This Moment – ‘Finding a Voice in
the Dark’ (Uprising Records)
No
sir, I don’t like it. Don’t like it at all. I hate to diss a band that says,
“This music is our blood and this record is our heart” in their liner notes, but
nothing on here stands out to me. Just generic “metal core”, a genre I mostly
hate to begin with. Even putting aside my bias for this style of music, this
just isn’t anything special. The riffs are standard issue, the vocals alternate
between bland pop punk crooning and bland hardcore growling, and the songwriting
is totally by the numbers. The production is crisp and the musicianship
competent, but that doesn’t make up for mostly mediocre songs. Okay, “Takeaway”
is a pretty good song, and “Circle of Knives” isn’t too bad, but those tunes
come along pretty late in the game and aren’t nearly enough to save this. (Bob
Ignizio)
Unbeknownst
to many, there’s a whole scene out there devoted to “horror rock”. And no,
despite what you might think, it’s not composed of nothing but Misfits sound-alikes.
For those interested in this subgenre, the website World Horror Network has
released a collection containing tracks by many (but by no means all) of best
bands stitching together morbid subject matter and killer riffs to create their
own rock & roll Frankenstein monsters. Of course, some of these creations get
up off the slab more smoothly than others. The disc starts out strong with
Calabrese and their track “The Backseat of My Hearse”. Their track boasts
strong production, good hooks, and a distinctive sound that firmly sets them
atop the horror rock bone pile. Ecto-1 also impress with their contribution, “Lilitu”,
which adds a touch of Euro-metal to the punk. The Corpsemaker throws an
interesting curveball into the mix with their electronic/industrial “Eternaldamnation”.
The Abominations provide another change of pace with their NWOBHM influenced
(minus the solo) “Sweet Fire”. Others turn in one of the best tracks with
“People”, and I also highly enjoyed the rockabillyish “Guns N’ Booze” by Die
Monster Die. Dead on Revival, TFMU, Left For Dead, Fuse, Sugarpuss, The Devil
Bats and The Afterdarks all turn in quality performances as well. And oh yeah,
my band Horror of 59 contributes the track “Graveyard Beyond the Woods”, but I
hardly think I can offer an unbiased opinion of that one. The only real
complaints I can make against this collection is that the sound levels vary
quite a bit from track to track, and there were a handful of tracks that I
didn’t care for. Still, I liked the vast majority of this comp, which is a
pretty good ratio. For more info and to order go to http://www.worldhorrornetwork.com.
(Bob Ignizio)
The third
installment in the underground hip-hop series "Rebel Radio" is a success. All
the producers and MC's on this compilation are virtually unknowns, and for some
of them, it hopefully won't stay that way for long. The raw rhymes and grimy
production are refreshing in a world of bling bling and over produced vocals.
This series fits in the same caliber as some of the Rawkus comps. Clocking in at
21 tracks, there are a lot of songs to pick from. It's safe you should dig at
least one or two. "The Moon Is High" features MC/Beatmaker Ajent O, whose rhymes
are reminiscent of a classic MCs like Krs-One. He also sounds similar to Rasco,
one of hip-hops most underappreciated MC's (but that's a whole different
subject). Ajent O's track was one of my favorites from the CD. Another good
track comes from No Compostition, who offers up "State Of Things". He's a
talented MC who is aided by some fantastic production work by Covert and some
good DJ skills from Cutler, who offers cuts on several tracks on this comp. I
would suggest this to any true hip-hop head. (Eddie Fleisher)
This is a collection of
“rare & raw 1978-1981 Boston/Southern CT punk”. Musically this time period
bridges the gap between “classic” punk and early hardcore, and we get some of
each. Last Supper starts us off with a decent helping of the first (“Nothing is
Sacred Anymore”) which is immediately followed up by S.V.O.E. giving a textbook
example of the second (“Screw the Crew”). 8th Route Army sound more
in the New York Dolls vein with their “Record Burning Party Tonight”, then it’s
back to more hardcore with Hot Bodies “Flag Day”. The Dispossesed throw a curve
ball with their garagey psychedelic “The Blue Wash Room”, but for the most part
surprises are rare on this comp. It was nice to hear both Psycho and Cancerous
Growth, bands who I saw play the old JB’s down in Kent. Psycho’s “Trix are For
Kids” is definitely my favorite track, and they’re one of the few bands on here
with a fairly distinctive sound. Cancerous Growth doesn’t fare as well,
sounding like a million other early hardcore bands on “Number”. Although their
track is pretty standard stuff for the time, The Transplants “Suicidal
Tendencies” is fun stuff. The Thrills also stand out with “Hey (Not Another
Face in the Crowd)” and I enjoyed DaDa Banks “Microwave”. The TV Neats are the
other curve ball on here, more of a new wave/power pop band, but their “Pushing
Buttons” is probably the only track on here as strong as the Psycho song. If
you're a serious collector/music historian type, or a hardcore fan of
punk/hardcore from the time period, I'd definitely recommend this.
