[Review] Linkin Park - The Hunting Party

Everyone needs some guilty pleasure music in their lives, sometimes I just want to listen to something catchy and simple no matter how silly it sounds or how cheesy the lyrics are. In my case, that spot is reserved for Linkin Park, a band as polarizing as it is successful.

Their last two albums have shown a steady decline in electronic instrumentation towards heavy guitars and a more "classical LP" sound mixing hip hop, clean and harsh vocals and more formulaic songwriting. "The Hunting Party" makes away with most of their electronic elements for a big part of the album, and is probably their most guitar heavy album since 2003's "Meteora", something older fans may appreciate, but at the same time, and like the band clarified, this new release sounds more "middle aged guys writing angry music" and not so much like the "teenage nu metal" of their first two albums.

"The Hunting Party" doesn't slow down a bit until past the first half with the song "Until It's Gone", which should have probably been removed for the sake of the album as it's probably their most formulaic and cliche song (the chorus basically repeats "'cause you don't know what you have until it's gone"). The second half of the album is more varied, featuring two ballads and one instrumental track featuring a discrete appearance by Tom Morello on guitar, one of the four guest collaborators on the album. The slower tracks, like the aforementioned "Until It's Gone" are more basic and contrast with the riffs and dynamic drumming of the heaviest tracks. 

Unlike the last LP albums were most of the attention was put on the vocals, on "The Hunting Party" the guitars and drums are the stars, while the drumming is basic by today standards (and so is the guitar) at times it sounds like their most instrumentally adventurous record, and that's something LP really has to work on. Going back to the vocals, both Mike and Chester are hit-or-miss here, Chester is on top of his game when it comes to screaming but the rest of his melodies sound tired and recycled, Mike's rapping sounds more basic and monotonous than ever, and Rakim totally outshines him on lead single "Guilty All The Same", compared to the rest of the record.

It's good that despite being one of the most commercially successful bands out there they still want to try new things and while this album may not be perfect it's a good stepping stone if they want to continue on this road for their next release.

Rating: enjoyable

For fans of: pop rock with hardcore/punk elements, nu metal

Accessibility: high

Highlights: "Guilty All The Same", "Rebellion", "Mark The Graves"

[Review] The Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer

The Dillinger Escape Plan is a band known for crafting albums that come close to rupturing your eardrums and for doing it in a way that is remarkably enjoyable for the listener (or at least those adventurous enough for the sonic ride). While this is true for their newest album One Of Us Is The Killer, their first in Sumerian Records, the band has been experimenting with more traditional and even melodic compositions.

Make no mistake, the album still kicks and punches and it's knuckles have cymbal-shaped studs, but from time to time the album abruptly changes from a carefully crafted mess to a more traditional hard rock sound and vice versa. The title track is an example of this new refined songwriting that the band "experiments" with, making use of soft verse-loud chorus dynamics and keeping a slow, steady tempo for the whole song.

Each member has something to offer to both their new sound and their "old" one. Ben Weinman's riffs are lightning fast, dissonant and they sound like pure evil, specially when combined with James Love's rhythm guitar, Greg Puciato's furiously versatile vocals are largely responsible for the melodical side of their new sound, effortlessly jumping from quiet breakdowns to chaotic shredding to more melodic yet hard rocking segments, Liam Wilson adds a lot of atmospheric bass lines and Billy Raymer's epileptic drumming are a driving force in the hardest hitting songs and a source of groove in the breakdowns, taking the spotlight for the instrumental CH 375 268 277 ARS (something that instantly reminded me of Hella's 2011 album Tripper) and contributing a great fill for the phenomenal title track.

The production is very good, every instrument can be picked apart, even in the midst of chaos, though at the cost of trying to sound loud and agressive the album has a bit of clipping; sometimes the drums may sound too compressed and some of Weinman's arrangement's are partially lost in the mix.

In short, it's still DEP, it's not for everyone, it hits hard, it's raw and it's noisy, but the band shows it's not afraid of going into new directions and broadening their horizons, something I have always respected, and something to be expected from those who put their hearts into their music.

8.5/10

[Review] Just Like Vinyl - Black Mass

Just Like Vinyl emerged from the ashes of The Fall Of Troy after the release of their last album In The Unlikely Event in 2009. Thomas Erak joined forces with Jake Carden (also on guitar and vocal duties) and Henry Batts (bass) joined shortly after. With TFOT still playing their final shows the trio began rehearsals and recorded a few demos for their debut LP. The result was a self-titled album far away from TFOT virtuosic nature but still retaining the protagonism of the guitar above all. Two years later we have Black Mass, building upon the sound of their debut but turning the distortion up a few notches: the riffs are heavier, the drums sound thicker and the percentage of screaming and howling probably excedes 50% of all the vocals.

