Short Attention Span Record Reviews, Oct 23 Vol. II

CIRITH UNGOL – Dark Parade
I love Cirith Ungol, always did, despite Baker’s voice being more of an acquired taste than Marmite, and “Dark Parade” is the best REAL heavy metal album from a bunch of 70-year- olds you’ll hear in 2023. (8)

ORA COGAN – Formless
A fascinating “under the radar” release, Cogan’s compositions often have a gothic cinematic vibe that brings to mind Cocteau Twins whilst her voice has a Sharon Van Etten-y quality. And she covers a Lhasa De Sela song, which is a big plus in my book. (8)

ROBERT FINLEY – Black Bayou
Septuagenarian Black Keys protégé is having a blast belting highly entertaining stories over some great funky blues tunes. (8)

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM – History Books
The Springsteen influence was always there for these New Jersey punks, and on their comeback album they got the Boss himself to sing with them on the title track. Not an all-time classic like “The ’59 Sound”, but a very welcome return.  (8)

MYRKUR – Spine
Amalie Bruun’s Magnum Opus, she finally nailed that perfect marriage between Nordic folk and black metal she’s been aiming for since 2015. (8)

ISRAEL NASH – Ozarker
I described his previous album as “Chris Stapleton meets My Morning Jacket, music-wise and hair & beard-wise”. On the new album both the sound and the hair & beard can be more accurately described as Bob Seger. (8)

ØXN – Cyrm
Featuring members of Lankum and Percolator, this experimental dark folk/post-rock/with-shades-of-drone-and black-metal supergroup of sorts releases an excellent, startling debut. (8)

MARGO PRICE – Strays II
Her psilocybin-fueled and very good country rock album from earlier this year, now expanded with 9 unreleased tracks from the same sessions that are bit more traditional country-ish. (8)

REVEREND KRISTIN MICHAEL HAYTER – Saved!
Kristin Hayter kills off her Lingua Ignota persona, gets ordained, and releases something that sounds like Diamanda Galas doing a Nick Cave impression inside a Pentecostal church. (7)

THE ROLLING STONES – Hackney Diamonds
They’ve been a legacy act for 40 years already and everyone still goes to their gigs only to hear “Satisfaction” and “Paint It Black”, but they are Artists so they have an intrinsic need for new music. And there’s some really good stuff on this, too. Truly the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band on Earth. (8)

VARIOUS ARTISTS – If There’s Hell Below
A compilation of 13 tracks by totally unknown/forgotten black rock groups from the 70’s, drenched in fuzz and wah-wah like the illegitimate offspring of Funkadelic and Hendrix. You can give it anything between 10 and 6 depending on how much you value history and effort Vs. quality and talent. (-)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, Oct 23

THE LOUDER STUFF

BEARTOOTH – The Surface
A couple of years ago they made The List with their previous album, probably the biggest surprise on that list: I loved the catchy choruses, and the brutal breakdowns, and the darkness. This time around, the darkness is missing. I assume this means the guy’s in a happier place now and more power to him, but it does make him sound like a metalcore Taylor Swift sometimes. (8)

BETTER LOVERS – God Made Me An Animal
This is essentially Every Time I Die with Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato on vocals, and this 4-track EP fucking rules, like a ETID/DEP hybrid should. (8)

CODE ORANGE – The Above
Their mixture of brutal hardcore and industrial/electronics is becoming better and better. This one also features catchier melodies than the last one, a new drummer (Portnoy’s kid), Steve Albini on the console, and… Billy Corgan??? (8)

CREEPER – Sanguivore
The Misfits produced by Jim Steinman. (7)

GRAVEYARD – 6
Mellower than previous efforts. Less exciting too. Bring back the Rock please. (7)

GRIDLINK – Coronet Juniper
Nine years after “Longhena” which had made The List and after making us think we’d never hear from them again, they’re back with another grindcore masterpiece, like Iron Maiden’s “Powerslave” played at three times the original speed. (9)

THE MENZINGERS – Some Of It Was True
2012’s “On The Impossible Past” is one of those albums that mean a LOT to some people, and this fact alone puts The Menzingers on a different level than most of their pop-punk peers. Their new album is a bit mellower than usual, drenched in purely American heartland imagery like cousins of the Gaslight Anthem. (8)

PRIMORDIAL – How It Ends
If Bathory had tried to make a U2 record in 1989, it might have sounded something like this. (8)

TWIN TEMPLE – God Is Dead
I have to admit that when the first track started playing and it sounded like a Phil Spector production from 1963 and then I realized that the chorus goes “Burn your Bible with me tonight” in a Ronettes voice I LOL’ed. Musically it’s a surprisingly accurate recreation of the feel of pre-Beatles pop, but lyrically at some point in the near future they’ll have to come up with a new joke because the cartoon satanism will only carry you so far. (7)


THE OTHER STUFF

BOYGENIUS – The Rest
Self-mythologizing companion EP to their album from earlier this year, it’s just as good and confirms their status as indie rock royalty. (8)

MIKE DOUGHTY’S GHOST OF VROOM – 3
As a former resident of New York in the mid-90’s I, of course, have a special place in my heart for Soul Coughing, and this is the closest Doughty has come in his post-SC career to recapturing that weird white-boy art-funk magic. (8)

GOAT – Medicine
The Swedes are back, darker and more psychedelic than ever, with their most stoner-friendly album to date. (8)

JOLIE HOLLAND – Haunted Mountain
A collaboration with Big Thief’s guitarist Buck Meek, who also rather confusingly released an album in collaboration with Holland titled “Haunted Mountain” earlier this year, this is a dark, experimental folk album that becomes quite uncomfortable once you’re aware of Holland’s biography (a religious cult survivor who lived homeless for years). Other reviewers say she sounds like a cross between Norah Jones and Lucinda Williams, but the Geek believes she has a closer kinship with Nina Nastasia. (7)

JASON ISBELL – Southeastern (10-Year Anniversary Edition)
The album that introduced the new, sober Isbell to a wider audience and launched a thousand Americana copycats has aged really well. This excellent edition includes a crisp remaster of the original, the demos, and the whole album performed live. (10)  

STEVEN WILSON – The Harmony Codex
I love the guy but at this point he’s at serious risk of getting a restraining order from David Gilmour’s lawyer. (8)