Korn - The Path of Totality [CD REVIEW]

KORN TRY OUT DUBSTEP 

(WHICH ACTUALLY WORKS MUCH BETTER 

THAN YOU MIGHT THINK)

What's The Story Here Then?

Nu-metallers Korn have delivered their 10th studio album, which was released in December of 2011. This release moves away from the metal/rap/rock of previous years and instead is an all-out dubstep collaboration album, with Skrillex, Excision and 12th Planet providing some music and mixes.

The album has received mixed reviews and sales, with both the album and first single release, Narcissistic Cannibal (below), peaking in the top ten in both the US and the UK before sinking down the charts. The other singles from the album are still yet to be released in the UK - Get Up!, Chaos Lives In Everything and Way Too Far are all marked as singles, but no official release has been announced.

So Is It Any Good?

+++ Exceeds Expectations +++

Well, for what you might expect when you hear the combo "Korn" + "Dubstep", it actually works pretty well. 

Check out Chaos Lives In Everything (top) - it starts with some dub, has a remarkably regular sounding Korn verse, before merging the two for the chorus.

Each track is a bit like that, and most reflect the style of the collaborative artist as well. The Skrillex tracks are full of constantly changing beats as well as plenty of wub-wub and breakdowns. The 12th Planet track has the signature heavy bass and snappy percussion that you'd expect. 

The Korn sound hasn't been diluted too drastically either - there is still the signature distortion, effects and pounding drums that they do so well, only now they are remixed and complemented by some wub. 

Now, who could complain about that? 

Well, probably most of the hardcore Korn fanbase for selling out - and the dubstep community for crashing their party.

Well bugger them.

It's a gamble which I feel paid off - and is not a desperately easy thing to do when you're an artist that has had an established "sound" for nearly 20 years now.

Additionally, Jonathan Davies' vocals are perfectly matched to the sound - providing some melody and plenty of gruff rhythm - although not quite as unique as in early works.... but I'll go over that later.

All-in-all they have achieved the mash-up very well and it makes you wonder why more artists haven't combined these two genres before. 

+++ Thrown Themselves In +++

So here's the bit where I say hats off to Korn for making the mix work - but why does it work? Because they weren't half-hearted about it.

This isn't a regular Korn album remixed by other artists.

This isn't a dubstep album which Korn have added some guitars and vocals to.

This is a fully-fledged hybrid album - 11 tracks that fuse 2010's electronic music with the 1990's nu-metal sound.

So - yeah - well done Korn. You've done well to really throw yourself into this genre and have actually created something which doesn't let either side down.


Neither side dominates the sound, and neither side is ever dropped - each and every track is definitively mixed-up - bass lines, samples and DJ tricks laced throughout distorted guitars and Davies' pained vocals. 


It actually paves the way for a whole new - and feasibly very successful genre. Jonathan Davies dubbed it "metal-step". That sounds lame, but the idea is certainly a possibility.

Now, from a business/cultural point of view - this was a totally f**king stupid idea. 

Trying to sell dubstep to Korn fans? Good luck.

Trying to sell Korn to dubstep fans? Erm... just no.

And trying to build a fanbase by colliding two fairly opposing musical styles? Very difficult.

But there you have it - they gave it a bloody good go. At least no-one can fault them for trying. Well, actually, I think I might just have to....

--- Still Slightly Stale ---

And why is this not the musical masterpiece that it very well could have been? 


Because other than the sheer bizarreness of the genre mix, it's not actually that revolutionary.

The vocals, as mentioned above, fit the sound really well - but I was waiting for something a bit more "Korn" in this department. 

Old Korn. 

Twist Korn.

Sharp, varied, almost tribal chant vocals -
 providing a perfect complement to the dubstep beats and percussion.

As well as that, where are the bagpipes? A unique element that made Korn so great - completely missed. I think it was the inclusion of bagpipes that made me love Korn in the first place - what other rock artist includes a traditional Scottish instrument into their songs THAT ACTUALLY SOUNDS AWESOME? None - that's who. No-one would dare to. Except Korn. Oh, and Big Country made rock music which sounded like bagpipes and was awesome - but that doesn't count.