The band experiments with twisted accentuations, tempo changes and a few odd time signatures, keeping the album fresh song after song. The lyrics are probably the aspect that changed less since TFOT's separation, still tackling with themes such as cheating, love turned into hate and all that Erak has got us accustomed to.
Since the songs are much heavier that in their self titled a little of The Unlikely Event shows up in some of them (Hours And Whiskey Sours, Atm) with Lucky Star sounding like it could have been a bside from The Fall Of Troy's last effort. The mix is good and all the instruments can be heard clearly even in the noisiest moments. Overall a very good sophomore album that expands the range of JLV's sound.

8.5/10

http://justlikevinyl.com/

(9/10) Mastodon - The Hunter (2011)

After the epic journey that was Crack The Skye it seems Mastodon decided to go in the opposite direction, leaving the long progressive-rock/metal compositions of their previous effort and writing a more straightforward yet extremely technical and agressive record (which doesn't mean there isn't space for some relaxed moments) that shows a side Mastodon has never explored before, more focused in the "stoner" side of the band which is probably the best thing about this album (for some moments I even thought I was listening to Queens Of The Stone Age), songs like Stargasm (which by the way, reminds me of Sleeping Giant a little) and The Sparrow bring lots of melancholic, distorted images to my mind. 2011 was a special year, with RHCP releasing their first album since John Frusciante left the band, Incubus going into a completely new direction, Pez moving away from their straight-forward punk songs into full blast hard rock, Primus coming back from sleep and The Dear Hunter releasing one of the most ambitious projects I've seen in the last 5 years, as if all my favourite bands conspired to give me some nice surprises last year... it seems that Mastodon didn't want to be less than them.

01. Black Tongue (3:27) 
02. Curl Of The Burl (3:40) 
03. Blasteroid (2:36) 
04. Stargasm (4:40) 
05. Octopus Has No Friends (3:49) 
06. All The Heavy Lifting (4:31) 
07. The Hunter (5:18) 
08. Dry Bone Valley (4:00) 
09. Thickening (4:31) 
10. Creature Lives (4:41) 
11. Spectrelight (3:10) 
12. Bedazzled Fingernails (3:08) 
13. The Sparrow (5:31)

http://www.mastodonrocks.com/news

(8/10) Soundgarden - Live on I-5 (2011)

Reviewing live albums can be a bit difficult sometimes, generally I try not to focus on the songs itself but on the performance quality, lenght, tracklist and improvisation/extras. In this case Live on I-5 is a pretty decent live album that in my opinion is long enough but lacks variety. Of course some people may have different preferences about the tracklist, I feel most of Soundgarden's casual audience sticks to Superunknown, this may be the reason I'm not completely satisfied with it since I've heard most of their discography and I like their punk roots as much as I liked Down On The Upside which in my opinion is very underrated when compared to Superunknown. The sound quality is good enough for me, there's little to no improvisation involved (specially not jams, maybe one or two, a short jam in Spoonman for example) and the tracklist is 60% Superunknown/Down On The Upside, with the former being the protagonist (they obviously couldn't let out hits like Black Hole Sun or Fell on Black Days).

A song that is sadly missing from the album (unless you preordered it):

Regular version tracklist:

1. "Spoonman"
2. "Searching with My Good Eye Closed"
3. "Let Me Drown"
4. "Head Down"
5. "Outshined"
6. "Rusty Cage"
7. "Burden in My Hand"
8. "Helter Skelter"
9. "Boot Camp"
10. "Nothing to Say"
11. "Slaves and Bulldozers"
12. "Dusty"
13. "Fell on Black Days"
14. "Search and Destroy"
15. "Ty Cobb"
16. "Black Hole Sun"  
17. "Jesus Christ Pose" 

Matt Cameron – drums, percussion
Chris Cornell – vocals, rhythm guitar
Ben Shepherd – bass guitar
Kim Thayil – lead guitar

http://www.soundgardenworld.com/

(8.5/10) Leprous - Bilateral (2011)

I found about Leprous via Google Alerts because I kept getting news articles mentioning Jeff Jordan as the artist behind the album's cover, I decided to download some of their albums but I didn't enjoy them very much so I ended up deleting them, nevertheless when this album dropped I felt the need to check it out and I felt very pleased with the result. Bilateral is like mixing modern prog metal like Dream Theater (which I don't like very much honestly) and Opeth with experimental bands like Porcupine Tree and The Mars Volta, I dare to say that in some spots I even thought I was listening to Muse in their less poppy era. The growling is kept to a minimum during the album which is something that in excess ends up boring me, so for those who were getting worried as soon as I said "prog metal", go ahead and give the album a try. WARNING: weird video below.

