The Rock Blogger

Some late night music to trip out to. Drudkh is an intense black metal band from the Ukraine. These songs are from their Autumn Aurora album.

Some beautiful artwork from psychedelic visionary Alex Grey.

You might recognize some of his work from several Tool album covers, including 2006’s

10, 000 Days.

The Cosmic Christ is a certainly a stirring representation of Jesus, melding spirituality with universalism, illustrating a more modernist and Integral Christian outlook.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened”. Matthew 7:7-8

Sculptured. Embodiment. 2008. 4 stars.

Sculptured’s latest offering is a solid prog-metal release that features intricate compositions and clear production, integrating complicated guitar riffs, symphonic keyboards and frantic drumming into a cohesive and dense package. While Sculptured’s impressive lineup features Don Anderson and Jason Walton from Agalloch, their sound is completely different, with labyrinthine song structures that dart from guttural metal to progressive passages in an instant, switching between time signatures and moods with surprising transitions.

The band also alternates between two vocal styles, one being the conventional death metal growl and the other being the clean alternative signing that may remind some of Mike Patton’s Faith No More days. The combination of the two is refreshing and consistently interesting, providing a emotional anchor for the spiraling keyboard melodies and cyclical drumming. The complexity of this album is not nearly as overwhelming as other efforts in the prog-metal genre, as the melodies are easily distinguishable amid the madness, making Embodiment an album that is actually fun to listen to rather than being an inaccessible maze of musical layers. The band truly sound like they are enjoying themselves.

Embodiment as a whole is an exciting and well produced effort that remains accessible despite its complexity. I would recommend this to both fans of prog metal (like Kayo Dot, Maudlin of the Well, Mars Volta) as well as rock fans more accustomed to alternative styles.

A Silver Mt. Zion. 13 Blues for 13 Moons. 2008. 3 stars.

A Silver Mt. Zion, easily the most celebrated splinter project from the Godspeed You Black Emperor crew, return for their fifth full-length outing, spouting more anarchistic diatribes over intense and dramatic orchestral instrumentation. The gorgeous strings, pulse pounding drumming (courtesy of new member Eric Craven) and searing blasts of electric guitar remain intact and interact beautifully with each other over the four, 13 minute plus epics found here. While the stirring compositions build gracefully, with a greater emphasis on the soaring guitar bursts, the band’s newfound sense of urgency ultimately falls a little flat in its execution and once again, Efrim Menuck’s grating vocals are largely to blame.

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I would like to apologize for the lack of substantial activity here over the last few days. A wicked St. Patrick’s day combined with a 5:30 am start the next morning makes for a groggy blogger. Don’t worry, there are several new releases ready to be reviewed for your reading pleasure, so stay tuned. In the meantime, watch Wolves in the Throne Room rock out. This song is from “Diadem of 12 Stars”.

Warning. Watching From a Distance. 2006. 4 stars.

After reading some glowing reviews online, I came across Warning, an influential doom metal band from Harlow, UK. Watching From a Distance has been hailed as not only their greatest opus, but one of the landmark metal albums of this decade. Warning’s music is monolithic, with powerful, sludgy riffs droning across mid tempo drum beats and pained, depressive vocals courtesy of the bellowing Patrick Walker. His efforts on this are surprisingly beautiful , as his plaintive baritone agonizes over lost love and unconquerable separations, likening himself to a wounded soldier trying to keep his strength across impossible terrain. Love is a battlefield and Walker expresses this with his every tension filled word.

The slow, thundering musicianship behind Walker is also deeply melancholic, as the distorted guitars reverberate with crushing intensity, providing a thick mist for the band to loose themselves in. The grooves are hypnotic and dense, creating a massive and heavy backdrop for the stunning clarity of Walker’s lyrics. For its lovelorn narratives and massive dynamics, Watching From a Distance is an impassioned metal record that deviates from the fast tempos and shrieking vocals associated with metal to pursue a more introspective journey. While Warning never stray far from the dark precipices they set themselves in, forever trudging in their slow and spacey rhythms, Walker’s convincing delivery, and the band’s conviction to atmosphere, makes them leading statesmen for modern doom metal.

