Week 7: ACDC - Rock Or Bust (2014)

For over 40 years, Australia's ACDC have consistently delivered the goods. Their output has not been prolific the past few decades so when word gets out that a new album is on the way, I mark my calendar.

Malcolm Young's devastating diagnosis and withdrawal from the band preceded the news of Rock Or Bust's upcoming release. Then, long time drummer Phil Rudd's erratic, criminal behavior made waves across the music world. Chris Slade, who played with ACDC back in the early 1990's, has since been announced to return behind the throne for the upcoming tour.

When I went to the record shop to pick up Rock Or Bust, I spied the vinyl edition behind the counter with its eye-grabbing lenticular cover showing a large speaker busting the ACDC logo made out of rock into little pieces. When I saw the vinyl came with a CD, I was sold.

The vinyl edition is one of the best packages I have seen in a while. The album is a gatefold with a nice picture sleeve for the record and a large 12" x 12" booklet with sketches of lyrics, new photos, and a dedication to Malcolm.

The title track opens the album and like all ACDC albums your foot is immediately compelled to tap to the beat. It was great to see ACDC open the Grammys with this song. The tempo increases with "Play Ball," which was used by MLB during last year's World Series.

Next up is my favorite song on the album, "Rock The Blues Away." I can definitely see this song getting even more airplay in my truck once the weather starts getting warmer. It's definitely a feel-good anthem.

"Miss Adventure" has a bunch of great guitar licks that remind me a bit of Jimmy Page and mid-80s Paul Stanley. The slow and moody "Dogs Of War" comes next. "Dogs of war, soldier of fortune" will get stuck in your head.

"Rock And Roll Thunder" is a great swaggering sing-along. "Hard Times" continues with some great Angus licks. The pace jumps up again on "Baptism By Fire" and "Rock The House" has a great opening guitar part and is another great sing-along (the fourth song with rock in the title, by the way). "Sweet Candy" and "Emission Control" close out the album and leave me wanting to sit down and learn these funky licks that are littered all over this record.

ACDC fans most likely already have this record. If you have somehow made it to 2015 without ACDC in your life, then please check out "Rock The Blues Away" and give it a spin. For those of your wanting to learn to play electric guitar, ACDC are a great band to dissect songs, work out licks, and learn chords to.

Keep listening and thank you for reading this.

Week 6: Napalm Death - Apex Predator - Easy Meat (2015)

Death metal is stereotyped as a bunch of noise with some guy barking unintelligible lyrics about death and gore packaged in a sleeve adorned with radical artwork. At first glance, the package of meaty chunks with a label stating Napalm Death to a casual observer will trigger disgust. Listening to the raw grindcore metal contained within will also be easily dismissible to the casual listener.

What a great loss...

As most of us sit in our air conditioned homes, snacking on bountiful food and drink, surfing the web or the television for entertainment, a large part of mankind is subjected to inhumanity and indignity day in and day out. Many people live day to day in fear of brutal terrorist groups. Many people live day to day doing backbreaking labor or working toxic jobs to make a pitiful wage. Many societies have caste systems where those in control are able to treat those lower than them like animals.

Napalm Death keep their finger on the pulse of inequality, indignity, and atrocity in our world and they succinctly channel the rage that should be in all of our hearts in their finely honed sonic outbursts. I have learned more about the injustices of this world through Napalm Death than through any other media. Occasionally, the corporate new broadcasts will touch on some of these stories, but it seems like nothing changes and nothing improves.

I have read several reviews of Apex Predator - Easy Meat and it has been disheartening to read the majority of them as they mention nothing as to the subject matter. They focus only on the music and the production quality. I even read one review stating man is the apex predator and all of the other creatures of the world are the easy meat.

As we are the apex predator on this planet, we find it very easy and convenient to prey upon our own kind. The album notes mention the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh as an influence on the record. Rana Plaza contained clothing factories, shops, and a bank. Cracks began to appear one day. The shops and bank closed. The clothing factories stayed open and even threatened withholding a month's wages from employees who did not show up. The building collapsed killing 1,129 workers the next day.

