Frank Turner – Poetry Of The Deed
Released:

Now, it must be said that I’ve been a fan of Frank Turner‘s musical exploits. Having been pleasantly surprised at catching the band that sparked his career on the road (Million who?!) at a pre-’Casually Dressed’ Funeral For A Friend show, I later headed out to my local record store to pick up the debut Million Dead album, A Song To Ruin. I’ve never looked back since.

6 years on, and many songs about nostalgia later, Frank Turner returns to my stereo with his third full-release, Poetry Of The Deed. So, what’s it like?

Well, yes, the authentic Frank formula is still intact. The social commentary on ‘da yoof’, punk rock, lost loves, and maybe most importantly, the hazy drunken nights out are still sung with as much passion as if it happened yesterday. Of course, with Frank, there’s always a projected impression on the listener that it did in fact all happen only yesterday. Yet, the big difference between Poetry Of The Deed and the two full length records that preceded it is that it sounds as if it has been written and arranged with the backing band in mind.

Even after several listens, this writer is still unsure as to whether or not this is a positive step for a lone singer-songwriter who has forged a career as being just that. Poetry Of The Deed features some fantastically articulated folk punk songs with a handful likely to find themselves on a future Radio 1 playlist with ease. Though, and as I finish listening to the record once more, I’m left a little underwhelmed by the experience. Sure, songs such as Isabel, Live Fast Die Old, and The Fastest Way Back Home are wonderfully written stabs at pop but as I skip through the rest of the record (I’ve even found myself calling it ‘the rest’), I’m left with the sour feeling that Frank was writing for a band and not for himself. To me, the appeal of Frank Turner laid in his ability to write naturally simple, stripped down punk songs. Call it a progression if you will, an evolution if you must, but with the increased prominence of his backing band, Poetry Of The Deed is not gripping. If anything, some of its thirteen tracks find me hovering over the skip button, a button I never hoped to press when listening to Frank Turner.

Damn you Strike The Colours. Damn you for releasing the perfect accompaniment to a lazy Summers evening… wait for it… in October! This is music for sitting on porch’s and watching the fading light set in the horizon, a pleasure made a bit of a chore when the sun sets over the tea time rush hour and it’s raining anyway!

Anyway, discrepancies aside, introducing the wonderful Strike The Colours, a collaborative outfit lead by Jenny Reeve. Originating from Glasgow, Scotland, Strike The Colours paint a charming and endearing addition to the British folk and indie scenes with their latest record, Seven Roads.

This ten track album is terrifically arranged and beaming with cheerfulness. It’s rich with texture and diverse enough to keep you feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside. In songs such as Cold Hands, If I Don’t Belong, Rivers, and The Things I Can’t Explain, the record shows us its softer side with glimmering and occasionally uplifting melodies performed by violins, pianos, and acoustic guitars, with glitches of dulcimer tracked for successful effect in the latter. It’s also now come to my attention that dulcimers do not get used enough in pop music. Well, there we have it.

Breathing Exercise, which pops up as track #2, may just have done enough to win the award of album ‘key track’ for me. Eeek, how Simon Cowell of me. The song builds up to a crescendo of activity with crashing cymbals and powerful vocals seemingly soaked in reverb. The outcome creates a grand atmosphere and a stirring feeling throughout.

Closing the record is the beautiful Rivers, a song featuring the vocal talents of ‘Craig B’ who superbly accompanies Reeve to chilling effect. The song oozes a sombre charm that somehow leaves the audience feeling better off because of it.

Right, you’ve read the review and (hopefully) you’ve questioned the message. Now, go see for yourself and feel free to thank me afterwards.

Crikey. With an EP entitled Siempre y para Siempre, one could be forgiven for expecting a progtastic affair from musicians who occasionally feel an urge to indulge in a compound time signature or three. Or, they make up a band from Spain. However, as far as I can see from Serotonin, neither of these scenarios are evident. Siempre y para Siempre is straight up, no thrills grunge rock. Now, apologies to fans of the genre but this writer hasn’t been excited by a release of anything remotely grunge for a number of years now. Sadly, Siempre y para Siempre isn’t set to overcome any mental barriers either. The gruff, angsty vocals are in attendance. The repeated anguish of “I’m sorrrrrrrry” drones out through the leading track, Apologies To You. In Serotonin, I hear a band going through the motions but not much else. Yes, it’s well produced. Yes, the musicianship is tight, but aside from the impressive guitar solo in Before Tomorrow, I can’t shake off an overwhelming feeling that these three tracks have been released before. Oh, wait, they have. In the 90s.

