Short Attention Span Record Reviews, May 2022

THE LOUDER STUFF

AUDREY HORNE – Devil's Bell
They always sounded like a poppier Iron Maiden, but this time the NWOBHM flavor is a bit stronger. (7)

UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER – My Way
Look, we metalheads still love Udo, but we love him the same way we love the 14-year-old family dog we grew up with who’s now half blind, half deaf, and limping. Listening to him attempting to bark covers of songs we know from powerhouse vocalists like John Lawton, Tina Turner, Dio, Plant, Meine, Halford, Mercury, and Sinatra is entertaining but at the same time a bit sad. (6)

PRIMUS – Conspiranoid
This 3-song EP is prime Primus (sorry). (8)

RAMMSTEIN – Zeit
With a slightly different track sequence the return of the Teutonic Industrial Metal Giants could’ve been Album Of The Year, since the three opening tracks are also probably the weakest on the record and first impressions count. But the next eight songs will kick your ass extremely hard. (8)

RONNIE ROMERO – Raised On Radio
He just pulled a Jorn Lande – a covers album featuring hard rock hits from the 70’s and 80’s. His voice is a bit better than Udo’s. (7)


THE OTHER STUFF

3rd SECRET – 3rd Secret
It doesn’t sound at all like what you’d expect a band produced by Jack Endino and featuring Krist Novoselic, Matt Cameron, and Kim Thayil to sound like. Too quiet. (7)

RYAN ADAMS – Romeo & Juliet
Fourth album in 16 months coming just three weeks after the last one must be some sort of record. He says this is his “summertime” album and it certainly sounds more summer-y (i.e., jangly) than “Chris”. (7)

BLACKBERRY SMOKE – Stoned
An album of Rolling Stones covers mainly from the Sticky Fingers/Exile On Main St. era, a limited red vinyl release for Record Store Day from the world’s greatest living southern rock band. (8)

MIRANDA LAMBERT – Palomino
One of the best country-pop (or pop-country) albums of the year by the Queen of the genre. (8)

WILLIE NELSON – A Beautiful Time
May he live forever, releasing touching and funny country albums like this one every few months. (7)

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW – Paint This Town
It’s impossible not to like this album of mostly uptempo bluegrass originals played with virtuosity and gusto. (8)

OUMOU SANGARÉ – Timbuktu
Western African artist and feminist icon blends traditional music from Mali with American rock/blues/pop influences and the results are spectacular. (8)

AARON SKILES – Wreckage From The Fire
Fans of Drive-By Truckers will love this – not only it sounds quite a lot like DBT’s best moments, but it features a couple of DBTs as well (bassist Matt Patton co-wrote the album with Skiles, keyboardist Jay Gonzalez also plays). (8)

SPIRITUALIZED – Everything Was Beautiful
Another drug-fueled fever dream like the Stooges and the Stones jamming with a gospel choir on Librium, this is the closest they’ll ever get to “Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space” (their masterpiece). (8)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, Apr 2022

THE LOUDER STUFF

DREAM WIDOW – Dream Widow
Dave Grohl goes full-on metal embracing all the beloved cliches of the genre like he’d done with Probot, but a bit thrashier this time. This rules. (8)

ENVY OF NONE – Envy Of None
Alex Lifeson moves away from Rush territory towards synth-rock, with a female vocalist fronting his new band. Not bad, as long as you don’t expect proggy acrobatics. (7)

HELLACOPTERS – Eyes Of Oblivion
I really missed these guys and their pure, no bullshit, high-energy rock ‘n’ roll. A very welcome return. (8)

MESHUGGAH – Immutable
If you want to feel stupid all you need is to try and keep up with Meshuggah’s syncopation and polymetered riff cycles. But they still make you headbang, and this is one of their stronger efforts. (8)

ALDO NOVA – The Life and Times of Eddie Gage
Played this rock opera on a whim out of cheesy 80’s nostalgia, and it’s a surprisingly good melodic hard rock album. He can’t sing anymore like he used to, but still writes a mean tune. (7)

PUP – The Unraveling Of Puptheband
One of the best punk bands around, and they make the most fun videos too. (8)
    
JACK WHITE – Fear Of The Dawn
White’s hardest RAWKing album ever is a train wreck, but a fun one. (7)


THE OTHER STUFF

RYAN ADAMS – Chris
This album is a rocker, his best in many years featuring some fantastic songs, so let’s wait and see if it gets him un-canceled now that even Louis CK won a Grammy. (8)

CALEXICO – El Mirador
Americana favorites return to the Arizona desert, close to the Mexican border, to record what is probably their strongest album since 2003’s “Feast Of Wire”. This is perfect road trip music. (8)

FATHER JOHN MISTY – Chloë And The Next 20th Century
A very different FJM record relying less on the persona and more on a Randy Newman vibe with bossa nova and Gainsbourg-like French pop-rock overtones, good but takes a while getting used to. (8)

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS – Unlimited Love
It’s unfashionable to like RHCP but this is a pretty good album and their funkiest in a long time. A bit too long, at 17 tracks there’s unavoidably some filler here, but overall pretty decent. (7)

DANIEL ROSSEN – You Belong There
An impressive guitarist influenced by Nick Drake and Tropicalia-era Brazilians, Grizzly Bear co-frontman moves away from his day job’s indie rock towards a more dissonant but epic sound that brings to mind Van Dyke Parks and Scott Walker. Not an easy listen but rewarding. (8)

MOLLY TUTTLE & GOLDEN HIGHWAY – Crooked Tree
Top-notch songwriting on this excellent, virtuoso bluegrass record featuring a bunch of guest stars like Margo Price, Gillian Welch, Old Crow Medicine Show and others. (8)

WET LEG – Wet Leg
Punky, spunky, and funny, this is a great Gen Z record, and a couple of the singles are among the best, most infectious songs I’ve heard all year. It actually reminded me of the B-52’s, which I’m certain the members of Wet Leg have never heard of. (8)