Jonathan Hill

A Soapbox for Uninformed Opinions

Jun
30

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Alcest Souvenirs d’un autre monde Review

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Alcest Souvenirs d’un autre monde Review

Artist: Alcest
Album: Souvenirs d’un autre monde
Genre(s): Rock
Subgenres(s): Shoegazer
Released: 2007
Length: 41 Minutes
Language(s): French
Label(s): Prophecy Productions

Track List:

01. Printemps Émeraude
02. Souvenirs d’un autre monde
03. Les Iris
04. Ciel Errant
05. Sur l’autre rive je t’attendrai
06. Tir Nan Og

Alcest Souvenirs d'un autre monde Cover

Souvenirs d’un autre monde (Memories of Another World) is the debut album by French multi-instrumentalist Neige working under the name Alcest. Apart from guest singer Audrey Sylvain, Souvenirs is a 1 man project that shows Neige casting off his black metal background to experiment with the sound of Shoegazer music.

His songs follow a rigid formula, meaning that after the first couple of songs you’ll know what Alcest is all about and you can expect everything to follow on in the same vein. The core of Alcest’s sound will have you bearing witness to tidal waves of guitar distortion and Neige’s disembodied voice calling out to you as though he where a ghost. Together this gives the music a strange melancholic quality.

The simplistic percussion patters away rapidly in the background of the distortion drenched music and manages to slow itself down to compliment the softer moments that are considerably shorter. The softer moments act as interludes to relieve your ears of the oppressive pressure put on them by the distorted guitar and in doing so, Alcest almost innovates but the guitar distortion takes hold again before the interludes have a chance to take root and be explored in greater depth.

Thankfully Tir Nan Og is the exception to the formula and sees that soft interlude music being transformed into a full song. Roots are taken and Alcest reveals an entirely different side to the music that flourishes beautifully when it doesn’t have to compete with the distortion.

Souvenirs d’un autre monde is a consistent effort with some good ideas and a lot of vision but a diverse take on the song-writing would have carried Alcest a lot further.

Jun
23

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The Gathering Home Review

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The Gathering Home Review

Artist: The Gathering
Album: Home
Genre(s): Rock, Ambient
Subgenres(s): Trip Rock
Released: 2006
Length: 60 minutes
Language(s): English, Spanish
Label(s): Noise Records, Sanctuary Records (excluding North America), The End Records (North America)

Track List:

01. Shortest Day
02. In Between
03. Alone
04. Waking Hour
05. Fatigue
06. A Noise Severe
07. Forgotten
08. Solace
09. Your Troubles Are Over
10. Box
11. The Quiet One
12. Home
13. Forgotten (Reprise)

Gathering Home Cover

Home shows yet another face of Dutch band The Gathering as their sound moves in a new but familiar direction where they have changed enough to keep long-time fans interested but not enough to alienate them either. The Gathering relied primarily on the use of textural keyboard playing and low key guitar lines to create a series of introverted songs that are kept grounded by simplistic percussion that works together to create some particularly subdued music.

With the exception of the Spanish spoken word verses on Solace, all of the songs are sung in English by Anneke Van Giersbergen whose dulcet voice is a more than suitable accompaniment for their reserved sound. Sadly, Home is the last album to feature her before she left The Gathering to pursue her solo career.

The songs are often bridged together by subtle interludes that begin at the end of 1 song and run through the start of the next to keep Home flowing while managing to be distinct enough from either song and stops them from blurring together. Unfortunately the flow of Home is shaken up as it draws near to its conclusion. The title track ends with 2 minutes of silence and Forgotten (Reprise) follows on with an unnecessarily dragged out finale that lasts for over half of its 8 minute duration due to an incredibly slow fade out.

The long silence and fade out could only have been included so as to push the album needlessly passed the 60 minute marker. The Gathering doesn’t do themselves any favours by doing this but it definitely isn’t something that should ruin the experience either.

Home isn’t the kind of album that will leap out and captivate most listeners immediately. Instead it will turn into a rewarding experience as it grows on you over the course of a few listens while being the perfect soundtrack for rainy days and quiet nights.

Jun
16

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My Dying Bride A Line of Deathless Kings Review

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My Dying Bride A Line of Deathless Kings Review

Artist: My Dying Bride
Album: A Line of Deathless Kings
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Doom Metal
Released: 2006
Length: 61 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Peaceville Records

Track List:

01. To Remain Tombless
02. L’Amour Detruit
03. I Cannot Be Loved
04. And I Walk with Them
05. Thy Raven Wings
06. Loves Intolerable Pain
07. One of Beauty’s Daughters
08. Deeper Down
09. The Blood, the Wine, the Roses

My Dying Bride A Line of Deathless Kings Cover

A Line of Deathless Kings is the 9th melodramatic outing by English metal outfit My Dying Bride. If the band’s name and song titles weren’t obvious enough, you can expect to hear a lot of what can only be described as funeral inspired music as interpreted by a metal band. Coupled with the morose lyrics of founding member and singer Aaron Stainthorpe, it becomes quite apparent that the members of My Dying Bride have being living in perpetual misery ever since their sand castles where kicked over one too many times during their childhood.

Monolithic guitar plods are woven together with haunted but infrequent keyboard ambiance and some contrastingly speedy percussive rhythms that create an eerie yet powerful sound for A Line of Deathless Kings. The album is highly consistent and My Dying Bride only breaks character momentarily on Loves Intolerable Pain and at the end of The Blood, the Wine, the Roses to go from their usual mournful tones to delve into flashes of rage that come as quickly as they go.

My Dying Bride lives up to their subgenres namesake and the poetic lyrics will be a treat for fans of the macabre but for those wanting something to smile about are better off looking elsewhere.

Jun
9

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BB King Blues on the Bayou Review

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BB King Blues on the Bayou Review

Artist: BB King
Album: Blues on the Bayou
Genre(s): Blues
Subgenres(s): Electric Blues
Released: 1998
Length: 64 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): MCA Records

Track List:

01. Blues Boys Tune
02. Bad Case of Love
03. I’ll Survive
04. Mean Ole’ World
05. Blues Man
06. Broken Promise
07. Darlin’ What Happened
08. Shake it Up and Go
09. Blues We Like
10. Good Man Gone Bad
11. If I Lost You
12. Tell Me Baby
13. I Got Some Outside Help I Don’t Need
14. Blues in G
15. If That Ain’t It I Quit

BB King Blues on the Bayou Cover

Blues on the Bayou is a self-produced studio album by blues icon BB King. In contrast to his previous 3 albums (Blues Summit, Lucille & Friends and Deuces Wild) Blues on the Bayou sees him abandoning the different-guest-musicians-appearing-on-every-song theme in favour of writing and producing a smooth and finely polished album with only his backing band supporting him this time around.

All of the songs are extremely relaxed and sound as though they were tailor-made for the recording style he opted for. BB King still possesses a deep and powerful voice that you wouldn’t immediately associate with this album but it fits the songs surprisingly well. His playing shares the spotlight equally with his backing band that includes a brass trio and a piano/organ player, all of whom can be heard with a great deal of clarity on each song.

By the time you get half way through the album it becomes apparent that he got himself stuck into a particular idea when you find that most of the 15 songs are written in the same way and keep the same mid-paced stride. If the album was shorter it wouldn’t be as noticeable but the overly long running time does take something away from the otherwise soulful and relaxed mood that BB King has proven to be more than capable of crafting.

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