Jonathan Hill

A Soapbox for Uninformed Opinions

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.

Jun
2

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Children of Bodom Follow the Reaper Review

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Children of Bodom Follow the Reaper Review

Artist: Children of Bodom
Album: Follow the Reaper
Genre(s): Heavy Metal
Subgenres(s): Power Metal
Released: 2000
Length: 38 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Nuclear Blast, Spine Farm

Track List:

01. Follow the Reaper
02. Bodom After Midnight
03. Children of Decadence
04. Everytime I Die
05. Mask of Sanity
06. Taste of My Scythe
07. Hate Me!
08. Northern Comfort
09. Kissing the Shadows

Children of Bodom Follow the Reaper Cover

Follow the Reaper is the 3rd album by Finnish metal quintet Child of Bodom. It shows the band stepping away from the black metal tinged sound of Something Wild and Hatebreeder to focus on traditional heavy metal offshoot speed metal and the well-established subgenre of power metal.

Vocalist and lead guitarist Alexi Laiho manages to retain his high pitched screech that makes him sound like an aggravated troll that just found out that someone has walked over his bridge. He is still impossible to understand even if the lyrics are written out in front of you. This makes you wonder if the lyrics where written just for the sake of having a vocalist as Follow the Reaper would have made for a fantastic instrumental album otherwise. This won’t be of any detriment to their fans but it will certainly ward off many other potential listeners.

The drums, bass and second guitar all find themselves in strict rhythm roles on Follow the Reaper and while the drums and guitar are easy to hear, the bass is reduced to background noise unless the listener pays close attention to it.

Children of Bodom haven’t gone through a metamorphosis in their decision to move away from their black metal influence but it is still easy to hear where their well-earned reputation stems from on Follow the Reaper. The most impressive aspects the album are the premier song-writing abilities of Alexi Laiho and the interaction between himself and keyboard player Janne Wirman. These elements are what make Follow the Reaper a staple of the Children of Bodom discography and a highlight of the metal scene upon its release.

May
26

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Spiritual Beggars Demons Review

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Spiritual Beggars Demons Review

Artist: Spiritual Beggars
Album: Demons
Genre(s): Rock
Subgenres(s): Hard Rock, Stoner Rock
Released: 2005
Length: 49 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Icarus Music, Inside Out

Track List:

01. Inner Strength (Intro)
02. Throwing Your Life Away
03. Salt in Your Wounds
04. One Man Army
05. Through the Halls
06. Treading Water
07. Dying Every Day
08. Born to Die
09. Born to Die (Reprise)
10. In My Blood
11. Elusive
12. Sleeping With One Eye Open
13. No One Heard

Spiritual Beggars Demons Cover

Demons is the 6th effort by Swedish quintet Spiritual Beggars. The band draws on influences that span across the rock spectrum to include elements of psychedelic rock, blues rock, hard rock and even heavy metal for the colossal song In My Blood. When meshed together these diverse influences form the basis of the semi-obscure stoner rock scene, of which the Spiritual Beggars are usually associated with.

The lyrics are quite straightforward and focus on the struggles of life, regrets and depression but are presented in a way that is more akin to perseverance than misery. It is the last album by Spiritual Beggars to feature singer Janne “JB” Christoffersson (Grand Magus) whose powerful grit laden voice brings the songs on Demons to life in a way that few others ever could.

His voice is backed by a plethora of catchy, driven guitar leads and passionate solos courtesy of founding member Michael Amott (Arch Enemy, Carcass). This contrasts with bassist Sharlee D’Angelo as his playing seems to exist somewhere in the middle of everything else and while never being washed out, he rarely comes to the forefront. He gives the album a denser sound quality but lacks many of the outstanding moments you’ll hear coming from the guitar.

Spiritual Beggars frequently delve into fluid instrumental passages that give each band member the chance to really come to life and show that they have perfected their craft. Drummer Ludwig Witt injects creative fills between verses and keyboardist Per Wiberg provides colourful, sometimes textural keyboard lines (and an extended solo at the end of Dying Every Day). He often sounds like he is taking on a support role but if he featured more prominently it could have introduced an exciting and different dynamic to their sound.

Spiritual Beggars embody the heart and soul of rock music on Demons and in doing so they create a genre defining album that should have a place in the collection of all rock fanatics.

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