1. "Bilateral" (4:00)
2. "Forced Entry" (10:20)
3. "Restless" (3:30)
4. "Thorn" (5:47)
5. "Mb. Indifferentia" (6:33)
6. "Waste of Air" (5:32)
7. "Mediocrity Wins" (6:07)
8. "Cryptogenic Desires" (2:45)
9. "Acquired Taste" (5:13)
10. "Painful Detour" (8:18)

Einar Solberg - Synth, Vocals

Tor Oddmund Suhrke - Guitar, Vocals

Øystein Landsverk - Guitar, Backing Vocals

Rein Blomquist - Bass

Tobias Ørnes Andersen - Drums

http://www.leprous.net/

(9/10) Beardfish - Mammoth (2011)

Beardfish es una de las pocas bandas privilegiadas de rock progresivo clásico que no sufre de los problemas típicos del género, no abusan de clichés, no mezclan los discos tratando de que suenen como si fuera 1974 y no se pasan de pretensiosos. Sumado a esto, vienen entregando (en mi opinión) un álbum sólido tras otro desde su debut de 2003 (a un ritmo bastante rápido) y Mammoth no es la excepción. Aunque la mayoría los suele comparar con con bandas como Genesis o Yes el estilo de Beardfish es mas pesado sin dejar de ser melódico. ¡Puntos extra por traer un dvd con performance en vivo + making of!.

(El video de abajo no es parte del dvd).

1. The Platform
2. And the Stone Said "If I Could Speak"
3. Tightrope
4. Green Waves
5. Outside/Inside

6. Akakabotu
7. Without Saying Anything

Rikard Sjöblom - vocals, keyboards
David Zackrisson - guitars
Magnus Östgren - drums
Robert Hansen - bass
 

http://www.beardfish.argh.se/

(9/10) Primus - Green Naugahyde (2011)

No se si es "el mejor álbum" como dijo Les, pero creo que es el que mas me gusta, por lo parejo. Uno de los que más escuché el año pasado. Green Naugahyde marca el retorno de Jay Lane en la batería después de abandonar la banda antes del lanzamiento del primer disco, y también es el primer disco en 12 años (el anterior fue Antipop en 1999).

Vevo bloqueó el videoclip en nuestro país pero alguien se encargo de subirlo en su canal.

1. "Prelude to a Crawl"  

2. "Hennepin Crawler" 

3. "Last Salmon Man"

4. "Eternal Consumption Engine"

5. "Tragedy's a' Comin'"

6. "Eyes of the Squirrel"

7. "Jilly's on Smack"

8. "Lee Van Cleef" 

9. "Moron TV" 

 10. "Green Ranger"

 11. "HOINFODAMAN"

12. "Extinction Burst"

13. "Salmon Men" 

Les Claypool – bass, vocals
Larry LaLonde – guitar
Jay Lane – drums

http://www.primusville.com/

(8.5/10) Yes - Fly From Here (2011)

Yes no había lanzado un album desde Magnification (2001), 10 años atrás. Es un disco lleno de datos curiosos, para empezar gran parte de la música la venían trabajando desde principios de los 80, pero nunca le encontraron un lugar dentro de su discografía (quizas por eso suene mas al Yes clásico y no al de sus últimos años), a pesar de que si tocaron algunos de esos temas en vivo, pero mas peculiarmente, las vocales estan a cargo de Benoît David, quien había cantado en una banda tributo de Yes por mas de 10 años (llamada Close To The Edge) antes de unirse a la formación actual en 2008.

 

1. "Fly from Here - Overture"
2. "Fly from Here - Part I - We Can Fly"
3. "Fly from Here - Part II - Sad Night at the Airfield"
4. "Fly from Here - Part III - Madman at the Screens
5. "Fly from Here - Part IV - Bumpy Ride"
6. "Fly from Here - Part V - We Can Fly" (Reprise)"
7. "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be"
8. "Life on a Film Set"
9. "Hour of Need"
10. "Solitaire"
11. "Into the Storm" 

   Chris Squire – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be"
    Steve Howe – guitars, backing vocals, joint lead vocals on "Hour of Need"
    Alan White – drums
    Geoff Downes – keyboards
    Benoît David – lead vocals

    Oliver Wakeman – additional keyboards on "We Can Fly", "We Can Fly (Reprise)" and "Hour of Need"

Trevor Horn – backing vocals, additional keyboards

Luís Jardim – percussion

Gerard Johnson – piano on "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be"

http://www.yesworld.com/

(10/10) The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum (2011)

