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The Fire Show – ‘Saint the
Fire Show’ (Perishable)
Sure
to be one of the most overlooked, but best albums of the year, ‘Saint the Fire
Show’ is the farewell from a band we hardly got to know at all. The record was
released on one of the smaller indie labels in Chicago and I picked up my copy
in the dollar bin of a local used book store about a week after it was
released. Either by design or by the public’s ignorance The Fire Show kept a
low profile in the few years they were together. I haven’t heard their first
two records, but this one is the real deal. ‘Saint the Fire Show’
combines elements of arty noise-rock with highly orchestrated psych numbers and
elements of brit-pop. On “The Rabbit of my Soul is the King of His Ghost”
singer M. Resplendent takes a Steve Malkmus approach with lazy, clever lyrics
while the rest of the band provides the most straight ahead rock on the album.
“Dollar and Cent Supplicants” has a memorable melody and a haunting, almost
trip-hop feel to it. Finally, the album closes with a take on “You Are my
Sunshine” that sounds more like a funeral dirge. On paper this may sound all
over the map and kind of a mess, but somehow The Fire Show pull it all together
and create a solid and altogether original sounding album. Unfortunately, the
group disbanded shortly after its release. (Dave Ignizio)
Liars – ‘They Threw Us All
in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top’ (Mute) 
First off this isn’t
exactly a brand new album. It was released over a year ago on New Jersey indie
Gern Blandsten records. However, it created a huge buzz in the underground and
was recently picked up for wider distribution by Mute records. Since the
re-release it has been receiving untold amounts of hype. Does it live up to
it? Well, yes, mostly. The Liars are miles ahead of the current wave of rock
revisionists popping up in heavy rotation these days. They take their cue from
the late seventies/early eighties post punk sound, their sound features a
danceable backbeat and fractured guitars combined with the distorted vocals of
manic Australian, Angus Andrew it all adds up to a hell of a ruckus. The
album offers up nine killer tracks, but the last song, “This Dust Makes that
Mud,” goes on way too long. A couple more short but sweet shredders like “Mr.
Your on Fire Mr.” or “Tumbling Walls Buried Me in the Debris - With ESG” would
have been preferable. It’s a mild complaint for an album this damn potent. It
should be said that Liars are not the only band out there doing this stuff. Les
Savy Fav, Q and not U, and the Fire Show surely are their equals in taking the
blueprint of Gang of Four’s Entertainment and utilizing modern studio
techniques and good old fashioned youthful exuberance to make it a sound all
their own. These bands have been plugging away for awhile now and have earned a
devoted following, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Liars were the first to
break out and find mainstream success as the fickle pendulum of public taste
swings back in the direction of rock. (Dave Ignizio)
NDE – ‘End of Trust’ (self released)
‘End of Trust’ is a hard hitting set of aggressive modern
metal in the vein of Static X, Fear Factory, and 'Chaos AD' era Sepultura
likely to appeal to fans in both the underground and “neo metal” scenes. The
production and packaging are as good as any major label release and the band
sound tight as hell. While there are a few so-so tracks on ‘End of Trust’, for
the most part NDE avoid the tendency of some modern metal bands towards sameness by
varying the tempos and vocal styles. Vocalist Robert even tries his hand at
melodic vocals to nice effect on a few numbers; “Watch the Skies”, “Gearbox”,
and “Always”. Still, no need for the band’s hardcore fans to worry that NDE
have turned into Linkin Park. Songs like “This World”, “III Day Grip” and
“Clonedhead” are as heavy as anything they’ve ever done. As one might expect,
the lyrics tend towards the angry and dark. But unlike many bands these days,
the band actually seems to know what it is they’re mad about and avoid
desperation through a message of perseverance in a hostile world. (Bob Ignizio)
Spiritu – ‘Spiritu’ (Meteor City) 
A lot of "stoner rock" bands these days don’t know the difference between
being influenced and outright plagiarism. Thankfully that’s not the case with Spiritu. First off they have a distinctive vocalist, something that’s become
increasingly rare in underground rock. And the music, while not exactly
groundbreaking, nonetheless avoids sounding like a carbon copy of anyone else. The
guys were also fortunate enough to have the legendary Jack Endino turn the knobs
for them, and his production is outstanding. The sound is thick and fuzzy
without muddying things up too much. What makes Spiritu worth a listen is their
songwriting. “Fat Man in Thailand” tells a story about visiting that city of
excess and waking up the next morning needing salvation, capturing the feel of a
hangover in music. “Glorywhore”, in which the band rejects traditional ideas of
“success”, has a nice dark vibe and clocks in at over 9 minutes without feeling
like it. Album closer “Slump” is a little derivative of Kyuss, but it’s such a
good song I’ll let it slide. The band also covers Sir Lord Baltimore’s “Tamer
of Women” which features a riff that should be familiar to Monster Magnet fans.
Hell, it’s such a cool guitar part even Danzig borrowed it for his most recent album.
(Bob Ignizio)
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