Napalm Death recorded this album across several recording sessions instead of a single session using different recording setups to vary the sound and they branched out with different types of sounds and arrangements. The end result is exactly what they aimed for in my opinion.

The opening title track is a prime example. The vocals are almost Gregorian chants against industrial clangs and hammers. "Smash A Single Digit" bursts with the grindcore Napalm Death are known for. What was amazing to me after reviewing track lengths on the album is the songs is 1:26 long and has multiple verses, choruses, and even a breakdown change of pace before returning to the main riff. One minute and 26 seconds.

The lyrics are very much about how people in control treat others inhumanely, Even now in the year 2015 mankind has a long way to go. Napalm have perfected the amalgamation of hardcore punk and death metal and "Bloodless Coup" is a great example. "Hierarchies" is a favorite of mine and even has a sing-along chorus.

The vinyl edition contains a vinyl only bonus track while the deluxe CD contains three other bonus tracks including a cover by a Swedish hardcore punk band called G-Anx whom I had not heard of before (Napalm are very good about covering obscure underground bands that have fallen through the cracks of music history).

If you are a Napalm Death fanatic, I think you will agree this is one of their strongest albums in their 30+ year career.

This style of music is not for everyone. Fred Roger's once asked, "What do you do with the mad that you feel?" Obviously, for Napalm Death, they create a musical juggernauts proclaiming to the world all is not well and we have to make this world a better place.

Keep listening and I thank you for reading this.

Week 5: John Carpenter - Lost Themes (2015)

For many, John Carpenter is a guy who made horror films. Yes, most of his films are in the horror genre, but he was equally good at comedy, adventure,, suspense, and science fiction. Not only that, but he was a great auteur on these films. As if making a film was not enough work in and of itself, John Carpenter frequently composed and recorded the soundtracks to his films. These scores were often as memorable as the films themselves. When someone mentions Halloween, how can one not hear those suspenseful piano notes spring to mind. When you think of Escape From New York, how can you not hear those futuristic, synth rhythms.

It is now 2015 and we now have John Carpenter's first solo non-soundtrack album, Lost Themes. These are instrumental, synthesizer driven motifs with single word titles for the listener's imagination to build a vision or movie in their own head. These songs easily sit side-by-side with his soundtrack work and the works of his modern contemporaries such as Zombi.

The opening track, "Vortex," begins with sounds and noises reminiscent of the Ligeti prologue of 2001: A Space Odyssey. These grumblings are silenced by simple, naked piano chords playing the track's theme. The synthesizers come in with a pulsating beat and guitars similar to Tangerine Dream's soundtrack to Thief. The trademark John Carpenter sounds are all here. For me, this track in particular conjures images of Kurt Russell wearing an eye patch in a post-apocalyptic future. This is my favorite track on the album right now and I would direct you to test the waters by listening to it.

"Obsidian" follows and could easily be the background music for a Castlevania game. As the longest track on the LP, the song goes into different moods that cohesively fit together as if telling a wordless story. "Fallen" has a touch more of a science fiction feel to it and the driving beat of the second half is great. "Domain" is a straight up synth rock number that I also feel could lend itself to the world of Castlevania. "Mystery" is a very fitting title. The opening chimes do evoke a feeling of mystery and the heavy guitar and drums in the latter half feels like your exploring an old abandoned house. "Abyss" has a similar air of mystery for the first half of the song, but switches to a more science fiction atmosphere before a huge synth pulse theme begins hammering with some tasteful guitar licks. "Wraith" begins like a latter day Skinny Puppy track with synths that sound like water dropping into puddles. There is a lot of nice guitar on this track. "Purgatory" is sorrowful and soft for the first half and then the drums come in and the song takes a tangent into Escape From New York territory. The final song, "Night" has a fantastic bass synth chug and when the background synths come in against the main theme you can almost see the fog rise from the darkness.

Yes, I am a long time John Carpenter fan.
Yes, I love his soundtrack work.
Yes, I lament his absence from moviemaking.
Yes, I think this new LP is superb.

Here is hoping there is more where this music came from and that it may revitalize his film career.

Keep listening and thank you for reading this.

By the way, John Carpenter's The Thing is the greatest horror/suspense film ever made.