Well, the situation is even worse than just missing them out entirely - both bagpipes and the tribal vocals are present right at the end of the album, in fact in the bonus tracks. Almost like their uniqueness was sidelined and hidden in the final minutes of the album (Bleeding Out, Fuels The Comedy and Tension).


And when compared to "pure" works, even the dubstep element seems slightly tame. While having all of the characteristic features of the collaborative artists, they always seem to be "on a leash" - never producing any particularly bassy, choppy or mixed sounds throughout the album. This probably allows the album to retain more of it's "Korn" sound, but if both Korn and the DJs just really went for it (as the bonus track, Tension does to some extent) then this could have been a true sonic rollercoaster.

Conclusions

While I give Korn full marks for trying something radically new - and succeeding in many ways - the album is a little too "tame" on both sides to really be spectacular.

The sound is well-executed and nicely balanced - you really can hear the influences of each artist as you listen through the album.

Sadly, this was a dangerous idea from the start - and I don't think the fans would have accepted this mash-up even if the album came gift-wrapped with a monkey butler and a £50 note.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!


Any videos in this review are from Youtube and are subject to relevant copyrights. They are kindly provided by: http://www.youtube.com/user/RoadrunnerRecords
http://www.youtube.com/user/roadrunneraustralia

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light [CD REVIEW]

THE LATEST ALBUM FROM THE FOOS
HAS SEVERAL CRACKING TRACKS - 
BUT IS LET DOWN BY TRULY TEDIOUS LYRICS AND A RELIANCE ON THE "STADIUM SOUND"

What's It All About Then?

This album by the Foo Fighters, released in April 2011 (yes, I'm only a year late) was one of the Foos most commercially successful - with the singles Walk (above) and Rope (below) debuting at the top of the charts. 


The album has since given the Foos 4 Grammy Awards, including "Best Rock Album", several nominations for "Album of The Year", and indeed was named "Best Album of 2011" by iTunes.


The album is described by frontman, Dave Grohl, as a hark back to their earlier works - being much more brash and raw than recent albums. To complement this sound, the band decided to record the album using analogue equipment - no fancy digital mixers and software - so that this youthful, fierce energy could really come through. As such, the band members and recording technicians had to relearn old techniques for capturing tracks in this way - and had to spend several weeks rehearsing to ensure the recordings sounded how they had hoped.

So Is It Any Good?

+++ Kick-Ass Vibrancy +++

The majority of the album is filled with the big, rocky numbers we have come to expect from the Foo Fighters - plenty of distorted riffs cutting through Grohl's gruff singing with pacey percussion to back it up.

The album is definitely more rock than some previous Foo albums have been - there was a period about 5 years ago when it seemed they had given up and decided to stick to pop tracks - but these are tracks are much more high-intensity and "in-your-face". A welcome change.

The album manages to have a good pace to it as well - a few big numbers to start, then a couple of slightly down-tempo middle tracks before raising the volume and the tempo again at the album's close.

Particular credit goes to the album's singles - Walk, Rope and These Days (below) - for being suitably heavy rather than "watering-down" their sound too much for radio release. They aren't the best Foo tracks you've heard - but you won't complain too much when you get them stuck in your head.

+++ Instru-mentality +++

The music throughout is top notch - clever riffs and well-chosen percussion to keep the energy pounding out of the speakers throughout.


The guitar and drums really do a good job keeping the album feeling fresh - while there's nothing here that you haven't heard before they are still some of the catchiest you'll hear on the radio at the moment.

When combined with the recording choice - to forego digital helpers to lay the tracks down - then this is quite an achievement. When played through some big speakers the experience is quite something - big, bone-shaking, head-throbbing belters.

It's good to see that the guys have not given up on creating kick-ass rock music - something that I thought was coming during that Long Road To Ruin-phase... and let us never speak of it again.

