REVIEW: TENHI - KAUAN

 

TENHI- KAUAN (Prophecy Productions, 1999):

Technical data:

Recorded and Mixed at Babe Musik Studios

Recorded, Mixed by Pekka Jhalainen and Tenhi

Artwork by Tenhi

Track List: 1- Näkin Laula, 2- Huomen, 3- Revontulet, 4- Hallavedet, 5- Etïsyyksien taa, 6- Lauluni Sinulle, 7- Taival, 8- Souto

Here is Tenhi´s debut album called "Kauan". This is music that can be labeled as extremely dark acoustic music. The music here, whose lyrics are completely in finnish (which adds a more cryptic atmosphere to the songs), is completely full of acoustic passages, melodies conceived to wake up the feelings of sadness in the listener. If I had to associate the music of this band with a color I would have chosen grey....or maybe the color that the cover has with that trees and that nebel...How depressive and beautiful are this guys at the same time !! And how deep is their music!! Can be call it folk? Well, if finnish folk music is so dark then we can call it like that. But I think that the most apropriate way to describe their music is as atmospheric and with a stron emphasis on melodies and anguished vocals. Fully recommended. Favorite tracks: The whole album. Contact: www.prophecyproductions.de

REVIEW: TELESMATA - WOODCARVING

 

TELESMATA- WOODCARVING (Ubus Recs., 2001):

Technical data:

Created by R.Kasch using sounds made by The Official Bullshit Grinder

Best presented in a stereo system with wide speaker separation

Track List: 1- Intro, 2- Splinter Ballet, 3- Notch Politics

Robert Kasch, the mind behind Telesmata had the most weird idea this time. He sent this mini CD inside a sawdust bag...and I thought that this was to protect the other CD that came in the package and I almot throw it away. Luckily I read the ctatlog that spoke about a sawdust packaging and inside of it I found this three song mini CD. This time Kasch´s experimentation with Telesmata is done using sounds from The Bullshit Grinder, some kind of device that I don´t understand completely but that makes interesting sounds that are twisted by Kasch creating this insane tracks full of experimentation and trying to achieve the sounds that this man has in his heads. Surprising as always, Telesmata is this time the vehicle to extract all the posible sounds from this strange device of which I would like to know more. If you like new sounds and experimentation then check this one. Contact: http://homestead.com/ubus/main.html

REVIEW: SUNK LOTO - SOCIETY ANXIETY

 

SUNK LOTO - SOCIETY ANXIETY (Columbia Records, 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded at Festival Studios, Sydney

Produced and Engineered by Paul Mckercher

Artwork by Simon K.

Track List: 1- Vinegar Stroke, 2- Porcelain Buddah, 3- Lift, 4- Submission, 5- Blunt

 Here we have five tracks of modern new metal with a lot of power and some influence from hip hop or rap! This is not a very original band because it makes what nowadays is very common but they do it with conviction. Here the music has all the elements of the style: very fat guitar sound with very rhythmic riffs, hip hop and screaming vocals, a thin sounding snare drum and song structures that can be typical of bands of the style. At least, this guys use some acoustic guitar on "Submission" which I think is the best track here...the more original, even if it is not the heavier. Contact: www.sunkloto.com

REVIEW: STRUNG - STRUNG

 

STRUNG - STRUNG (Sublingual Records, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at the Hospital, Amsterdam.

Track List: 1- String, 2- Stroppy, 3- Strumble, 4- Straps, 5- Struth, 6- Stripes, 7- Strokes, 8- Strumpf, 9- Straddle, 10- Strip, 11- Straw, 12- Stretch, 13- Strongo, 14- Stromage, 15- Strangle´em, 16- Street, 17- Stress, 18- Stream, 19- Strain, 20- Strenuous, 21- Strndlfmp, 22 - Straggler, 23- Straight, 24 - Strum

This time Sublingual Records brings us this music made by immigrant musicians who live in Amsterdam and who have string instruments as their main instruments. The music here is completely improvisational and spontaneous. This are 24 tracks of pure experimentations with all this great musicians playing what they feel and what comes to their heads without losing coherence among them . Here you have strange combinations of string instruments doing some conventional and unconventional phrases and surprising on each track. All the tracks here have their own identity being all of them completely different one from another . It is like having different bricks (for example with different colours ) to construct a building (in this case the building would have been this album). This is an album recommended for you, the one who is not afraid of trying something new. Favorite tracks: "Strip", "Straps" and "Strangle´em". Contact: www.sublingual.com