Dr Slaggleberry – The Slagg Factory
Released: October 12, 2009
Label: Crash Records

Have you heard the one about Meshuggah and Psyopus walking into a bar? No? Really? OK, please allow me to introduce Dr Slaggleberry instead then. Now, I know what you’re thinking- “What the hell is he talking about?”. Well, presenting The Slagg Factory, the musical interpretation of a wonderfully crafted question mark. So, back to that introduction. Dr Slaggleberry, amongst many things, are a three piece from Oxford and its surrounding areas. With their upcoming release, The Slagg Factory, the audience are treated to as many polyrhythmic structures that could possibly shaken a stick at (only on the off-beats mind), with overlaying guitar riffs a plenty that may have been arranged with the assistance of a Casio calculator.

Call it math metal, experimental metal, or even the ever ridiculous heading of avant-garde metal, Dr Slaggleberry (still heart-warming after the third time of writing) are capable of producing heavy as hell metal.

The five instrumental tracks of The Slagg Factory appear to be enriched with Meshuggah influenced riff based writing. The snarling stop-start rhythms that fans of the respective genre would have become accustomed to are in place and ever so cleverly synced with the snare driven drum beats. However, and this is where Dr Slaggleberry earn their evident accomplished reputation, the tracks are not all bludgeoning metal, for varying amounts of melody is catered for by the second guitar. In track 3, entitled 8 4 5, Dr Slaggleberry have composed an intricate two minute segment, with tapped notes rich in delay that soon explode into chaotic and syncopated riffing. Ooh yes, this is music composed with the Churchill nodding Dog in mind.

With The Slagg Factory, Dr Slaggleberry have produced an E.P that is well worth risking the possible side effects of a Google search for. If you already appreciate British bands such as Fell Silent, Tesseract, and No Made Sense then these guys should not disappoint.

The Gullivers, originating from sunny Oxford, are set to release their next EP, entitled ‘Legerdemain‘, on 7 September ’09. It’s a short and quirky affair with occasional simulated military drums accompanied by delicate, delay soaked guitars, which lets this four track record fly free.

Legerdemain fills the listener with images of rustic barns dotted across bedewed fields. It glides between a buoyant and somewhat dreamy soundscape to sombre and melancholy portrayals the next. The combination of vocals interact with the instruments well. On one hand, the audience are absorbed into a cheerless, almost haunting tale of tormented love, when the other, played by Sophie McGrath, raises the spirits of the sparse atmospheres with a sunny view and dainty outlook to the waiting songs.

By all means, Legerdemain isn’t perfect. Just a quick note on the production leads this writer to reference the timbre of the bass drum, which is very prominent on certain parts of the record. For a band who appear to utilise reverb in a way that it heightens their spacey tendencies then said thud really brings the listener back down to Earth. However, this is only a minor criticism and should not take attention away from the fine song-writing on display.

Give The Gullivers a try. With upcoming performances in and around London, you may find yourself with eyes closed and foot tapping soon enough.

Occasionally as a budding writer, I’m sent something that really sparks the imagination. Luckily for me, popping Mimes of Wine‘s latest record, Apocalypse Sets In, into my CD Player did just that.

Now, it would be rude of me not to give you a brief introduction to the artist. Mimes of Wine is a collaborative outfit formed under the song writing and producer talents of Laura Loriga. Apocalypse Sets In is grand, yet it’s delicate, it’s powerful, but it’s intricate. To be honest, it’s a lot of everything in between, too.

Each of the ten songs that make up the record feature the piano playing abilities of Loriga. However, accompaniment is the key to keeping Apocalypse Sets In refreshing. Loriga utilises the skills of many other musicians and instruments, including Guitars, Glockenspiels, Trumpets, Violins, Upright Basses, and Cellos to produce varying degrees of timbre.

Apocalypse Sets In is a record that must be absorbed from start to finish. Songs such as Bolivar, and Oberkampf are playfully beautiful, whereas K, and From a Forsaken Bow, are as perhaps as sorrowful as they are compelling. As maybe a loose comparison, Loriga’s voice draws similarities to the American folk singer song-writer, Stephanie Dosen, whilst her piano melodies and chord structures wouldn’t sound too discomforting on an Eluvium or Sigur Rós record. Perhaps the next statement will later come back to haunt me but the vocal stylings of Julius, which finds itself at the forefront of the album, initially made this writer draw comparisons to some of Björk’s more recent efforts. It’s that good.