--- Fairytale Cliche ---

Sadly, while the band's hope of creating an album which sounds like their very early works - they seem to have decided to thrown in "schoolboy" lyrics to pad the songs out.


Aside from the singles - which are excused only slightly because they are clearly written to be performed in front of 10,000-strong audiences who have difficulty remembering more than 4 words per chorus - the rest of the lyrics are mind-numbingly awful. 


Literally every other track has a cliche to start, a cliche for a chorus and some extra cliches thrown in for good measure during the verses. Below, I have chosen 3 songs AT RANDOM and posted a couple of lines below. You can do this with any song - it's like there isn't a scrap of originality in the majority of the lyrics.

These are my famous last words

My number's up - bridges all burned.

Once upon a time I was somebody else

In another life I saw myself

Way back then, back when I was new.

You're one to talk -  the heart is a clock

Just like a bomb it keeps on ticking away

Counting down to detonate.

I mean, COME ON?!?

Even back in the very early days, the Foos didn't write tripe like this! I understand that this is a reflective album, with the theme looking over their childhoods, lives and forward to the future - but that should allow for some creative references.

In one track, Arlandria (below), Grohl is clearly harking back to his childhood with nursery rhyme-style wordplays - but this sliver of creative flair is buried beneath the rest of the lazy and badly-executed lyrics.

I'm not saying that any of the tracks are too awful to listen to - in fact the whole album is great for a playthrough - but it's never going to be one of my favourite rock albums, nor my favourite Foos album for this reason alone.

As mentioned above, I think the band were trying to balance "kick-ass rock" with "stadium/festival appeal" and ended up with brilliant music but limp, cliched lyrics. Such a shame...

Conclusions

THE ALBUM IS GOOD -
EACH TRACK IS WORTH A LISTEN AND THE SINGLES HAVE BEEN IN MY HEAD FOR WEEKS NOW.

SADLY, WASTING LIGHT IS NEVER GOING TO BE MORE THAN A QUICK LISTEN FOR ME BECAUSE THE BLAND, TIRED LYRICS ARE MUCH TOO UNAPPEALING.

I WOULD BE GLAD TO HEAR THESE TRACKS AT A FESTIVAL - AS I THINK THE BAND INTENDED - BUT THE CD WILL NOW GO BACK ON MY SHELF... AND STAY THERE.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any videos in this review are from Youtube and are subject to relevant copyrights. They are kindly provided by: http://www.youtube.com/user/foofightersVEVO
http://www.youtube.com/user/linkinpuunk

Knife Party - 100% No Modern Talking E.P. [CD REVIEW]

Free to download dubstep offering from 2 of the guys out of Pendulum. These 4 tracks pave the way for their entry into a new musical genre - but there's not enough to call this a classic.

What's It All About Then?

This is the first offering from newly-formed Knife Party, created by Pendulum DJs Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen. The guys have moved away from drum and bass, slightly, and have now tried their hand at some dubstep and electro house. This EP is available for free if you sign up to their mailing list - a small price to pay for 4 great belting electronic tracks. The EP was released in December 2011 and can be downloaded from here - www.knifeparty.com

So Is It Any Good?

+++ Big Bassy Tunes +++
Even though this is a slight diversion from their usual stuff, the guys from Pendulum were hardly going to have much difficulty creating some fresh electronic music. The tracks show the hallmarks of Pendulum, such as excellent use of carefully-chosen samples and catchy melodies.


Each track has a good feel to it - from Destroy Them With Lazers's snappy beat to Internet Friends' unsettling vocals, and message alerts. The tracks fit well together as an EP too - there is a bold and bassy flow to them that keeps your ears vibrating from start to finish. I find this EP to be a good introduction - and a positive hint at a full album to come.

+++ Welcome to Dubstep +++
The guys have clearly been reading up on their new music too - this is most definitely a dubstep offering : Bass "wub-wubs" around in that satisfying fashion. Samples swiftly pan  and choppily fade in and out - creating a very vibrant sound. Tempo and rhythms switch at the drop of a hat to keep things fresh throughout.