REVIEW: STEVE VAI - ALIVE IN AN ULTRA WORLD

 

STEVE VAI - ALIVE IN AN ULTRA WORLD (Sony Music, 2001):

Produced by Steve Vai

Track List: Disc 1: 1- Giant Balls of Gold, 2- Burning Rain, 3- the Black Forest, 4- Alive in an Ultra World, 5- Devil´s Food, 6- Blood and Glory, 7- Whispering a Prayer, 8- Iberian jewel

Disc 2: 1- The power of Bombos, 2- Incantation, 3- Light of the Moon, 4- Babushka, 5- Being with you (in Paris), 6- Principessa, 7- Brandos Costumes (Gentle Ways

Mr. Steve Vai, surprising as always brings us his latest work. And this time it is a double CD with all brand new songs. Each of the songs here was composed with a country in mind and they were all recorded live during the "The Ultrazone Tour". As he is doing since his albums with Zappa or since his first solo album "Flexable" Steve has a myriad of weird sounds to do with his guitar. This time he is joined by great musuicians such as Mike Mangini on drums, Phillip Baynoe on bass and Mike Keneally on guitar and keyboards. The songs are as always an amazing show of his compositional skills and obviously of his guitar pirotecnics. A must for any Vai Fan. Also, there is one song recorded live in Argentina, when he came last year. Favorite tracks: "Whispering a Prayer", "Light of the Moon" and "Alive in an Ultra World". Contact: www.vai.com

REVIEW: SPONTANEOUS MUSIC ORCHESTRA - SME PLUS EQUALS SMO

 

SPONTANEOUS MUSIC ORCHESTRA - SME PLUS EQUALS SMO (Emanem Disc, 2001):

Technical data:

Recordings made in London by Martin Davidson on January 25, 1975 at St John´s Smith Square and Januay 24, 1974 at Little Theatre Club.

Editing, Mastering and Design by Martin Davidson

Artwork by Margaret Richards.

Track List: 1- Plus Equals, 2- SMO at LTC

In 1974-75, John Stevens had to present his compositional works at the St. John ´s Smith Square and at the Little Theatre Club concert and he decided to present it in a really radical format: with the Spontaneous Music Orchestra. This Orchestra was formed with the 10 musicians that were part od the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and adding to the eleven other great musicians. The first tracks here is almost 40 minutes long and is formed by three different pieces: "Search and Reflect", "Sustained Plus" (which is more than 23 minutes long) and "Free Improvisation". Here all and each of the musicians of the orchestra have the space that they need to showcase their habilities as solo improvisers and their skills in the orchestra interaction. In fact, the first part, "Search and Reflect" was design to see how the musicians listened to and reacted to each other before evolving into something else. I have the idea that if you put together two different people to improvise they will always achieve very different results without repeating themselves. Here, with 21 musicians at the top of their possibilities we have some spontaneous interaction at its maximum level!!. Favorite tracks: All the track "Plus Equals". Contact: www.emanemdisc.com

REVIEW: SOFA / NORCD - SAMPLER

 

SOFA / NORCD - Sampler (Sofa Recs. / NORCD, 2001):

Track List: 1- Løpsk (Veslefrekk), 2- Dog (Ingar Zach / Ivar Grydeland), 3- No Way Out (Paal Nilssen-Love), 4- Axel (Sten Sandell Trio), 4- Who grew too (what) (Close Erase, 5- Third Scan (Tony Oxley Project I), 6- Mir (No Spaghetti Edition), 7- Stryfro (Karl Seglem/Arve Henriksen/Terje Isungset), 8- Horizontal Rain (Derek Bailey/Ingar Zach), Tor med Hammaren( Terje Isungset)

This CD is a compilation of great norwegian artists from both labels NorCD and Sofa Records. Both labels are focused on artists who play what we call intuitive, spontaneous and improvisational music. Here we have excelent artists that we have reviewed before (and some of them interviewed), like Paal Nilssen-Love, Ingar Zach/Ivar Grydeland, Tony Oxley project 1 and No Spaghetti Edition. Plus we have other very interesting musicians that are from the NorCD catalog like Veslefrekk (very ambient music with some weird sounds), Close Erase, an interesting combination of improvisation in piano and drums (is excelent to listen the drums breaks while the piano does some beautiful and frenetic phrases), Karl Seglem/Arve Henriksen/Terje Isungset who make a total mad percussion piece combined with some vocal phrases that are fundamental here or Isglem with his track "Månedans" with a very unconventional sound of guitar, bass and drums. For improvisation fans. Contact: www.norcd.no or http://sofa.norcd.no

REVIEW: SLAYER - GOD HATES US ALL

 

SLAYER - GOD HATES US ALL (American Records, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded at Warehouse Studios. Mixed by Sean Beavan

Produced by Matt Hyde

Artwork by Louis Marino.

