Leonardo Rosado – Mute Words review for Alternative Matter

http://alternativematter.net/reviews/leonardo-rosado-mute-words

Music often considered “drone” or “ambient” can frequently inspire a sensation of trepidation and doubt from the average listener with it connotations in new age, other worldly and frankly tiresome background noise. Leonardo Rosado, who is also known for his work with the Feedbackloop label, has created an off shoot to their ambient and experimental catalogue in Heart and Soul, which has been created primarily for poetry and music releases. “Mute Words” is the first release from this new project, and if further releases are up to this standard, then the label will surely be one to keep an eye on for innovation, and an example to those who may be afraid to immerse themselves in, or be troubled by, “ambient” music.

The music on “Mute Words” although recognisable by the layers of drone and atonal passages which weave a thread throughout, are given further levels of sensitivity with intimate droplets of found sounds, field recordings and barely perceptible piano passages. To attach further levels of awareness, three of the eight passages feature vocal contributions which, far from distracting the listener, give the sense that these pieces are organic in origin and add humanity and tenderness.

The voices of Barbara de Dominicis on “How Inbetween Became To Be” and Alicia Merz on “Out Of Pure Kindness” are somehow, however, heard as further sounds added to the already luscious landscape, and are almost voices lost in the ether, whilst “The Study of Doubt” which features the poetry of Michelle Seaman is delivered in a rather more deadpan fashion which allies itself more to the electronic personality of the surrounding sounds. The margin between the words themselves and the sounds that permeate behind them is gossamer thin and the fact that this membrane is never broken is testament to the skill involved in creating it. As a piece of work in its own right, “Mute Words” can be enjoyed from beginning to end, and never is there a sense that there are passages incorporated that may be considered extraneous..........

Birds of Passage – Winter Lady review for Alternative Matter

http://alternativematter.net/reviews/birds-of-passage-winter-lady

The Birds of Passage project is essentially the work of New Zealand based Alicia Merz, and the album “Winter Lady”, the latest release on Denovali Recordings. From the delicate opening waves of “Fatal Melody” the listener is transported to an ethereal playground, consisting of vocals which are of such aching fragility, and droplets of sound that are carefully tantalising and mournful. For the listener who is prepared to pay attention and afford this music the time and space it deserves, the rewards are plentiful, and the emotions cathartic.

“Highwaymen in Midnight Masks” continues to hold the listener in that space, and soothes their troubles aside with some of the most poetic and disarming lyrics that could be layered upon such a luscious soundscape. The production of the album is painstakingly attentive to the various elements that build this landscape and give the impression that the vocals are being gently whispered intimately into the ear of the listener. The “Hollow” track leaves this reviewer at least, with feelings of melancholy and elation in equal measure, a feat which takes considerable skill and courage to attain. The line between acoustic instrumentation and electronically produced sound is blurred, and goes some way to add another level to the music on the album. Far back in the mix one can occasionally make out the delicate piano lines, which help to ground these pieces into something organic in nature amongst the swathes of electronics.

It may be argued that the compositions that go to make up this release from Birds of Passage are of one level and intensity alone, with little in the way of deviation from that format. Such criticism is redundant however when describing the work as a whole and the atmosphere that is being striven for. “Winter Lady”, as a coherent piece of work, is beyond simply calming the listener and transporting them to a state of extreme relaxation it facilitates another level of perception for the listener to use as a tool to take away. As “Waltz While We Sleep” fades into the ether we are left exploring our own frames of reference.  Music of this level of intimacy and disclosure, to work effectively, requires a certain level of restraint and consideration. “Winter Lady” has restraint and contemplation running through its very soul and on that basis should be regarded as a benchmark for other artists exploring deliberation as a musical template.

Cathedral – Anniversary CD review for This Is Not A Scene

http://www.thisisnotascene.com/2011/cathedral-anniversary/

This live double CD set from Cathedral is at once a glorious celebration of a band who were not only inspirational, but who also virtually came to define what “doom” metal could and would be. Recorded at their final ever show in December 2010 at the Islington Academy in London, this document acts as a poignant full stop to a 21 year spanning career. The double CD package covers the two distinct sets that were performed on the night. The first set featured, in its entirety, the 1991 album “Forest of Equilibrium” with the original Cathedral line up which included Mark Griffiths, Adam Lehan and Mark Smail, whilst the second set comprised a retrospective of their career in general, and featured the long standing line up of Lee Dorian, Brian Dixon, Leo Smee and Garry Jennings. One could argue that the first set lacks the intensity of vocal delivery that helped characterize “Forest of Equilibrium”, but this appears insignificant when considering the time that has lapsed since that recording, and the changes in technique over the years that Cathedral have embraced.

The second set, which controversially for some maybe, begins with the more multifaceted “Funeral of Dreams” from the last Cathedral album “The Guessing Game”, finds this incarnation of the band at the top of their game in terms of comfort and attitude. Lee Dorian is obviously more at ease with the vocal style required of the material from this era of the band. On tracks such as “Midnight Mountain” the drums bounce along behind to lift the material to another level of joyous celebration. The only way to end a celebration of the life and times of Cathedral would be to perform an energetic and destructive version of the classic “Hopkins (Witchfinder General)” and this is just what happened on the night to the obvious delight to those present.....

