Jonathan Hill

A Soapbox for Uninformed Opinions

Mar
28

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Lost Horizon A Flame to the Ground Beneath Review

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Lost Horizon A Flame to the Ground Beneath Review

Artist: Lost Horizon
Album: A Flame to the Ground Beneath
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Power Metal, Progressive Metal
Released: 2003
Length: 53 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Music for Nations

Track List:

01. Transdimensional Revelation
02. Pure
03. Lost in the Depths of Me
04. Again Will the Fire Burn
05. The Song of Earth
06. Cry of a Restless Soul
07. Think Not Forever
08. Highlander (The One)
09. Deliverance

Lost Horizon A Flame to the Ground Beneath Cover

A Flame to the Ground Beneath is the second and final album by Swedish metal outfit Lost Horizon. It is a direct continuation of the distinctively uplifting power metal/progressive metal sound that they developed on their first album, Awaken the World.

The songs are longer than before and in keeping with the tradition of progressive music, they contain many verses that can flow easily from one to the next without necessarily having the need for a chorus. The saving grace Lost Horizon balances this out with is never getting wrapped up in taking their songs in a thousand and one directions while maintaining their triumphant sound and positive message about self-empowerment and free will over fate in their lyrics.

Sadly, Lost Horizon still insists on including their ambient interludes which fail to leave a lasting impression. The introduction song, Transdimensional Revelation, is slow on the uptake and doesn’t give any indication as to what A Flame to the Ground Beneath is all about. However it does serve as an excellent buffer to the first metal song, Pure, and gives it a bigger impact when it kicks in seemingly out of nowhere (although it should be noted that like the other songs, it can speak for itself). The odd coupling of ambient interludes and heavy metal is by no means a bad concept but the execution is definitely in need of refinement.

Both the bass and keyboard playing can be heard clearly enough but the bass still finds itself competing with the guitars and drums like it does in many other metal bands. The keyboard tends to find itself in a supporting role but has a few moments to bolster some songs such as Lost in the Depths of Me and Again the Fire Will Burn. It is also the only instrument on the mid-album interlude The Song of Earth, which pleasantly enough turns out to be a full song rather than misguided soundscaping.

Much like Awaken the World, A Flame to the Ground Beneath is sung entirely in English and not being the bands native language, there are some mishaps with the lyrics that don’t flow exactly as they should do. On most occasions Daniel Heiman’s vocal range alone will distract you from this and more than makes up for it.

One of the major highlights of A Flame to the Ground Beneath is Highlander (The One), a 12 minute epic that features some of Daniel Heiman’s most extravagant moments and with all the wailing he does, it would make you think that the entire song was written for him to push his voice to the limit. The last minute of the song is by far one of the best metal moments committed to a recording. Unfortunately A Flame to the Ground Beneath ends with the interlude Deliverance. This deals a significant blow to the flow of the album as it should have ended on Highlander (The One) to give you the massive triumphant feeling that Lost Horizon is all about.

The songs (that go from 6 to 12 minutes) might sound daunting on first impressions but Lost Horizon have the musical chops to back up their ambitious goals and present another significant entry into the power metal/progressive metal catalogue with A Flame to the Ground Beneath.

Feb
28

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Palms Palms Review

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Palms Palms Review

Artist: Palms
Album: Palms
Genre(s): Rock
Subgenres(s): Post Rock, Shoegazer
Released: 2013
Length: 47 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Ipecac

Track List:

01. Future Warrior
02. Patagonia
03. Mission Sunset
04. Shortwave Radio
05. Tropics
06. Arctic Handshake

Palms Palms Cover

Palms is a post rock/shoegazer super group made up of Deftones singer Chino Moreno and 3 members of Isis. The first thing you’ll notice about all of the songs on their self-titled debut is that they all lack hooks and grooves to grab your attention. Instead they rely on lengthy guitar soundscapes that focuses heavily on layering shimmering clean guitar tones alongside their fuzzed out counterpart (that sometimes boarder on becoming blue noise) with Chino Moreno’s ethereal voice sitting comfortable in the middle of it all.

Unfortunately the soundscaping that Palms indulges in also happens to be the major pitfall of the album. It becomes apparent early on that the songs lack definition and given that the song lengths average out at almost 8 minutes each, there is little variety and ever fewer memorable moments. This becomes frustrating when the songs sound like they are building up to something but then nothing significant happens, resulting in some rather lengthy songs that don’t appear to have any real momentum behind them.

Sadly the album isn’t what it could have been and while Palms have a lot of style in their well-crafted ambience, they lack the substance in the song writing department that makes an album memorable and engaging. If you hear a single song from Palms then you’ve heard the rest of the album. Stronger song writing would have given it the potential to be a sonic masterpiece but the lack of variety is what holds Palms back.

