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Abdullah – ‘Graveyard Poetry’ (Meteor City) 
With ‘Graveyard Poetry’, Abdullah pretty much obliterate
any thoughts of a sophomore slump. Ignoring the confines of such labels as
“stoner rock” or “doom metal”, the band have delivered a strong set of material
that acknowledges the past, lives in the present, and looks to the future.
Overall, there’s a lot more energy on this album than its predecessor. That’s
probably due in some part to having a full band this time; new members Ed
Stephens (bass) and Jim Simonian (drums) provide a solid foundation for Jeff
Shirilla’s passionate vocals and Alan Seibert’s inspired fretwork. Add
Shirilla’s thoughtful, intelligent lyrics to the mix and you wind up with one of
the best rock albums of the year. “Black Helicopters” moves along at a nice
steady pace rather than dragging its feet in typical doom metal fashion, and
features some killer Sabbath style riffing and a knockout vocal performance. “A
Dark but Shining Sun” is a simple but effective rocker with an almost punk
attitude, while “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” is a slow ominous number with a
gloomy sing along chorus. The group also displays a good deal of New Wave of
British Heavy Metal influence on this album (“Deprogrammed”, “Strange
Benedictions”, “Guided by the Spirit”) and a few tendencies towards majestic
rock epics (“Pantheistic”, “Behold a Pale Horse”) before ending things with a
touch of death metal (“They, The Tyrants”). (Bob Ignizio)
The Antisocialists – ‘Demo’ (self released)
(No image available)
I think it’s safe to say The Antisocialists are the most
outspoken punk band in Cleveland today. While there’s nothing wrong in my book
with trashy garage rock (in fact I love the stuff), the political strain of punk
best exemplified by bands like Dead Kennedys and MDC has produced some great
records as well, and it’s nice to see at least one home town band keeping that
spirit alive. Blazing hardcore beats, vocals that will peel the paint off your
walls (that’s a good thing in my book), and buzz saw guitars are the elements
that make up the Antisocialists’s sound. The raw no-budget production almost
works in the band’s favor on angry, savage songs like “Stop Disarmament”,
“Operation Garden Plot”, and “Microchip Society”. As those titles suggest, the
band has some beliefs that some might characterize as “conspiracy theories”, and
they clearly don’t like the UN or the direction the U.S. government is presently
headed. That’s sure to turn off some punk fans but I doubt that the band really
cares. Those on a similar wavelength, or at least open minded enough to hear
the group out, should find The Antisocialists a worthy addition to Cleveland’s
punk scene, and this demo a promising indication of things to come.
To find out how you can get a copy of your own, contact
apmagee@aol.com, or ask the band at one of their shows. (Bob Ignizio)
Black Heart Procession –
‘Amore del Tropico’ (Touch and Go)
I was all set to write a
really bad review for this, but knowing myself, I’m always too hard on new
records by my favorite bands. So after a second listen I must say that I’m
getting used to ‘Amore del Tropico’ and I might even learn to love it some day.
The Black Heart Procession has released three albums of grim and somber beauty.
In the past the group has used elements of carnival music, country, and avant-rock
to produce music dark in tone, but not easily classified. All three albums are
great, but it seemed time for a progression. Still, the direction this album
took caught me completely by surprise. ‘Amore del Tropico’ starts off
with the surprisingly lively title track, which incorporates a Latin beat and
(yikes) female backup singers. I usually find female backup singers a jump the
shark moment, but thankfully things start to calm down after this as the group
finds themselves in similar but less well worn territory. The production is
crisper than anything they’ve done before and the arrangements are less daring
with as many as seven or eight musicians giving the songs a fuller, busier
quality. I miss the old days, when the band was mainly a man and his musical
saw. The saw has been all but phased out now, making only a cameo appearance on
a couple of songs. This is a more guitar and keyboard driven album. It is also
a concept album as all the tracks follow the story of a murder mystery. So it’s
kind of fun to piece that all together. It’s possible that this new approach
could win the band new fans. I hope it does. They've earned it. Although this
isn't their finest hour, the many good songs outnumber the more awkward moments.
Black Heart Procession will
be playing the Beachland Ballroom on Nov. 7 with Cherry Valence and Tara Jane
O’Neil (Dave Ignizio)
Dischord Records – ‘20 Year
of Dischord’ (Dischord)
If you are or ever were
into punk rock at all, then you probably have come across a record or two that
bears the Dischord label. It was one of the first American independent record
labels and has stood for an astonishing 22 years now. It’s hard to think of a
label that’s been more important in consistently expanding horizons in a music
genre originally thought to have a limited lifespan. This is what has set
Dischord apart from everyone else for all these years. The willingness of bands
to keep progressing and not stay in a rut is why a document of this scope is
important and why nobody is really rushing out to get an album titled, say, ‘20
years of the Gorilla Biscuits’. This three disc collection shows you how D.C.
perfected hardcore in a few short years and kept creating other genres as it
went along. For better or worse, bands like Embrace, Rites of Spring and Dag
Nasty are credited with creating what has now come to be called emo. Of course
they did that fifteen years ago while today’s emo bands sound more like Gordon
Lightfoot than Ian MacKaye to me. Anyway a song from each band that has ever
recorded for Dischord is on this collection. I kind of grew up with Dischord
and have been on the same growth chart as the label. I love the early hardcore
stuff. That’s what I related to when I was a teenager, but as I grew up bands
like Jawbox, Smart Went Crazy and Q and Not U made a lot more sense. The third
disc is a set of unreleased material that focuses mainly on the early hardcore
era; A couple nuggets from the Teen Idles and Minor Threat, some Void and
Government Issue songs you may not have heard, and a track that showcases the
zany humor of the Dischord scene by the Rozzlyn Rangers. There is also an
unreleased Fugazi track as well as a live recording of their early classic,
“Burning”. Some nifty live video clips to play on your computer round out this
wonderful package that also comes with a 140 page booklet with a little bit of
history and lots of cute pictures. This box set and last years fantastic book,
“Dance of Days” are the perfect compliments to each other presenting the full
audio, visual, and written story of one of the most important scenes in
American music history, period. (Dave Ignizio)
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