Coalesce – Give Them Rope review for Alternative matter

This reissue of the 1997 debut from Coalesce features not only the original version of the album, but comes nicely packaged with the remastered version released in 2004. Lovers of elaborate time signatures, abrupt changes in tempo and hostile ear-splitting vocal will not be disappointed to hear this album again. The formula throughout the album may be a familiar one to the connoisseur of mathematically precise, multi-faceted rock, but the riffs and the vocals are certainly not tried and tested. Sean Ingram’s vocal takes no prisoners as it erupts over equally less compromising guitar, bass and drums. There is never a sense, however, that the album is awkward or stilted, and the tracks, despite their complex structure, flow effortlessly through the duration of the album.

 It could be argued that “Give Them Rope” lacks variety in dynamism, but to level such a criticism at an album with so much to say, and with such ferocity, would appear to miss the point. In reality the track “I Am Not the First”, for example, is an almost science fiction movie soundtrack of intangible noise which sits disturbingly in between the more familiar territory surrounding it. “This is the Last”, which then follows, descends chaotically into repetition which, to these ears in particular, is a powerful tool to mesmerise the listener into attention, and literally hammer the point home. Elsewhere there are moments, such as in “One on the Ground”, where the listener is carried along on a stream of jarring riffs and discordant progressions that can be disorientating and exhilarating in equal measure. For the listener who is prepared to explore a more thoughtful array of subgenres, “Give Them Rope” is a fine example of what can be unearthed with patience and an open mind.

The production on the original version of the album is, not surprisingly, less clinical, and somehow retains the raw edge that gives music of this calibre its advantage. That said, the remastered version, “Give Them Rope, She Said v 2.0”, allows the listener the opportunity to explore the technicality and skill employed to create an album which clearly has been part of the vanguard of intelligent, yet evocative rock. When one considers the album is nearly 15 years old now, one gets the opportunity to place it into context and appreciate how Coalesce have influenced countless others since.

Anal C**t - The Old Testament

http://alternativematter.net/reviews/anal-cunt-the-old-testament

From 1988 until the sad death of Seth Putnam in June 2011, Anal Cunt had been releasing an influential yet aggressive blend of abrasive and confrontational noise. Later albums began to see the band “mellow”, if that is the right word, into more recognisable song structures. “The Old Testament” is a collection of demos, live performances and split single tracks covering the bands career up until 1991, and the listener would be hard pressed to describe many of the tunes within this miscellany as recognisably songs. The opening track “1^st Demo” is chaotic and apoplectic and one is reminded that there is possibly some structure to the pieces as there are a number of drum stick clicks to count the tracks in. “5643 Song EP” and “88 Song EP” although less chaotic, wreak havoc and show a band at the height of their uncompromising game....

Alternative Matter link

Formed in 2002, this is the third album release from Dutch band Nemesea, and opens with the title track, a whispering curiosity which leaves the listener, who may never have encountered the band previously, wondering where they will be led subsequently. Any curiosity is quickly swept away with the introduction of “Caught in the Middle”, a lush combination of symphonic keyboard and impassioned vocal, which being infectious in nature, has the perfect radio friendly essence. Lovers of the extravagant and flamboyant ballad will not be disappointed by “If You Could, “I Live” and “High Enough”, and devotees of the 80’s Casio beat will be enthralled to hear “Release Me”. Marcus Klavan and Mat Litwin from Bulletproof Messenger bring additional vocal and turntable skills to “It’s Over”, and help alter the course of the album away from more pedestrian melodic rock. The dual female vocal on “High Enough”, featuring Charlotte Wessels from Delain, assists in adding a further layer again to prevent the flow of the album descending into sugary insignificance.   The real surprise for the enduring listener is the final track “Allein”, however, with its menacing industrial Germanic feel courtesy of Heli Reissenweber of the Rammstein tribute band Stahlzeit, which, on hearing the piece, makes perfect sense. The title track and “2012” are the real leftfield additions to the album, with spoken word passages, digitally enhanced vocals, soundscapes of industrial noise providing a welcome reprieve to those who require a little more experimentation from their music......

Mr Bitterness and the Guilty Pleasures – Epic Flail review for Alternative Matter

http://alternativematter.net/reviews/mr-bitterness-and-the-guilty-pleasures-epic-flail

If anyone would like to know where music of a certain era could have gone, in which dead pan vocal and purring machinery were admired, then “Epic Flail” is one opportunity. From the opening harsh, dissonant electronic throb of “Breaking Down” the listener is transported to a future dystopia, and the journey can be uncomfortable, but ultimately rewarding. The arrangement of the song here is angular and the grating electronica, at first a distraction, blends into the piece with unnerving ease. “Days Months Years”, despite being more soothing to the ears, is layered with washes of sound that lift the song itself from being something less harmless, into something that broods and menaces. In places, such as on “Lost”, the production is distant and ethereal and lends the music an aura of loneliness and despair, which continues into “Voices from the Other Side”. One cannot help but be reminded of how many bands 30 years ago put the Manchester landscape to music in the UK. The two more abrasive tracks sandwich this EP, as “Thinking Machines” again, over desolate, synthesized vocals, conveys a hint of danger and suspicion. The five song collection that makes up “Epic Flail” hints at a time when purely electronic music was new and experimental, and pushes the boundaries further for a new century, in which this template is being used to experiment further still.