The track Internet Friends is showing off their electro house skillz too - and while the beat works well and the track is great, I can't help but be a bit freaked out by it. I worry that woman is going to pop up on Messenger and kill me. She freaks. Me. Out.

There are also some traces of their past laced in - the track Fire Hive in particular - with it's reggae melody and vocals that hark back to "Tarantula". The guys have always been great at sculpting clever beats and they certainly do not disappoint in the tracks on offer here - they blast out of your speakers in a similar way to Hold Your Colour (like a sonic cannonball aimed at your face, if you missed Pendulum's glorious debut).

--- Wow Factor ---
Strangely though, with all these things in its favour, the EP doesn't grab me in the way Pendulum's work did. It's not the new sound - I'm quite coming round to the dubstep genre when done right - and it's certainly not the quality, as this is a well produced work. They clearly can write dubstep and electro house songs well and their use of samples is, as always, spot on.


I think it's just that in 4 tracks - that are not put together to form a full album - the guys haven't got the time to go wild creatively. Each of Pendulum's albums was arranged to be paced for maximum listening impact - with glorious introductions, a wide variety of styles and influences, and contained both floor-filling anthems and awesome chillout tracks. You could just sit down and put the albums on and it was just welcoming, interesting music to listen to.


100% No Modern Talking is quite "samey" in that respect - each track is a few samples used to build up to a big climax and wub-wubby breakdown - and as such it doesn't quite appeal in the same way.


So watch this space - if and when Knife Party release a full album I wouldn't be surprised if I fall straight back in love with the Australian duo's offerings.

Conclusions

100% No Modern Talking is a great start - I think the guys have done well to move in a new direction and they have not disappointed.


Each track is a belting and slick affair - and the clever use of beats and samples just goes to cement Rob and Gareth's status as musical greats.


The main issue with the EP is that.... it's an EP! 
If they were able to create a full album, with a better range of styles and influences, ranging from D&B right through to electro and dubstep, then we would have a 100% Brilliant Modern Album. 

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any videos in this review are from Youtube and are subject to relevant copyrights. They are kindly provided by: http://www.youtube.com/user/KnifePartyHD

The Mars Volta - Nocturniquet [CD REVIEW] [QUICK&SHORT]

What's It All About Then?
This is the latest studio album from The Mars Volta, released on March 26th 2012. The Mars Volta are a progressive rock band from Texas, consisting of Omar Rodríguez-López (guitarist and direction), Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals and lyrics), Juan Alderete (bass guitar), Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (keyboards and percussion) and Deantoni Parks (drums). The first single released from the album is The Malkin Jewel (below).


According to Rodríguez-López, Nocturniquet's music was written back in 2010 but vocalist Bixler-Zavala took a full 2 1/2 years to finish lyrics! The band describe this album as a turning point, away from the era when Rodríguez-López "dictated" the direction and musical content, instead allowing each member to provide a more equal contribution. This change is mirrored in the Nocturniquet's theme - the album is about "...embracing life for what it should be. There's a view of the elitist lifestyle - that being an artist is unattainable. I'm trying to write this story that reminds people that we're all artists." 

So Is It Any Good? 
+++ Clever, Complex Tracks +++ 
The album is still very much "Mars Volta" - the irregular percussive beats combined with heavy use of vocal and guitar effects produces a truly unique sound. The frantic, technical drumming and chunky but unusual guitar riffs combines to produce an intense and sensational sound - Molochwalker (below) is a good example of one of these tracks.

In each of the songs there is a definite purpose and sound to them, and none of the tracks could be said to be "filler" - each one feels like it has been placed at that particular point in the album to move the listener through the conceptual landscape as intended.


There is definitely a good flow to the tracks, with the "harsher" and heavier early tracks eventually flowing into some slightly more sombre but fairly gorgeous later tracks, such as Vedamalady and Nocturniquet.