In Apocalypse Sets In, Mimes of Wine have inspired a new fan. I for one will now be keeping a close eye on where it takes them.

Kerrang! The Album ’09
Compilation CD

Oof, it’s that time of year again, isn’t it? A time when our beloved saviours of all things loud branch out from their magazine, TV, radio, and internet presence to deliver us the “who’s who of rock, punk and metal for 2009” straight to our stereos (all for a convenient price of £8.98 on Amazon).

Nevertheless, if like me, you believe that you may have passed the target market age for readers of Kerrang! Magazine, feel free to be as sceptical as I am of their latest compilation release.

Coming in at an impressive 42 tracks, yes, you may feel that you’re getting your moneys worth with this double CD package. However, if my teenage relative is anything to go by, the average listener will favour one side a lot more than the other. Disk 1 is primarily made up of pop-punk and radio friendly rock acts that have regularly graced the magazines pages throughout the past year or so, whereas CD 2 is perhaps what the producers of Kerrang’s radio and TV channels would dub as ‘after the watershed’ music. With this in mind, I asked my 16 year old cousin on what she thought of Mastodon‘s ‘Divinations’ whilst she was singing along to The All-American Rejects perform their recycled brand of bouncy pop-punk. Surprisingly (or not), I didn’t get much more than a reply of ‘Who??’. So, it could be argued that the average youngster gazing at an advert in the magazine for the The Album ’09 won’t be buying 42 tracks, but possibly 21. Who am I to argue with variation, though? Maybe I’m just not down with the kids anymore. I am, nonetheless, down enough to know that Paramore‘s ‘Misery Business’ song was released almost two years a go now. Come on Kerrang, move on.

In conclusion, if you regularly read the magazines then you probably have most of this compilations music on your hard-drive/iPod anyway. It’s certainly an accurate representation of what the editors of Kerrang have been publishing, but whether it’s an accurate portrayal of the best rock released this year is, well, I’ll leave that up to the listener.

Chase This City will be releasing their debut mini-album ‘Show Us What You Got?’ on September 21^st, so, and as I’m sure you’re eager to find out, just what have they got to show us?

Well, with artwork seemingly inspired by Frank Miller’s Sin City, and a press release boasting ‘dark slant to the modern punk rock scene’, I was expecting Chase This City to resemble such bands as Aiden and My Chemical Romance. Sadly for this writer, the assumptions weren’t too far wrong.

Show Us What You Got begins with a medium paced, pop-punk 101 riff straight from the school of Deryck Whibley fame, whilst the rest of the track (read: CD) takes us deep into territory often saturated by the bands aforementioned. This isn’t to say that Chase This City don’t do those bands, or the respective genre, justice, but that the promised ‘slant’ could have been somewhat more prominent.

To place these possible shortcomings aside, a few listens to SUWYG did in fact inject a few segments of songs into my humming repertoire. Down & Out, which happens to be tucked away as track 4 on the record, features strong vocal harmonies that even Ian Watkins of Lostprophets would be proud of. Coincidently (well, perhaps not), this may be because Chase This City appear to draw heavy influences from the Welshman.

As well as largely competent vocals, the 6 tracks are ladened with well played instruments including a guitar solo for the song, Loves Overrated, that if you close your eyes just tight enough, (nope, tighter still), you could imagine the axemen from Avenged Sevenfold making a guest appearance. Go on. Give it a try. Black nail varnish an’ all.

Show Us What You Got? should contribute towards Chase This City‘s growing fan base and earn them a fair few gigs along the way. The power chords are present with the octaves layered accordingly. Now, guys, show me some variation.

