Category Reaction

Alter Bridge – Walk the Sky

Peter Jones Leave a comment

I have always love Mark Tremonti’s guitar playing. Yes, always.

So, in essence, that means I just admitted to liking at least some aspect of Creed’s music. Ok, ok, I admit it. I really loved Creed when Torn dropped. At that time in my life, there was just something about it that resonated with me. Follow up, Human Clay kept me engaged, with it’s beefier production and heavier sound. There were some really great moments on that album. I mean, come on, the bridge in “What If” builds to a pummeling breakdown that still sounds awesome to this day.

But, by the time Weathered dropped, the cracks were really starting to show. Most of this centered around lead singer Scott Stapp’s over-the-top vocal delivery and what really started to look like a messiah complex.

But none of that takes away from the heavy, bombastic guitar work from Mark Tremonti. Musically, those Creed songs hold up just fine, thanks to Mark’s crunching and tasty riffs. So I was more than ready for Alter Bridge to drop their self-titled debut in 2004. We had the same musical backbone of Creed (literally, guitar, bass and drummer from Creed) with a much more accomplished, versatile, and able singer in Myles Kennedy.

I loved their debut, Blackbird was a moving follow up. AB III took a bit to grow on me, but subsequent albums Fortress and The Last Hero were on near constant rotation shortly after their releases. Likewise, I’ve definitely enjoyed and continued to listen to Tremonti’s solo work on 4 solid albums of guitar centered hard rock.

No one wants prime rib every day. Some days, you want a $1.00 McDouble. I mean, come on, you just do.

I’m not saying Alter Bridge is no better than a McDouble. But this is meet and potatoes hard rock. There isn’t much unexpected going on here. And that is just fine. Some days I just want solid, guitar heavy hard rock that you can sing along to. It fills a need and I’ve appreciated Alter Bridge more than capably filling that need for the past 15 years.

So, with their latest release Walk the Sky, I guess I have to say “Sorry, it’s not you, it’s me.”

I can’t get into it. I preordered it, as I am wont to do. It’s exciting, every week or two you’ll get a new track released to whet your appetite for the full album release. Except none of those singles drew me in. I couldn’t make myself even listen to one of them all the way through before the album dropped. And then the album dropped, mid October. Oddly enough, it isn’t even like it had real stiff competition. The latest from Insomnium had released 2 weeks before, but that hadn’t grabbed me the way their previous release had. Lacuna Coil had shocked me the week before with Black Anima which I continue to think is a really great album.

So it was all the more odd to me that Walk the Sky just couldn’t seem to grab me. But it didn’t, and it still hasn’t. Listening to it now, trying to write something about this album, and I find myself skipping songs like crazy. Not because they are bad. Alter Bridge is even stretching and doing some different things on this album. I appreciate that. And all the same keys are there. Myles has an awesome, powerful voice. Mark’s guitar is as good as ever. The man is one of the best rock guitarists out there.

But I just don’t want to listen for more than a few minutes. Like I said, sorry Alter Bridge, it’s not you, it’s me. So I guess it’s back to the cold embrace of Schammasch, Monolithe, and The Drowning for this middle aged metal head.

Cobalt – Slow Forever

Peter Jones Leave a comment

Life is full of surprises, that’s for sure.

Take, for example, Cobalt. If you had told me years ago I would like black metal, I’d have told you you were crazy. Had you told me that an American black metal band would become my ultimate go-to music? Even more crazy.

But that’s what Cobalt is. See, sometimes I get in a rut. I want to listen to music, but nothing seems to grab me. I try new songs, old songs, wander through just about every genre without finding something that I want to stick with. For someone who loves music as much as I do, it becomes an increasingly frustrating endeavor. I get cranky, and it starts to really drive me crazy.

Then I’ll turn on some Cobalt. Doesn’t really matter which album. Could be their breakthrough, Eater of Birds, perhaps their subsequent triumph Gin, or just as often, their amazing return to the music scene, 2016s Slow Forever. And every single time, I’m instantly out of my musical rut. Suddenly, I find joy in music once again. The craziest part of all of this? I couldn’t even tell you why. There is just something visceral about Cobalt that clicks with me, and draws me in immediately.

Slow Forever was my first introduction to Cobalt. Basically a two man band, with all the instruments manned by Eric Wunder, with Charlie Fell helming the mic (having replaced Phil McSorley after some internal band issues). That this really is just two men is astonishing, and the last thing I would have expected given just how powerful the album is.

Slow Forever is an evolution of the black metal found on the previous albums. It is less raw, and actually has an incredibly crisp production that makes the instruments, particularly the drums just pop. In fact, I’m not entirely sure I’d continue to call Slow Forever black metal. At the same time, I don’t know what I’d call it instead. There are elements of punk, hardcore, crust, hard rock, and country. Yes, even country.

Cobalt’s music is just raw, no matter how sharp the production is. The vocals still carry with them that harsh, almost shriek, even with a different vocalist. Instrumentally, this is just filthy, nasty metal, in the very best ways possible. The guitars have a “dirtiness” to their sound. I don’t really know how else to describe them. Many songs are long, the album itself is 1 hour and 24 minutes (with the bonus track “Siege” which is an awesome song). This album is a journey.

