshing) ... so he ambles from this person's home to this person's office ... then off to jail ... then Biggie's mothers house ... basically all over the creation to hunt down the truth of the matter, if such exists at all I don't wish to spoil the documentary for you the potential viewer ... I do think that sometimes it is easier to get caught up with watching this guy walk around in the hood and do his thing ... sometimes it is easy to lose focus on the topic at hand or shall I say lose focus on what thread Broomfield is hunting down at particular points in the movie I guess what I want to say is that the movie does tend to meander at times ... and at the documentary's core is a theory that has not gotten adequate play in the mainstream press (well, at least until the LA Times story) ... but interestingly enough, the theory does have some circumstantial factual evidence to suggest its further pursuit ... I don't want to say truth because I don't think that the truth can be as simple ... but it makes you wonder if Broomfield and some of the people in the documentary may be on to something What I did find interesting were little tidbits about both rappers that made me think wow, I never would have imagined that to be true ... stuff like Biggie's actual background growing up versus what he would rap about ... and also little tidbits about Tupac and his family that I never knew about either Other stuff in this documentary makes one think twice about government agencies such as the police and the FBI ... some of the information revealed in this documentary makes one wonder about the nature and function of these agencies and what they are really doing ... not in a government goon conspiracy way but in a more subtle, yeah this could be real, sobering way ... if you do watch it, listen closely to what is said about Snoop Dogg (WOW) Ok, more review ... I guess the picture quality and sound quality most times is not the most happening ... its really poor, but the format of guy impromptu sticking mic in face requires some leeway for both the ability to capture it effectively and then the locations involved (like the prison) make for some interesting camerawork (hahahahaha --- is the camera man planning an escape route ... funny)  You would think that this movie would have heavily featured the music of the artists ... but short of a few BIG tracks, there are no Tupac tracks, and that is unfortunate to me as a viewer and fan of his music ... but probably takes away some from the content of the documentary inadvertently It's weird but I'm a fan of commentaries, and this movie is one where you should really watch the DVD through once for the content ... and then again for the commentary --- you really get alot out of the commentary here as Broomfield drops a few more tidbits of information that are really interesting and add to the original informational content of the documentary Overall, its a nice piece of informational work ... its not the most entertaining doc that I've seen or coherent at times ... sometimes you just want to break the TV when the stupid instrumental piano weird loop is playing during cutscenes ... but the pieces of information are well put together in a way that makes you think further about what you know personally about the murders ... and helps you synthesize some kind of opinion about whether you think Broomfield's movie is full of crap or not For more reviews and rants, come visit us at: Satan's Luau Video6137@blogcritics.org Thu, 12 Jun 2003 18:14:12 EDT