--- Incoherent Noise ---

Sadly though, several of the tracks, The Malkin Jewel and In Absentia included, push this sound too far - they use some fairly "noisy" samples and arrangements, and as such can be quite unpleasant to listen to (particularly at higher volumes through headphones while on a train to work - I actually said "Ouch" out loud and got some weird looks).


There are a few of this type of track - where I have actually felt like I needed to skip the track or just stop playing the album. Quite unusual as I'm quite a fan of their earlier work. It is something to do with the way the distorted vocals buzz across a heavily-distorted guitar and off-beat percussives - it "peaks" at certain points to produce genuinely painful levels of distortion. When the volume is turned down the effect is much the same... though perhaps now I'm conditioned to wince when I listen to these parts!


This sort of track, like In Absentia, are a bit too "messy" as well - at no other time in the Volta's history have I felt that the drums were placed intentionally to offend - and just throwing some extra drum beats into a track doesn't make it more prog, it just stops becoming music - basically it just makes it a mess.

--- Somewhat Disjointed ---

It's almost like you can hear the inner struggle of the band at work in some tracks - guitar, drums and vocals all sound like they are playing different songs! It's hard to hear the cohesion between each of the instruments in the majority of tracks 3 - 7 (Dyslexicon, Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound, The Malkin Jewel, Lapochka, In Absentia and Imago). Generally this is because one riff or beat will stand out but the balance is always slightly off - and when the distortion stands out I'm left with the pain described above.


This lets the theme of the album down - this is the first Volta album where I've felt genuinely alienated by some of the noise they are making, and if you are trying to convey a sense that anyone can be an artist and express themselves this sort of works counter-productively. I didn't get the sense that the rest of the band had that much input - I'm sure the overall production was still down to Rodríguez-López, and the parts that the other members may have added seem to have produced a messy and off-putting sounds.


It's quite sad because the second half of the album is actually really very good, and it's only a few tracks in the middle that I actually can't stand to listen to. What a shame.


Conclusions

The album has some great tracks, many of the same vibrancy and technical ability as former works by the Volta.

The album is let down by some unnecessarily noisy tracks - distorted guitars, blaring vocals and brash drumming make a few of the tracks distinctly painful to listen to.

The album's proposed direction "the value of art and to open art up to the masses" is let down by this off-putting sound. Later tracks serve this purpose well, but you have to sit through 3 or 4 difficult and scream-inducing  numbers before you reach the good stuff.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any videos in this review are from Youtube and are subject to relevant copyrights. They are kindly provided by: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMarsVolta
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrSolocrew

Chase and Status - No More Idols [CD] [QUICK&SHORT]

So What's The Story Here?
London electronic duo Saul Milton and Will Kennard, better known as Chase and Status released this album back in January 2011. Chase and Status's early work was more classically Drum and Bass, however the new album, No More Idols, is a much more varied, albeit more "commercialised" affair (which I'm not saying is a bad thing). The album had a number of Top 40 hits, including End Credits (feat. Plan B), Blind Faith (feat. Liam Bailey), and Flashing Lights (feat. Takura).

So Is It Any Good?
+++ Floor-Filling Singles +++ 
The album has clearly been built from the ground up with chart releases in mind. The album is split roughly 50/50 - with half the tracks being powerful and more simplistically-arranged (Blind Faith, Flashing Lights, Time, End Credits). 


The singles are all brilliant - catchy melodies, well-chosen samples and bass that vibrates my brain just right.


Have a listen to Blind Faith and Flashing Lights through a good pair of headphones and tell me you aren't almost religiously-inspired to find class A drugs and attend an illegal rave. 

Is that just me? Bugger.

+++ Great British Mash +++
The other half is an eclectic mix with collaborations from artists such as White Lies, Tempa T and Dizzee Rascals, that are clearly less "radio-friendly" (Hypest Hype, Heavy and Hocus Pocus.... all beginning with "H".... hmmm). 