 

Este es el álbum que inspiró la creación de mi blog en cierta manera; The Color Spectrum es un proyecto alternativo dentro del arco principal de la historia de The Dear Hunter (los 6 actos), está compuesto por 9 eps de 4 composiciones cada una que representan el espectro visible por el ojo humano (mas el negro y el blanco que vienen de bonus, digamos), totalizando 36 canciones en poco más de 2 horas y 24 minutos. Aunque por razones obvias es difícil explayarse teniendo 36 canciones en un disco el album está muy bien logrado, a tal punto que con una simple pasada uno puede escuchar un tema y determinar a que "color" pertenece. Sabemos que la perfección como tal no existe pero este album hizo lo suficiente para merecerse un 10, el único este año, por lo menos de lo que escuché hasta ahora. Feliz año!.

Black EP
"Never Forgive, Never Forget" - 4:41
"Filth and Squalor" - 4:01
"Take More Than You Need" - 4:30
"This Body" - 4:47

Red EP
"I Couldn't Do It Alone" - 3:29
"A Curse of Cynicism" - 3:11
"Deny It All" - 3:34
"We've Got a Score to Settle" - 3:45

Orange EP
"Echo" - 4:06
"Stuck On a Wire Out On a Fence" - 3:08
"A Sea of Solid Earth" - 4:41
"But There's Wolves?" - 4:06

Yellow EP
"She's Always Singing" - 2:40
"The Dead Don't Starve" - 4:57
"A Sua Voz" - 3:20
"Misplaced Devotion" - 3:46

Green EP
"Things That Hide Away" - 3:24
"The Canopy" - 3:52
"Crow and Cackle" - 5:42
"The Inheritance" - 3:25

Blue EP
"Tripping in Triplets" - 3:52
"Trapdoor" - 3:54
"What You Said" - 5:04
"The Collapse of the Great Tide Cliffs" - 5:33

Indigo EP
"What Time Taught Us" - 4:07
"Mandala" - 4:55
"Progress" - 3:35
"Therma" - 2:41

Violet EP
"Mr. Malum" - 3:57
"Lillian" - 4:07
"Too Late" - 4:03
"Look Away" - 3:41

White EP
"Home" - 3:55
"Fall and Flee" - 4:05
"No God" - 3:49
"Lost But Not All Gone" - 3:58

http://thedearhunter.com/

http://tdhcolors.com/

(8.5/10) The Aristocrats - The Aristocrats (2011)

High res artwork.

Long story short, el bajista y el baterista de esta banda tenían que tocar una clínica con un guitarrista que por alguna razón que no recuerdo tuvo que cancelar a último momento, la onda es que metieron a Guthrie Govan en el medio y a los tres les gusto lo que tocaban, así que decidieron armarse una bandita y este es el resultado.
El disco es muy variado, un poco de blues, un poco de jazz, alguna bossa, algunos riffs pesados, algunos solos de bateria bestiales... un poco de todo, muy buen disco, tarda un poco en caer del todo nada más. Escuchen el solo de batería de este tema y van a querer bajar el disco en seguida.

Las siglas de sus integrantes son GG, BB, y MM.

1. Boing!… I'm In The Back

2. Sweaty Knockers

3. Bad Asteroid

4. Get It Like That

5. Furtive Jack

6. I Want A Parrot

7. See You Next Tuesday

8. Blues Fuckers

9. Flatlands

Bryan Beller - Bass

Marco Minnemann - Drums

Guthrie Govan - Guitar

http://the-aristocrats-band.com/about/

(8.5/10) [Bandcamp] DeepSeaGreen - Valsorda

Artwork en alta resolucion.

Solo tengo que decirles que si el último album de The Black Keys les pareció una mierda como a mi, este lo compensa con creces, a pesar de tener el largo de un ep. Mas virtuoso, mas pasional, mas duro y sin "hits". Lo único que le quita puntos, es medio cortito y no demasiado variado, pero el estilo esta bien logrado, con algunas canciones mas variadas y algun otro instrumento metido en el medio podría ser un discazo.

1. Soul, Stray Cats & The Cosmos (04:08)
2. Coagula (04:19)
3. Over Song (03:56)
4. Put Me Out (04:17)
5. Nowhere to Hide (04:05)
6. Small Stones (04:53)
   
Marco Menestrina: Bass
Jon Jefford: Guitar
Trent Halliday: Vocals, Guitar
Dan Jefford: Drums and Percussion

Bandcamp: http://deepseagreen.bandcamp.com/

http://www.deepseagreen.co.uk/