If you’ve ever tuned into an alternative music video channel in the last five years then chances are, you would have seen an ever increasing array of facial hair headbanging its way around zombies in The End of Heartache, to a spot of cross-dressing and medieval spirit slaying in the video for Holy Diver. The band behind the beards, Killswitch Engage, have built a considerable and loyal fan base that has seen them peak at #7 on the Billboard 200, even picking up a Grammy nomination along the way. So, not too much to live up to then with this fifth studio album…

In a no holds barred approach to naming records, KSE have pushed the boundaries of common decency by producing a second self-titled album. Did they not know that this would play havoc with my carefully categorised iTunes playlist? Were they not thinking of my album cover view window when they couldn’t agree on an original title? Perhaps not. However, perhaps they were hinting at a re-invented, fresh sound. Killswitch Engage v2.0 if you will. Even the bands front man, Howard Jones, had something to say about the self-titled 2009 record, “It was time for us to step outside of our comfort zone and try something a little different with this record”. So, nothing new there then but is he telling some truth?

Well, in short, no. This record should not come as any real surprise to individuals who have heard the previous efforts (unless the only record you’ve heard featured Jesse). It retains that KSE formula. The production is impeccable. The guitar tone is, and in this authors humble opinion, exactly how a guitar should sound. The drums have been processed through the Ross Robinson inspired 21st Century Metalcore “ah heck, let’s trigger it” EQ Preset™, and the lyrics are still cheesy (read: terrible). None-the-less, the main emphasis on Killswitch Engage (2009) appears to be that of the choruses. The vocal harmonies are dominant (in key and audibility) with the melodies made for grabbing the nearest person to you (possibly avoiding young children/folk with heart conditions) and fist pumping towards the sky. On first listen, the record feels heavier than that of their 2006 effort, As Daylight Dies. The riffs are plentiful with little padding out, which may be a result of the average length of song being shortened to the pop side of three and a half minutes.

The debut video to appear, Starting Over, will surely receive a positive reception amongst fans as it is similar in sound to the bands last breakthrough single, My Curse, which topped the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart at #31.

To summarise; if, like me, you believe KSE couldn’t possibly do much wrong then a) you already own this record and have come to your own conclusions, or b) you already own this record but are still too pre-occupied with repeating The Element Of One (I’m not the only one, right?) to notice much else. Killswitch Engage (2009) is a calculated and formulated product from a band who found that winning formula three or so albums a go. These may well just be the motions…

MATSOD burst onto the U.S touring scene in 2005, riding the ever-growing wave of the resurgence of Southern Rock. With bands including Every Time I Die, Norma Jean, and He Is Legend (this writer will ignore Kid Rock’s transition to country hick a few years prior) already releasing records particularly friendly to the evolving Myspace generation, the stage (or barn if they so preferred) was set for MATSOD.

With the bands front-man, Dallas Taylor, MATSOD already had a selling point to perspective label executives and potential listeners alike, for Taylor previously fronted UnderOATH. Now, if you’ve ever signed into a music hosting website (let’s say, oh I don’t know, Myspace) when it first grew to internet stardom in 2003 then you would have probably stumbled across UnderOATH. For better or for worse, the band would later contribute towards a whole bunch of teenagers sticking it to Camp Disney. Well, at least for 18 months or so…

Anyway, to the point of this article. III (a virtual high-five awarded to anyone who can guess how many records the band have released since 2005) is everything that you may expect from a band, who along with their touring buddies, have made the humble post-grunge flannel shirt an acceptable form of high street fashion again. The record features 11 tracks of power-chord driven, blues scale soloing, dirt track disturbing, southern-’rawk‘ influenced metal.

Waiting On My Deathbed, the opening track to III, sets the tone from the off with a crescendo of Banjos plucking their way through a Bluegrass soaked melody. Is this the modern day soundtrack for revolver stroking, whiskey downing, shack dwelling individuals, or have The Simpsons been fuelling my imagination with their character of Cleetus? He’s not a stereotype, surely?
However, as far as this writer can see, III takes MATSOD into a brighter world. The songs are still dirty with the vocals remaining raw, but where have these polished choruses come from? Has Taylor been spending less time at Sicard Hollow? Dare I say it but melodies such as those bursting from Step Up (I’m On It), Listen Close, and Just A Shock could be considered as solid slabs of Alabaman pop-rock. As a fan of the first two records, a progression such as this is welcomed with grubby, yet open hands. III is best enjoyed with the following three aids; An elbow, the ability to slouch, and simply something to lean on. It’s laid back and foot tapping-ly addictive.

As we draw to a close, and the sun sets over the creek, the listener is treated to a haunting acoustic instrumental appropriately entitled The End Is Here … The End Is Beautiful. Thanks to Maylene, if this is the end, it certainly was a beautiful way to go.