Short Attention Span Record Reviews, Oct 25 Vol II

THE LOUDER STUFF

CORONER – Dissonance Theory
Even the album title is perfect bait for 100-year-old metalheads such as myself who worshipped Coroner alongside Voivod and other thrash-adjacent weirdos back in the day, and their first album in 30+ years doesn’t disappoint, seamlessly blending quantum physics-level of prog into their brutal speed metal assault. (9)

ORCUTT SHELLEY MILLER – Orcutt Shelley Miller
Experimental/noise musicians form “traditional” power trio and record their first show together live. It’s all instrumental and manages to sound like Jesus Lizard warming up by playing Led Zep, locking into a groove and pummeling it to death. (8)

SERJ TANKIAN – Covers, Collaborations & Collages
Just what the title promises. It sounds nothing like SOAD, of course. (7)

WINO – Create Or Die
You’ll find the blue-collar doom metal riffs you expect here, but where Wino really shines on this solo outing is when he puts on his Townes Van Zandt hat, as on the magnificent “New Terms” and “Noble Man”. (8) 

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Can't Get Enough: A Tribute to Bad Company
The legendary band’s greatest hits performed by Halestorm, Myles Kennedy, Def Leppard, Blackberry Smoke etc. Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke guest on a few tracks. Most participants play it straight so you might as well listen to the originals? (7)


THE OTHER STUFF

AMADOU & MARIAM – L'Amour À La Folie
Posthumous addition (Amadou Bagayoko passed away earlier this year) to the duet’s catalog, one of the best ambassadors of West African music of the 21st century. Too bad they overdid it this time with the Autotuned vocals. (7)

THE BESNARD LAKES – Are The Ghost Nation
Spiritualized meets the Beach Boys. Epic, as always. (8)

CHARLES LLOYD – Figure In Blue
87-year old jazz saxophonist pays tribute to Duke Ellington, Billy Holiday, Leonard Bernstein and other heroes of his youth. Drummerless, just him, a pianist and a guitarist, and gorgeous. (8)

CARSON McHONE – Pentimento
An ambitious folk-rock record with plenty of hooks laced by rich instrumentation and spoken word/poetry. Better that the last few spouse/collaborator’s Dan Romano records, which are pretty good to begin with. (8) 

THE NECKS – Disquiet
I love The Necks and their ambient jazz thing and they have made The List several times in the past, but this one, at over three hours long, can put anyone’s attention span to the test. (7)
 
TODD SNIDER – High, Lonesome And Then Some
I love Snider from his debut album in the mid-90’s onwards, but this album sounds like a departure from his trademark joke-laced heartland country rock – it’s much quieter and lyrically darker. I hope he’s doing OK. (7)

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – Nebraska '82: Expanded Edition
4-disc reissue including the original album remastered, live versions, and demos/outtakes. The meat in the sandwich of course is disc 2, “Electric Nebraska”, recorded back in the day with a small band including assorted E-Street Band members, which gives you an idea of what this classic Springsteen album would have sounded with a full band. Required listening? No. Will it make fans drool? Yes. (8)

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Telepathic Fish: Trawling The Early ’90s Ambient Underground
Legendary underground London chill-out party that launched the career of several big-name 90’s DJs gets its own compilation of favorite tracks from the era, featuring the likes of Nightmares On Wax, Tranquility Bass, No-Man etc. (9)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, Oct 25

THE LOUDER STUFF

AUTHOR & PUNISHER – Nocturnal Birding
Terrifying industrial/doom noise that makes Fear Factory sound like Taylor Swift, with a few more organic flourishes this time around. (8)

CASTLE RAT – The Bestiary
A NWOBHM/doom hybrid that could easily sit on a heavy metal playlist between Grand Magus and Green Lung. The swords & sorcery shtick is a minus, but the fact that the frontwoman is easy on the eyes balances things out. (8)

CATHEDRAL – Society’s Pact With Satan
Doom metal legends back from the grave with a long-lost 30-minute epic recorded way back in 2012. This one brought a tear to my eye. (11)