There is also something uniquely American about Slow Forever. It has the identity of the west baked into the music. There is a rebelliousness, a celebration of individuality, and also an acknowledgment that things just might be a little effed up. That leads to a powerful authenticity to the music. It is both contemplative at times, and yet just straight up brutal and in your face at others.

Slow Forever is a band that realizes that we just might actually be up shit creek, and they are making sure they scream this loud and clear for all to hear. There aren’t solutions offered here, that isn’t the intent. But Slow Forever is a brilliant, visceral, and raw anthem that wouldn’t be out of place while we burn things to the ground with the hopes of starting over.

Source – Totality

Peter Jones Leave a comment

Three years ago, thanks to a review at good old Angrymetalguy.com, I stumbled across a release from a three piece band from Colorado. The band was Source, and the album was Return to Nothing. It was a little too brazen in its Tool worship, and there were shades of the band Soen as well. But it was a lovely album of noodly, heavy music, with some serious progressive overtones. Songs were long, had needlessly long instrumental passages, and probably could have benefited greatly from some self-editing.

But it was also refreshing, a little eclectic, and wholly endearing.

I loved it and desperately hoped it wouldn’t be a one off. To my excitement, 2019 brought us the second album from Source, Totality. And I won’t lie, I don’t love it as much as I wanted to.

Don’t get me wrong, it I still a really solid album, one which I like quite a lot.

It is also a more mature album. The Tool worship is far less pronounced. Songs aren’t nearly as long or self-indulgent. They are more straightforward. They are more concise. They still have the progressive overtones, but avoid devolving into musical onanism. If I’m being honest, I actually think it is a better album. It took everything that was actually good from Return to Nothing, and focused it and honed it to a more impactful edge.

But I miss the indulgent nature of the previous album.

Looking at Totality on its own merits then, it is a really, really good metal album from a 3 piece band that is finding their voice. This is a more confident band, who manages to be impactful without being too long in the tooth. There is a lot to like here. The playing is excellent. These are skilled musicians who don’t feel the need to beat you over the head with their ability. I like the guitar tone a lot. It has just enough crunch to be metal, but isn’t going to turn anyone off by being too much.

I’d love the bass to be a little more noticeable, because it is good playing, but it can get a bit lost in the mix. Lyrically, this is actually a pretty dark album, addressing issues such as suicide, acceptance, and dealing with life challenges. You get the sense these lyrics are fairly personal.

I really like Source. This is a young band with, I hope, a bright future. They write great songs, are developing a real identity for themselves. I look forward to what they do next, and hope that perhaps they will bring back in a bit of those more progressive aspects from their first album. Totality is more than worth a listen, and while I don’t find myself drawn back to it as much as I was their debut, I have come back time and again and every time end up thinking “I should probably listen to this album more than I do!”

And that is always a good sign.

Cloudkicker – Beacons

Peter Jones Leave a comment

At some point (I’d like to think I’m not alone here), I started to dive down the djent rabbit hole. I don’t remember what started that dive, but I stumbled across one of three key albums. Not sure which came first, but it was probably either One by TesseracT or Periphery by Periphery. Something about the down tuned, palm muted, chugging sound got to me.

I’d heard Meshuggah, having listened to them since Nothing dropped years before. But for some reason, I hadn’t tied them to the whole djent thing. And, frankly, I still don’t. Meshuggah is Meshuggah. Honestly, they stand on their own.

As part of that dive into djent, I found a blog with a whole host of recommendations. And there, they mentioned Cloudkicker. A one man project, releasing music on Bandcamp, I promptly went and started checking out Ben’s music. There were a number of EPs, and one full length previously release. And then there was Beacons.

This is instrumental music. Some people have a hard time with instrumental music, for reasons that continue to evade me. I’ve pretty much always loved instrumental music, both with a love of classical music (Baroque music especially), but also because of my love of Rush growing up. Songs like “YYZ”, “La Villa Strangiato”, and others were some of my favorites. And now, here was more guitar driven instrumental music. I ate it up.

Disclaimer: I’m not sure that I would, personally, toss Cloudkicker into the djent camp, but I think that label is pretty stupid anyway.

Nonetheless, what we have on Beacons is guitar heavy, instrumental music, with loads of dynamics. Yes, there are heavy, chugging sections. But these are balanced by clear, non-distorted guitars, quite passages, and moments that build strong atmosphere. Beacons just flows, right from start to finish. It tells a story through the music and the titles. The beauty of instrumental music is that it affords each person to create their own story.

It is the flow of Beacons that creates such a powerful narrative. It feels less like a collection of songs, and really harkens back to the idea of a whole composition, with each song more of a movement. While there aren’t necessarily recurring motifs throughout the album, it still has a cohesive feel that permeates all the tracks. The playing is excellent, Ben is a wonderful guitarist. Much of the other instruments are programmed, but surprisingly don’t really feel like it. This really has to do with the strength of the writing and just how engaging it is.

I love pretty much all Cloudkicker albums. But Beacons stands apart. It is a powerful piece of music that still feels fresh, engaging, and powerful. It is an emotional journey, and an album I recommend to everyone without hesitation.