Jonathan Hill

A Soapbox for Uninformed Opinions

Jul
21

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Storm Corrosion Storm Corrosion Review

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Storm Corrosion Storm Corrosion Review

Artist: Storm Corrosion
Album: Storm Corrosion
Genre(s): Ambient, Folk, Rock
Subgenres(s): Dark Ambient, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Folk
Released: 2012
Length: 48 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Roadrunner

Track List:

01. Drag Ropes
02. Storm Corrosion
03. Hag
04. Happy
05. Lock Howl
06. Ljudet Innan

Storm Corrosion Storm Corrosion Cover

Storm Corrosion is the long awaited collaborative project between progressive rock/metal stars Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, solo) and Michael Akerfeldt (Opeth). Given the background of these 2 prolific musicians you would think that you would have some inkling as to what Storm Corrosion would turn out like but the results are much more unexpected than you’d think. As with a lot of Steven Wilson’s output in the last few years, the music is brooding and dark sounding without strictly sounding like anything either musician has put forward before.

There are only 6 songs on Storm Corrosion and together they manage to make up a little bit more than the average length of an album. Drag Ropes, Storm Corrosion and Ljudet Innan all clock in at around 10 minutes each and like most of the album, they work around the same tired format; soft guitar lines that keep the rhythm, dark keyboard atmospheres, sparse and infrequent percussion and unstrained singing from both halves of Storm Corrosion.

Half way through Hag you’ll be treated to a short burst of distorted guitar noise and frenzied drum rolls with plenty of sharp clashes on the cymbals thrown in in an effort to keep your attention and break up the monotony. Lock Howl is the only song with steady use of percussion and while remaining well within the duos ominous criteria, it manages to wake the listener from their slumber before abruptly stopping once they realise that they are in danger of playing something that might be memorable.

Unlimited artistic freedom isn’t a bad thing in and of itself but when 2 of the current progressive rock/metal scene figureheads get together and produce an album with maybe 20 minutes of material worth hearing you know that something hasn’t hit the marker.

Jul
14

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Against All Authority The Restoration of Chaos and Order Review

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Against All Authority The Restoration of Chaos and Order Review

Artist: Against All Authority
Album: The Restoration of Chaos and Order
Genre(s): Rock
Subgenres(s): Hardcore Punk, Punk Rock
Released: 2006
Length: 38 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Hopeless Records

Track List:

01. The Restoration of Chaos and Order
02. Sweet Televised Destruction
03. All Ages Show Tonight
04. Collection Scars
05. Radio Waves
06. Silence is Golden But Duct Tape is Silver
07. Shut it Down
08. Sunshine Fist Magnet
09. I Just Wanna Start a Circle Pit
10. War Machine Breakdown
11. Grinding My Life Away
12. The Production of Self Destruction
13. Buried Alive
14. Best Enemies

Against All Authority The Restoration of Chaos and Order Cover

The Restoration of Chaos and Order is the final album by punk rockers Against All Authority. The band has shed off almost all of their former ska punk influences with the exception of a handful of ska rhythms and a trumpet on Radio Waves and Best Enemies whereas some of their older material made use of a larger brass section consisting of a trumpet, trombone and saxophone.

Against All Authority are still as furious as ever and with the removal of almost all of the ska punk influences they have decided to stick to what they know and struck a fantastic balance of straight ahead punk rock and the more aggressive hardcore punk sound that they slip in and out of with little effort.

Danny Lore’s has improved on his vocal performance a fair bit since the release of their previous studio album Nothing New for Trash Like You in 2001. He still sings in a familiar throaty voice but he is much easier to understand and the band has a way of getting you to pay attention to what he has to say over everything.

The lyrics tend to focus on social/political commentary, the highs and lows of life as well as more specific subjects like the murder of Brian Deneke on Sunshine Fist Magnet and what the spirit of the punk rock scene is supposed to be on Shut it Down.

Against All Authority broke up in 2007, ending their 15 year run on a high note and truly showing how far you can stretch 3 chords and 6 strings without throwing in a single piece of redundant material.

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.

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