Track List: 1- Darkness of Christ, 2- Disciple, 3- God Send Death, 4- New Faith, 5- Cast Down, 6- Threshold, 7- Exile, 8- Seven Faces, 9- Bloodline, 10- Deviance, 11- War Zone, 12- Here Comes The Pain, 13- Payback

Slayer is back after "Diabolus In Musica" offering us the same musical violence as always, but this time with a few surprises. Yes, Slayer has incorporated a more modern sound to his music, even adding some touches of modern metal here and there. But don´t worry, that does not mean that Slayer has become a less heavy band...NO! they are heavy as always but they ha modernized their style (they have evolved....this is a word that some people fear a lot !!) . The speed is here, the always anguished and demonic vocals of Tom Araya are here too, the frenzied guitars of Kerry King and Jeff Hanemann are in all the tracks as wild as always. And Paul Bostaph is as always a drumming nightmare with his hyper speed double bass filling all the spaces. Well, what else can I say? This is Slayer, as heavy as always but with some differences.

REVIEW: SILENCER - KOZMOS

 

SILENCER - KOZMOS (NTT Records Group, 2000):

Technical data:

Recorded at Hellhole, January 2001.

Track List: 1- Mourning Star, 2- Kozmos, 3- Easter Island, 4- Missing Hope, 5- Industrial Command

Well, what we have here??? This is heavy/thrash metal in the vein of old school thrash (I mean bands of the late eighties) but with a really modern sound and some nineties influences too. I liked a lot the vocalist who has a lot of strength and sings with a vocal range that is completely appropriated for the band´s music (he does not abuse of the high pitched vocals, prefering to use a more mid range type of vocals which fit much better...I think he is somewhat close in range an inflexion to Anthrax´s John Bush but quite more aggressive). This type of bands are sorely missed in the metal scene nowadays, because they have good riffs, great guitar solos and thundering drums. It is good to see that Silencer´s songs despite being powerful have enough hooks to let the choruses and melodies stucked in your mind. They have excelent atmospheres for example in "Easter Island" which is an instrumental interlude and in the beginning of "Missing Hope" (thumbs up for the guitarists in the vein of old Annihilator). Favorite tracks: "Mourning Star" and "Missing Hope". Contact: www.silencer.cc

REVIEW: SIGNS OF DARKNESS - BEYOND THE AUTUMN LEAVES

 

SIGNS OF DARKNESS - BEYOND THE AUTUMN LEAVES (LSP Company, 2001):

Technical data:

Recorded, at Music House Studio.

Mixed by Mark, Wouter, Joris

Artwork by Mighty Kris Verwimp

Track List: 1- Prologue, 2- Ad Noctum, 3- The Last Shinning Moon (Beyond the Autumn Leaves), 4- Poet Winter, 5- Intermezzo, 6- She´s the mirror´s opposite end, 7- Stars in the Nocturnal Sky Are a Thousand Screams in the Ruined Rosegarden, 8- The Sadness of Night, 9- Epilogue

Black metal with a female vocalist (Sarah) who makes a big contrast with male voices. The original thing about Sarah is that she sings different from most of the female singers out there. In fact, she uses a lot her middle range and does not use too much vibrato on his voice.The band has a killer drummer which allows thm to do the really fast parts without missing the tempo. It is good to see that Joris, the bassist and vocalist knows how to make hooks together with the guitars in order to create interesting parts along with his vocals. There are some parts of clean guitars with an omnipresent keyboard/piano that makes Signs of Darkness Music really melodic and obscure, yet heavy. The music has a lot of changes and that is good for my ears that find it more interesting (check the bass interlude at 2:41 of "Poet Winter" followed by a real melodic part, just to have a sample). Favorite tracks: "The last Shinning Moon...", "Poet Winter" and "Stars in the Nocturnal Sky,..". Contact: www.lsp-company.com