If
there's one phrase to describe Origin, it's grindcore. That means, as is often
the case with one of the more extreme forms of music, you'll either love it or
hate it. I find my own tastes for grindcore are limited. It takes a lot for a
grindcore band to impress me, usually by doing something to catch my ear among
the aural fury coming out of my speakers. Origin does it well, though. The
drummer sounds like a CD on fast-forward, the singer sounds like a bear in a
meat grinder, and the guitar work is functional but not ground-breaking.
‘Echoes of Decimation’ has enough catchy riffs to distinguish it from the normal
blur of the genre. I must admit, though, that the CD kind of flew by me...I
could appreciate the technical difficulty in playing it, but it's not something
I'd listen to if I didn't need to review it. For girndcore fans, however, it's
sure to satisfy. The heathen Hippy gives it three blast beats. (Taliesin
Govannon)
And
now, for something completely different. The Rusticators are a duo (Abby
Linfert and Chris Amsler) out of Virginia who play brilliant post-Indigo Girls
modern American folk-rock with perfect harmonies, great instrumentation, and
catchy arrangements. "Talking With The Dead", their latest, is a damned
impressive collection of original songs, and shows us that songwriting is NOT
dead in this country. This CD is a treasure for those who enjoy folky-rock.
All others may think they'll be bored with it. If you're of the latter,
however, then I'm sorry for you, because this is truly great music. This is
stirring, melodic music that's a great soundtrack for a summer day, and I
recommend this to anyone who likes good music of any genre. Open your minds,
you damn metal-punk-alternative-whatever heads, and give this a shot. The
Heathen Hippy gives it four and a half acoustic strums. Check them out at
http://www.therusticators.com. (Taliesin Govannon)
Star Gazer – ‘The Scream That Tore
The Sky’ (Agonia)
This
was one tough album to review. Not because it's bad (those are easy to review,
the only difficult part is how to stretch "it sucks" into a whole paragraph),
but because it's very, very different. Is it progressive, extreme,
melodic, technical? The short answer is: yes, it's all those things and more.
This is a project by two Austrailians (identified only as "The Serpent
Inquisitor" on guitars and vocals, and "The Great Righteous Distroyer" on bass
and vocals), that walks a dozen different very fine lines at once, and yet seems
to pull it off. The vocals are dueling low/high end grunts, but the real star
is the music. Blending the most extreme blast beats with jazz subtlety, Star
Gazer delivers music that's eminently listenable and yet thoroughly punishing.
Music this different either works brilliantly or sucks horribly, and Star Gazer
succeeds with blazing triumph. One of the best of 2005. If you like extreme
metal AT ALL, then you MUST check this out, or else you'll be missing out on the
best new extreme metal band of 2005 (thus far). The Heathen Hippy gives it four
and a half goofy stage names. (Taliesin Govannon)
Strength in Numbers
are one of the better “metalcore” bands I’ve heard, and lately I’ve been hearing
quite a lot of them. I don’t really see the need for a new genre to describe
what is essentially melodic euro-style thrash/death metal with a touch of
hardcore and emo influence, but then I’m not a marketer. If you like stuff like
Beyond the Embrace, Arch Enemy, Black Dahlia Murder, Soilwork, In Flames, etc.
this should be right up your alley. The musicianship is great, but then that’s
to be expected from metal (or metalcore) bands. Strength in Numbers manages to
stand out in what is rapidly becoming a pretty crowded scene thanks to good
songwriting. The vocals are also fairly distinctive, especially when they
venture into melodic territory. Sometimes they go a little too far in that
direction for my tastes, as on the commercial sounding chorus of “Momentum”, but
for the most part the melody and brutality are balanced nicely. I’d probably
pick this one up even if it hadn’t been sent to me for review. (Bob Ignizio)
If
there's one phrase to describe Origin, it's grindcore. That means, as is often
the case with one of the more extreme forms of music, you'll either love it or
hate it. I find my own tastes for grindcore are limited. It takes a lot for a
grindcore band to impress me, usually by doing something to catch my ear among
the aural fury coming out of my speakers. Origin does it well, though. The
drummer sounds like a CD on fast-forward, the singer sounds like a bear in a
meat grinder, and the guitar work is functional but not ground-breaking.
‘Echoes of Decimation’ has enough catchy riffs to distinguish it from the normal
blur of the genre. I must admit, though, that the CD kind of flew by me...I
could appreciate the technical difficulty in playing it, but it's not something
I'd listen to if I didn't need to review it. For girndcore fans, however, it's
sure to satisfy. The heathen Hippy gives it three blast beats. (Taliesin
Govannon)
And
now, for something completely different. The Rusticators are a duo (Abby
Linfert and Chris Amsler) out of Virginia who play brilliant post-Indigo Girls
modern American folk-rock with perfect harmonies, great instrumentation, and
catchy arrangements. "Talking With The Dead", their latest, is a damned
impressive collection of original songs, and shows us that songwriting is NOT
dead in this country. This CD is a treasure for those who enjoy folky-rock.
All others may think they'll be bored with it. If you're of the latter,
however, then I'm sorry for you, because this is truly great music. This is
stirring, melodic music that's a great soundtrack for a summer day, and I
recommend this to anyone who likes good music of any genre. Open your minds,
you damn metal-punk-alternative-whatever heads, and give this a shot. The
Heathen Hippy gives it four and a half acoustic strums. Check them out at
This
was one tough album to review. Not because it's bad (those are easy to review,
the only difficult part is how to stretch "it sucks" into a whole paragraph),
but because it's very, very different. Is it progressive, extreme,
melodic, technical? The short answer is: yes, it's all those things and more.
This is a project by two Austrailians (identified only as "The Serpent
Inquisitor" on guitars and vocals, and "The Great Righteous Distroyer" on bass
and vocals), that walks a dozen different very fine lines at once, and yet seems
to pull it off. The vocals are dueling low/high end grunts, but the real star
is the music. Blending the most extreme blast beats with jazz subtlety, Star
Gazer delivers music that's eminently listenable and yet thoroughly punishing.
Music this different either works brilliantly or sucks horribly, and Star Gazer
succeeds with blazing triumph. One of the best of 2005. If you like extreme
metal AT ALL, then you MUST check this out, or else you'll be missing out on the
best new extreme metal band of 2005 (thus far). The Heathen Hippy gives it four
and a half goofy stage names. (Taliesin Govannon)
Strength in Numbers
are one of the better “metalcore” bands I’ve heard, and lately I’ve been hearing
quite a lot of them. I don’t really see the need for a new genre to describe
what is essentially melodic euro-style thrash/death metal with a touch of
hardcore and emo influence, but then I’m not a marketer. If you like stuff like
Beyond the Embrace, Arch Enemy, Black Dahlia Murder, Soilwork, In Flames, etc.
this should be right up your alley. The musicianship is great, but then that’s
to be expected from metal (or metalcore) bands. Strength in Numbers manages to
stand out in what is rapidly becoming a pretty crowded scene thanks to good
songwriting. The vocals are also fairly distinctive, especially when they
venture into melodic territory. Sometimes they go a little too far in that
direction for my tastes, as on the commercial sounding chorus of “Momentum”, but
for the most part the melody and brutality are balanced nicely. I’d probably
pick this one up even if it hadn’t been sent to me for review. (Bob Ignizio)