“Faces” from a 2007 performance in London

Demon Cleaner from Welcome to Sky Valley, probably the greatest stoner rock album ever recorded.

Jarboe/Justin K Broadrick. J2. 2008. 2.5 stars.

When I first heard that Justin Broadrick (of Jesu and Godflesh fame) was collaborating with Swans vocalist Jarboe on a new EP, I was thrilled. Broadrick’s knack for crafting haunting and powerful drones and serene shoegaze riffs, along with Jarboe’s chillingly beautiful soprano voice, seemed like a match made in post-metal heaven. Unfortunately, after trying my damnedest to get into this record, I find myself being immensely disappointed, knowing that both artists have accomplished so much more in the past.

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Agalloch. Of Stone, Wind and Pillor. 2001. 3.5 stars.

Seeing that my review of Agalloch’s sublime White EP is the most read post on my blog so far, I thought it would be worthwhile to visit some of the band’s previous, and hard to find, EPs. Starting things off with Of Stone Wind and Pillor, which is mostly a scatter shot collection of tracks left off their debut album Pale Folklore, we find Agalloch’s more experimental and neo-folk tendencies begin to shine through.

As the great cover art demonstrates, this EP is a testament to untouched landscapes, expressing hard felt desires to abandon the calls of civilization and escape to the dark confines of the forest. While the opening title track is familiar fare from Agalloch, sounding like an unpolished outtake from their more fuller sounding LPs, the two following instrumental tracks “Foliorum Viridium” and “Haunitng Birds” are atmospheric gems, full of ringing acoustic guitars, graceful piano and the cinematic use of choir samples, adding an another layer of complexity to Agalloch’s epic sound.

The EP’s highlight however is the stirring cover of Sol Invictus’ “Kneel to the Cross” which begins with the spine chilling chant of “Summer is a’ coming, arise, arise”, before the band fully immerses themselves in a folksy tale of violent Christian conquest over ancient lands. This song brilliantly captures the essence of Agalloch: organic sounding, ambitious and full of cultural allusions and Gothic imagery. In short, despite its overall unevenness, the standouts on Of Stone are among Agalloch’s most impassioned efforts.

I made a surprising discovery online yesterday, miraculously finding the original soundtrack for one of my favorite (and relatively unknown) science-fiction films ever. After listening to this beautiful, and incredibly rare, soundtrack, I decided I would ask everybody out there what their most obscure records were, in any genre. I’m curious to see just how eclectic people’s musical tastes are. And when I mean obscure I mean hard to come by, far removed from the mainstream, or so off the wall that people wonder what you’re smoking when you play it on your stereo. I’ll start the ball rolling with this:

Ryuichi Sakamoto. Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise (OST). 1987. 4 stars.

The original score to a superb anime film that probably most of the Western world has never heard of. The film takes place in some sort of parallel universe, in an almost Victorian-style future where everything is powered by steam (see: steampunk) and mankind has yet to go into space. As two powerful kingdoms push closer to war, one unlikely, hapless pilot is well on his way of becoming the first man in orbit. But his military superiors have ulterior motives to the launch.

Just like the film’s fantastic animation, memorable characters and striking atmosphere, the soundtrack to Wings of Honneamise is mysterious, triumphant and epic in scope. Oscar winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto weaves traditional classical elements and orchestration with soothing ambient synth passages, electronic effects and jangly guitar to create a score that is both modernist and nostalgic for cultural traditions and new frontiers. The music carries a a sense of romanticism, capturing the spirit of exploration and discovery that is conveyed so well in the film.

Easily one of the greatest soundtracks I’ve come across, Sakamoto’s compositions are lush, dramatic and inviting, showcasing the artist’s ear for variety, texture and experimentation. Recommended to anyone interested in hearing something adventurous and out of the ordinary.

• So I hope thats a good start, maybe we can get some other obscure examples from you guys. What strange gems are you holding on to?