Machine Head – The More Things Change . . . = * ½
I didn’t use to like Machine
Head. To be honest, it took me until
2005 to appreciate them, despite the fact that they were making music through
my formative years. I’ve since started
accumulating their back catalogue. I
have to think that The More Things Change
wasn’t fully thought through before being released. It doesn’t feel cohesive. I get the impression that each song was one
or two more jam sessions away from being complete. I don’t know if it was mounting label
pressure to get a record out or not, but I would have spent some more editing
time on this one.
Travis – The Man Who = **
I firmly believe we can point the finger directly at Coldplay for preventing Travis from being more of a household
name. Both bands make mopey rock songs
in the same sort of fashion, but for some reason Chris Martin and Co. has
become arena headliners while these Scottish lads haven’t. But, that’s probably for the best. I prefer the follow up to this album, The Invisible Band, but The Man Who has some choice lyrics that
speak straight to me. “Every day I wake
up alone/I’m not like the other boys,” I’ve always felt this way (even though
I, gratefully, wake up each day next to my gorgeous wife. I still have always felt different, but this
isn’t the right forum for that sort of talk).
Thanks, Travis!
Funeral for a Friend
= Casually Dressed & Deep in
Conversation = *** ½
The debut LP of these post-hardcore/emocore/heartcore
(whatever handle you want to assign to the music movement in 2002-2004) still
holds up nearly 10 years after its release.
The combination of pop-punk energy, hardcore drive, mildly poetic lyrics
and emotive vocals was the trademark for the bands of this movement, but few
mastered that formula as well as Funeral
for a Friend (except for Finch IMO). If you haven’t heard these cats, I urge you
to do so.
Crossbreed – Synthetic Division= **
I’m a sucker for electronically driven metal. I was also raised on a healthy dose of nu metal. Combine those two things and the end result
is
Crossbreed. Although a majority of
Synthetic Division, the band’s second
LP, is supremely repetitive and blurs together easily—I still can’t dislike
it. And, a weird side note, will someone
please explain to me why these performance artist type industrial bands
come out of
Florida? DeadStar
Assembly, Crossbreed,
Genitorturers,
Marilyn Manson . . . what the
hell? I tried figuring this out
a couple of years back, but I still don’t get it.
Lordi – Deadache = ** ½
One can never accuse Lordi,
the monster band from Finland, of selling out.
In fact, these beasts have stuck directly to their formula with each
passing album; they’re fast joining the ranks of Bad Religion, Dropkick Murphys, Slayer et al in never
deviating from their core sound on each record.
Deadache is standard Lordi fare:
all spooks and scares with tales of evil doctors, axe wielding ladies of the
night and—of course—rocking, all done to their brand of modern glam
metal-meets-symphony metal. No new
tricks here, and I doubt there ever will be (though the use of the Phantom’s
theme from The Phantom of the Opera
was a very nice touch).