These tracks are great in their own right, being diverse in musical influences and characteristics, such that the album as a whole dips into many electronic genres - and manages to pull each one of them off. Each track has its own personality, well-suited to the guest vocalist who features on the album - and a big bonus point for showcasing so many UK artists as well - this album is a fantastic reference when describing great contemporary UK music.

--- Personal Tastes ---
There is always this risk when you create such a diverse album - some of the tracks won't appeal to everyone. A few of the tracks on the album are certainly impressive - and really show off Chase and Status's musical skills - but sadly I found them a little off-putting.


Strangely, this wasn't the tracks that I initially disliked - the track Time has really grown on me, and is now one of my favourite tracks on the album. Tunes such as Hits and Embrace have never really appealed to me though - so I have to skip them when I put the album on.


It is just the odd track that lets the album down for me though - the rest of the album is still highly playable and thoroughly enjoyable... and has been on my MP3 player for most of the past twelve months.


Conclusions

An eclectic mix of tracks, artists and genres - this defies labels and redefines perceptions. People who have had no interest in electronic music whatsoever have still picked up this album and found a few tracks that they love.

Absolutely love the UK talent involved - and the guest vocalists are both well-chosen and well-utilised. Each track has its own unique flavour, with the genre and the vocals working together to create a series of distinct musical experiences. This is varied, thoughtful, clever stuff.

The only problem is that with such a diverse mix, you are bound to alienate some listeners with one track or two. The testament to the albums quality is that my personal preferences were changed by some of the tunes - and you end up with a more diverse set of songs on your playlists as a result.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any videos in this review are from Youtube and are subject to relevant copyrights. They are kindly provided by: http://www.youtube.com/user/chaseandstatustv
http://www.youtube.com/user/IllusionParkour1

Ben Howard - Every Kingdom [CD] [QUICK&SHORT]

So What's It All About?
Debut album from Devon-based singer-songwriter, Ben Howard, released in the UK last Autumn and due to be released in America in a couple of weeks' time. Released on the Island Records label, which has signed many of the UK's greatest folk musicians, such as Nick Drake and John Martyn. Howard's style is a warm, slightly-simplistic folk that lends itself well to the recent popularity and rise of "new folk" with artists such as Mumford and Sons.

+++ Very pretty +++ The album is full of both warm, heartfelt numbers and several tracks that are clear single material - this is definitely a good album. The songs are well arranged and have a very nice flow to them, seamlessly moving from bright and fresh early tracks to toned-down tunes later on. Ben's voice is nice and works well with the guitar - and the album sounds as though it would work well as a live set too.

So Is It Any Good Then?
+++ Chart Material +++ Tracks such as The Wolves (above) and Old Pine are certainly worth a place in the charts - with catchy melodies and a simple arrangement to hook people in. They are now gaining a bit more recognition - The Wolves has been used for short films and is surely perfect for adverts of some kind - and the track Promise featured in the most recent episode of U.S. TV drama House.

--- Simplistic --- The lack of any variety in instrumentals and vocals, both style and patterns - while making a very coherent and flowing album, it means that it feels slightly stale towards the end. It is rounded off beautifully though, with the soft harmonious lullaby that is Promise, but although some of the middle tracks are very pleasant to listen to, they do not have that inspired appeal that some of his other songs do. Variety in songs wasn't necessarily needed, but certainly a greater range of vocals and instruments would have helped to hold my attention.

Conclusion

There is certainly enough great tracks on here to deserve a mention - and the singles on the album should gain Ben some well-earned attention.

The album is nicely written and gains merit for being a coherent and structured piece, with common musical beats and scales building to give Ben a nice signature "sound".

With a bit more variety - branching out into other instruments or daring to try some more emotive vocals - then the album could have been a much deeper and striking piece.

Still a great debut, Ben.