Feb
5

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Pokey LaFarge Pokey LaFarge Review

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Pokey LaFarge Pokey LaFarge Review

Artist: Pokey LaFarge
Album: Pokey LaFarge
Genre(s): Folk
Subgenres(s): Americana
Released: 2013
Length: 40 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Third Man Records

Track List:

01. Central Time
02. The Devil Ain’t Lazy
03. What the Rain Will Bring
04. Wontcha Please Don’t Do It
05. One Town at a Time
06. Kentucky Mae
07. Bowlegged Woman
08. City Summer Blues
09. Day After Day
10. Let’s Get Lost
11. Close the Door
12. Home Away from Home

Pokey LaFarge Pokey LaFarge Cover

Folk musician Pokey LaFarge harkens back to the Americana sound of the early 20th century for his self-titled album. He wistfully mimics the sound of yesteryear with a cheery disposition that is packaged perfectly for a 21st century audience. The only tell-tale sign of Pokey LaFarge being a modern recording is the sound quality but aside from that you wouldn’t be any the wiser.

The man himself takes on the role of lead singer, songwriter, lyricist and acoustic guitarist to bring his nostalgic old time sound into fruition. He has also enlisted a number of multi-instrumentalists to bring a wealth of variety and colour to his jaunty compositions. Some of the other instruments used include the harmonica, upright bass, violin, viola, cello, piano, clarinet, cornet and both male and female backing vocals.

Influence from early jazz music can be heard on What the Rain Will Bring, Kentucky Mae, Day After Day and Home Away from Home. While they tend to be low key when compared to many of the other songs, they do feel like a natural extension of his Americana sound.

The lyrics are written in a way that wouldn’t put them out of place in music from the 1950’s or before and this as this plays right into his musical narrative and brings his nostalgic sound full circle.

Pokey LaFarge has been quoted saying that “American music is the tops” and if his own music is a good reflection of his influences then it is hard to disagree with this sentiment and you’ll find it impossible not to crack a smile while listening to him.

Jan
31

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Peeping Tom Peeping Tom Review

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Peeping Tom Peeping Tom Review

Artist: Peeping Tom
Album: Peeping Tom
Genre(s): Rap, Rock
Subgenres(s): Rap Rock, Trip Hop, Trip Rock
Released: 2006
Length: 44 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Ipecac Recordings

Track List:

01. Five Seconds
02. Mojo
03. Don’t Even Trip
04. Getaway
05. Your Neighborhood Spaceman
06. Kill the DJ
07. Caipirinha
08. Celebrity Death Match
09. How U Feelin?
10. Sucker
11. We’re Not Alone (Remix)

Peeping Tom Peeping Tom Cover

Peeping Tom is the debut album of Mike Patton’s rap rock music project of the same name. Put into motion in 2000, the album was recorded from then to 2006 and subsequently released that year. A wealth of guest performers and producers including Dan the Automator, Massive Attack, Kool Keith, Norah Jones and Rahzel amongst others are enlisted to bring a different sound to each song.

As this is a pop album of sorts, Mike Patton and his collaborators embracing rap, rock and downtempo music that is then blended into a broad set of rap rock and trip hop/trip rock songs with mostly conventional song structures and fewer of the eccentricities associated with many of his other bands (namely Fantomas, Mr. Bungle and his collaborations with John Zorn).

Some songs (Five Seconds, Mojo and We’re Not Alone) draw back to the rap rock sound of the late 1990s by alternating between rapping and singing to the well-established loud/quiet song structure dynamics. Thankfully the overblown angst ridden lyrics are out of the equation and this prevents it from becoming a pale imitation of the scene it draws inspiration from.

Mike Patton is a flexible vocalist as his long, meandering career has proven time and time again. He puts on a strong performance for the rock-centric parts of the album and while he can rap and beat box, it’s evident that it is not his forte and the guest vocalists often outshine him in this element.

Getaway, Your Neighborhood Spaceman, Celebrity Death Match and How U Feelin? favour a heavy helping of hip hop influences to balance out Peeping Tom’s sound while We’re Not Alone (Remix) is a brilliant summary of what Peeping Tom offers: hard guitar sounds, relaxed trip hop beats, diverse vocal performances and enough song progression to feed Mike Patton’s eccentric tendencies without alienating the listener.

Mike Patton never loses track of what he set out to accomplish with Peeping Tom and while it is certainly not a jarring effort, the breadth of styles used do give the album plenty momentum and a real sense of unpredictability.

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