Otherwise, though, not enough of the bands on here really stand out as anything
special for me to recommend this to the casual listener. (Bob Ignizio)
No
sir, I don’t like it. Don’t like it at all. I hate to diss a band that says,
“This music is our blood and this record is our heart” in their liner notes, but
nothing on here stands out to me. Just generic “metal core”, a genre I mostly
hate to begin with. Even putting aside my bias for this style of music, this
just isn’t anything special. The riffs are standard issue, the vocals alternate
between bland pop punk crooning and bland hardcore growling, and the songwriting
is totally by the numbers. The production is crisp and the musicianship
competent, but that doesn’t make up for mostly mediocre songs. Okay, “Takeaway”
is a pretty good song, and “Circle of Knives” isn’t too bad, but those tunes
come along pretty late in the game and aren’t nearly enough to save this. (Bob
Ignizio)
Unbeknownst
to many, there’s a whole scene out there devoted to “horror rock”. And no,
despite what you might think, it’s not composed of nothing but Misfits sound-alikes.
For those interested in this subgenre, the website World Horror Network has
released a collection containing tracks by many (but by no means all) of best
bands stitching together morbid subject matter and killer riffs to create their
own rock & roll Frankenstein monsters. Of course, some of these creations get
up off the slab more smoothly than others. The disc starts out strong with
Calabrese and their track “The Backseat of My Hearse”. Their track boasts
strong production, good hooks, and a distinctive sound that firmly sets them
atop the horror rock bone pile. Ecto-1 also impress with their contribution, “Lilitu”,
which adds a touch of Euro-metal to the punk. The Corpsemaker throws an
interesting curveball into the mix with their electronic/industrial “Eternaldamnation”.
The Abominations provide another change of pace with their NWOBHM influenced
(minus the solo) “Sweet Fire”. Others turn in one of the best tracks with
“People”, and I also highly enjoyed the rockabillyish “Guns N’ Booze” by Die
Monster Die. Dead on Revival, TFMU, Left For Dead, Fuse, Sugarpuss, The Devil
Bats and The Afterdarks all turn in quality performances as well. And oh yeah,
my band Horror of 59 contributes the track “Graveyard Beyond the Woods”, but I
hardly think I can offer an unbiased opinion of that one. The only real
complaints I can make against this collection is that the sound levels vary
quite a bit from track to track, and there were a handful of tracks that I
didn’t care for. Still, I liked the vast majority of this comp, which is a
pretty good ratio. For more info and to order go to http://www.worldhorrornetwork.com.
(Bob Ignizio)
The third
installment in the underground hip-hop series "Rebel Radio" is a success. All
the producers and MC's on this compilation are virtually unknowns, and for some
of them, it hopefully won't stay that way for long. The raw rhymes and grimy
production are refreshing in a world of bling bling and over produced vocals.
This series fits in the same caliber as some of the Rawkus comps. Clocking in at
21 tracks, there are a lot of songs to pick from. It's safe you should dig at
least one or two. "The Moon Is High" features MC/Beatmaker Ajent O, whose rhymes
are reminiscent of a classic MCs like Krs-One. He also sounds similar to Rasco,
one of hip-hops most underappreciated MC's (but that's a whole different
subject). Ajent O's track was one of my favorites from the CD. Another good
track comes from No Compostition, who offers up "State Of Things". He's a
talented MC who is aided by some fantastic production work by Covert and some
good DJ skills from Cutler, who offers cuts on several tracks on this comp. I
would suggest this to any true hip-hop head. (Eddie Fleisher)
This is a collection of
“rare & raw 1978-1981 Boston/Southern CT punk”. Musically this time period
bridges the gap between “classic” punk and early hardcore, and we get some of
each. Last Supper starts us off with a decent helping of the first (“Nothing is
Sacred Anymore”) which is immediately followed up by S.V.O.E. giving a textbook
example of the second (“Screw the Crew”). 8th Route Army sound more
in the New York Dolls vein with their “Record Burning Party Tonight”, then it’s
back to more hardcore with Hot Bodies “Flag Day”. The Dispossesed throw a curve
ball with their garagey psychedelic “The Blue Wash Room”, but for the most part
surprises are rare on this comp. It was nice to hear both Psycho and Cancerous
Growth, bands who I saw play the old JB’s down in Kent. Psycho’s “Trix are For
Kids” is definitely my favorite track, and they’re one of the few bands on here
with a fairly distinctive sound. Cancerous Growth doesn’t fare as well,
sounding like a million other early hardcore bands on “Number”. Although their
track is pretty standard stuff for the time, The Transplants “Suicidal
Tendencies” is fun stuff. The Thrills also stand out with “Hey (Not Another
Face in the Crowd)” and I enjoyed DaDa Banks “Microwave”. The TV Neats are the
other curve ball on here, more of a new wave/power pop band, but their “Pushing
Buttons” is probably the only track on here as strong as the Psycho song. If
you're a serious collector/music historian type, or a hardcore fan of
punk/hardcore from the time period, I'd definitely recommend this.
Otherwise, though, not enough of the bands on here really stand out as anything
special for me to recommend this to the casual listener. (Bob Ignizio) 