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!
Any videos in this review are from Youtube and are subject to relevant copyrights. They are kindly provided by: http://www.youtube.com/user/benhowardmusic

Ed Sheeran - + [CD] [QUICK&SHORT]

What Is It?
The latest album from Ed Sheeran, read simply as "plus", was released in September 2009. The album has so far produced 4 major hit singles: The A Team, You Need Me, Lego House, and Drunk. It was released to great critical and commercial success, coming a few months after the first single from the album, The A Team, debuted at number 3 on the UK charts and has since become the high-selling and the highest charting debut of 2011. Ed has also won big at the Brit awards this year, claiming "Best British Male Solo Act" and "British Breakthrough Act".

So What Do I Think Of It?

Lyrically Lovely - the words sung by Ed are well thought-out, often being both wonderfully witty and craftily contemporary. The whole album has a thoughtful elegance that only comes from spending a long time thinking through each line carefully. To complement the great wordsmithery, there is a brilliant use of pace and tone to give a lot of variety in Ed's voice - swiftly swooping between small segments of rap and slow crooning - and it actually works reasonably well. Even though the latter few tracks do use some of the same words a bit too frequently (love, never, miss you, hold you) they are mixed in well so it doesn't ever stagnate. Tracks like U.N.I. are a good example of how Ed can just be singing about day-to-day things and still make it sound damn good. 

Deep Themes - To top add to that, Ed actually covers some darker topics and still does it eloquently and gracefully. The A Team, Small Bump, and Drunk take a look at the more serious sides of life - but it is done so sensitively and compassionately that it makes me listen to what Ed is saying even more. Just take a listen to these three and I'm sure you'll be bowled over too. Don't be put off by the big videos involving Rupert Grint and a clubbing cat - the songs underneath are still pop gems.

Reliable Source - You know, about the only criticism that I could level at "Plus" is that I was quite inclined to like this album anyway! I really like British acoustic singer-songwriters, with a preference for smart lyrics and varied music. Ed used to be a guitar technician for the band Nizlopi, and listening to some of Ed's songs you really can hear the influence - try You Need Me, I Don't Need You. If you like British acoustic guitar pop, especially if you like a dash of creative musical stylings too - you probably won't go wrong here.

Closing Remarks

It's a great album that deserves the praise it has received. Both well thought-through and well produced - this is a slick modern gem.

The singles stand out on their own but really the album can just be left to play through.

You might get sick of the words "Love You" and "Miss You" by the end, but he's actually offering more than just soppy love songs. 

Then again, I like soppy love songs - so don't take my opinion - have a listen and let me know what you think!

Feel free to post comments or contributions to improve the experience!


Images in this review are from: http://edsheeran.com/


Any videos in this review are from Youtube and are subject to relevant copyrights.
They are kindly provided by: http://www.youtube.com/user/EdSheeran
and http://www.youtube.com/user/ashleyc5596

InMe - The Pride [CD]

Retrospective

Fifth studio album from Essex outfit InMe - released in February 2012 as part of the "PledgeMusic" scheme which raises money for Alzheimer's Society. The Pride is the first full-length album to feature new lead guitarist, Gazz Marlow, who joined the band just after the release of the last album and the departure of former guitarist, Ben Konstantinovic. 


To explain my feelings for this album, and to introduce anyone not familiar with InMe's earlier works, I shall do a chronological retrospective starting with their glorious first album.


Overgrown Eden (2003)
InMe's 2003 debut album, Overgrown Eden, was a surprise hit - spawning era-defining epics like Lava Twilight and Crushed Like Fruit. The album struck a great balance between clever guitar riffs and Dave McPherson's hoarse, youthful vocals which appealed to a really wide audience (myself included). 


The whole album had a fantastic sound to it, brilliant use of silence as well as noise, and a great deal of memorable tracks - in fact the whole album can be played from start to finish even now and it still sounds pretty damn good.

White Butterfly (2005)
Following Overgrown Eden, InMe released White Butterfly in 2005, which took a much softer tone - and as such it alienated many fans who preferred the more metal-sounding guitars and vocals. The sound was quite similar to Eden but sadly was a touch too "mainstream-friendly" and due to that lost them some of their audience (irony!). All in all, it wasn't too bad - but then again I like softer music quite a lot too.