THE LIVING END – I Only Trust Rock ‘N’ Roll
Australian high-energy punk rock ‘n’ roll band returns with a lean, mean, fat-free album full of bangers that Green Day wish they could still come up with. (8)

VERNON REID – Hoodoo Telemetry
Not your typical guitar shredder’s solo album, this effort from Living Colour founder explores a lot of ground from hard rock to hip hop to jazz fusion. (8)

SUPERSUCKERS – Liquor, Women, Drugs And Killing
These American punk rock ‘n’ rollers are always fun to listen to – the new album covers a lot of ground from Motorhead-type noise to country-tinged ballads plus a cover version of “Rocket 69”, an awesome song we hadn’t heard since sometime Supersucker Rick Sims recorded it with the Lee Harvey Oswald Band. (8)

THRICE – Horizons/West
Post-hardcore is quite a wide genre and Thrice have repeatedly proven they want to explore all of it. This one’s darker, quite claustrophobic, and melodic. (7)


THE OTHER STUFF

SIR RICHARD BISHOP – Hillbilly Ragas
If you remember the Sun City Girls, you will know this guy as a one-of-a-kind guitar player. On this album he blends American Primitivism with Indian scales using just an acoustic guitar, and he will blow your mind. (8)

THE BOOMTOWN RATS – The First 50 Years: Songs of Boomtown Glory
Most likely nobody would remember them if it wasn’t for Geldof’s charities, but here they are with a celebratory “greatest hits” double CD. The songs from the debut are charming in their rough way, and of course “I Don’t Like Mondays” is a classic, but there are quite a few tracks that haven't stood the test of time. (7) 

CARDIACS – LSD
25 years in the making, this posthumous release is actually one of the strongest in The Cardiacs’ catalog – if you’re not familiar with this legendary underground band’s sound, a thrilling blend of prog, art pop, and punk, this is as good a starting point as any. (8)

THE DIVINE COMEDY – Rainy Sunday Afternoon
Just a comment on the state of the music industry: In order to be able to finance the creation of such a beautiful chamber pop album that won’t make any money, Neil Hannon has to write music for children’s films. Get the deluxe version, it includes a live LP. (8)

GEESE – Getting Killed
The most hyped indie-rock release of 2025, and I can see why: This is unlike anything else you’ll hear this year, a chaotic, cacophonous, maximalistic collection of songs rooted in 70’s classic rock but offered from the perspective of four young people whose parents probably weren’t born yet then. However, I’d rather have more hooks than weirdness. (7)

UTE LEMPER – Pirate Jenny
She’s probably the greatest living interpreter of the Kurt Weill repertoire, and I do enjoy radical Weill cover versions myself, but I found this electronica/jazz offering somewhat lightweight. (7)  

SARAH McLACHLAN – Better Broken
McLachlan will always hold a special place in my heart, and this comeback album is as welcome as a dear old friend you haven’t seen in a while. (8)

ROBERT PLANT WITH SUZI DIAN – Saving Grace
Golden God puts together a proper band consisting of largely unknown (but excellent) English musicians to play folk, blues, country, gospel, with superb results. (8)

JOAN SHELLEY – Real Warmth 
Shelley moved from Kentucky to Michigan prior to recording this album and this move reflects on the sound of the album which is more indie rock-adjacent compared to her previous folkier efforts. But there’s real warmth here. (8)

AMANDA SHIRES – Nobody’s Girl
There’s a lot of pain in this album, and some bitterness, and pride. Not necessarily the Americana album you HAVE to hear this year, but definitely the one Shires HAD to make. (7)

SLOAN – Based On The Best Seller
Almost 25 years with the same line-up, 14th album, and these Canadian power popsters (think covering the whole gamut from Big Star to Cheap Trick) still sound like they’re having a blast playing together. (8)  

TAYLOR SWIFT – The Life Of A Showgirl
Oh shut up, it’s fine. (7)

WEDNESDAY – Bleeds
They used to be a country-tinged band mainly influenced on multiple levels by the Drive-By Truckers, but this album is more aligned with 90’s post-grunge. You’ll see this topping several year-end lists in a couple of months and I can see the appeal, even though I feel the hype's a bit exaggerated. (8)