Daydream Anonymous (2007)
After this came Daydream Anonymous in 2007, which completely passed me by at the time. It's not that surprising as there was only one single - I Won't Let Go - but in looking back it seems that this was a dabbling in progressive guitar work and timings with a few patchy rock tracks while still retaining those high, lighter vocals and slightly whiny tone.


In listening to the album through, there are a few genuinely great tracks here - like the intro Myths and Photographs - but they obviously didn't get much air time or publicity. 

Herald Moth (2009)
The main problem people had with this new album's predecessor, Herald Moth, was that the technical metal stylings were off-putting to new listeners and too far away from older stuff for older fans. You were left with a small group of people who applauded InMe for moving away from your common ground and creating an album that stuck with a new, edgy sound the whole way through, save for a couple of tracks that were bloody good on their own - I was one of these people. 

I really liked Herald Moth because it jumped out of the speakers and shocked you with it's sudden change of tone and it's unusual time signatures. It was a nice sound somewhere near prog-metal and slightly post-hardcore - which InMe seemed perfect for from the start. The youthfully genius rock anthems that defined Overgrown Eden seemed to be back, and the album took a much more aggressive, harsher tone in general. For a good example of this, look below at Single of the Weak's chorus (contains some strong language).

The main problem I found with Herald Moth was the vocals - although mixing it up slightly, it was almost like they asked Dave McPherson to ramp up his Essex accent and it sounds a bit silly. On several tracks, there really could have done with some gruff or gritty vocals and Dave lightly adds in some falsetto tones - it doesn't quite work on every track.

The Pride (2012)
The new album underwent many changes prior to release, with InMe's frontman, Dave McPherson, being quoted as saying that he had written an entire album's worth of material with the same sound and style as Herald Moth, which was scrapped. The band says that a much less musically-technical and more upbeat sound was adopted for The Pride.

The brash, gritty sound from Moth wouldn't work well with these lyrics, and they do succeed in making a sound that fits the positive tone. The songs blare out like anthems of optimism, not necessarily saying that everything is great but certainly that with some effort that we can make things better. The album itself is part of a scheme to raise money and awareness of Alzheimer's and this fits in rather than feeling like a marketing gimmick. It's nice to hear a band strive to write positive music, especially in a genre that too often relies on dark or edgy themes to gain popularity.

Each of the songs has a message that goes along with it - from Reverie Shore's belated but hopeful apology for past actions and Pantheon's defiant call to take control. However, some of these may sound slightly limp and diluted when placed next to the already obscure and mystical-sounding references used in InMe's lyrics - often coming off sounding a lot more whiny than the band intended.

There are still plenty of flashes of brilliance in The Pride - particularly some of the bass licks, although worked into the songs such that they don't really stand out, the are still very impressive bass runs. Overall, I'd say that the album is not quite of the same musical standard as other albums were.


I feel as though The Pride really fits in somewhere before Herald Moth - sort of an introduction to the heavier, technical metal stylings but not like the light prog of Daydream Anonymous. While this sound works and would have been great at the time, it feels like covered ground now and doesn't particularly add much to their collection.


InMe clearly still have the ability to produce well-written cracking tracks, though the direction seems to be a bit lost. Maybe if they keep hold of their guitarists for more than an album then they can get more towards a more coherent or creative future!

Conclusions

If InMe had released The Pride in 2008 then it may have warmed people up such that Herald Moth would have been better received. 

As it stands, it sort of feels like a step back to earlier albums while trying to maintain the alternative timings and some of the more technical influences they picked up along the way. 

While this may work in principle, in practice we find a fairly good album with some great tracks - but not as good as more well-balanced or adventurous endeavours like Moth or Eden.

All videos in this review are from Youtube and are kindly provided by

http://www.youtube.com/user/So0oOo

http://www.youtube.com/user/InMeTV
http://www.youtube.com/user/NeptuneShaun