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Hey guys, got another music mag edition for you all. I made a big mistake by releasing the last issue about Rap last week just before The Clash of The Titans so check it out now! Want to see what I’ve been listening to in general and get a better idea of my musical preferences? Check out my Last.FM Page
I hope you’ll check out the songs I link today and find something you like as I’m going with something no where near as common as last week. As usual, the first part will all be about this week’s topic and the second section will just be general reviews and so on. I don’t have feelers in many music circles as far as new releases goes so if you want to help me out here then feel free to pm me! So, without further ado, I present you with:
Clowns, Chaos & Cabaret – A Taste of Avant-Garde Metal
Avant-Garde Metal is a huge and unfocused genre, characterised by obscure timings, a bizarre range of influences and is often littered with insane genre-shifting and instruments you wouldn’t normally see in a metal environment. Many bands have a theatrical style straight out of the 17th-19th century Europe and are usually accompanied by humorous and outrageous back-stories. This fun approach to music is exactly what I was looking for when I found out about these bands. The way that the bands just seem to end up in this genre is something I love about it. It doesn’t feel like these bands said “ok, let’s start an avant-garde band” like so many other metal bands seem to do. It seems more like they were just talking and someone said “You know what would be cool here? How about…” It doesn’t feel forced I guess is what I’m trying to say.
Still confused about what avant-garde is? Think of it this way, if progressive music is trying to take it to the next step, avant-garde takes six steps, strips naked, puts on face paint and runs off wherever it feels like. It’s hard to categorise a lot of the music directly so it’s just easier to call things avant-garde than making up fifty different sub-genres. The thing with avant-garde is that you can’t really force yourself to like it. I find it’s the absolute marmite genre – you either love a band or you hate them and no two bands are the same.
Diablo Swing Orchestra (above) are not only one of the most accessible bands but also one of the best. They characterise the genre well, with unique influences and big style switches between songs with their kooky take on metal and music in general. They have a pretty standard timings too which helps them with people who are new to the genre. If anyone ever asked me where to start with avant-garde (I have limited knowledge, but I know what I like) this would be first every time. I expect some of you to have heard of them already. I absolutely recommend Sing-Along Songs for the Damned and Delirious to everyone. Starting off with the above, the album takes a tour through Europe and utilises a number of traditional styles done up in the Diablo Swing Orchestra way. I’m not kidding, it’s a must listen.
Sebkha-Chott are the genre-switchingest band I’ve ever heard. A group of crazy French musicians, their music barely stays the same for more than two minutes - a great example of the just-not-caring nature of the avant-garde musicians. They do what they want. Sebkha-Chott’s reluctance to stay in one place and their huge range of styles is something that made me fall in love with them. Drawing on just about whatever they can, they throw it together it a way that weirdly works. It confuses the hell out of me but what can I say. It’s just good fun to listen to a song that goes from flamenco to pop to jazz to samba to metal to electronica and back again. There’s a lot of false hype in metal music when it comes to influences and style. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve read about a band that incorporates jazz into their music only to listen to it and not hear any jazz influence at all. This band doesn’t say that they do this, but they do it better than anyone else anyway. This fun, eccentric style should suit anyone who considers themselves eclectic and has their music constantly on shuffle.
Unexpect round off my introduction to the Avant-Garde metal genre and the one thing you’ll notice is that they’re the heaviest band of the lot. Their chaotic approach to timings, riffs, vocals and instrumentation is just mind blowing. They are a band I instantly fell for as soon as I heard them. The music is heavy and fast and barely lets up for a moment. The vocals come at you from every direction all the while violins, guitars and pianos are crafting beautiful melodies one moment before changing their minds and fighting each other the next. Something about this band stops me writing like a normal human being and just sends me into hype mode. I can’t help it. The thing is, this is all orchestrated and held together purposely. While it might initially seem like an unsupervised mess, you soon come to realise how perfectly the music melds together. The skill of the musicians is apparent here and it seeps out of every song. The song I linked above is one of their more sedate offers. The long bridges and riffs with the violin and the piano together are so eerily beautiful and they somehow merge with the sudden changes into heavy guitar and harsh vocals. A wonderfully (You won’t hear me say this often) unique band and one everyone should at least try.
Recommended Purchases:
Diablo Swing Orchestra – Sing-Along Songs for the Damned and Delirious
Sebkha-Chott - Nagah-Mahdi - Opuscrits en Quarante-Huit Rouleaux
Unexpect – In A Flesh Aqaurium (special editions comes with their EP)
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – In Glorious Times
Stolen Babies - There Be Squabbles Ahead
I’d love it if you guys try some of this and more so hope that you start exploring the avant-garde yourself. I love bands who really try new things like this and they’re a huge middle finger to people who say that the metal music scene is getting stale.
Anyway, let’s get back down to earth and move onwards to my Album and Song of the Week:
Album Review: Protest The Hero - Fortress
There are a lot of nice surprises in music. Sometimes it’s an album being better than you expected and sometimes it’s simply a band not being absolute shit. This is both. Protest the Hero surprised the hell out of me when Pholon linked me to them recently. Being the person that I am, I immediately judged them by their looks and thought “oh god, another shitty metalcore band.” Oh boy was I wrong and sometimes, I love being wrong. This is a clinic on how hardcore vocals and the music around it should be done. The riffs are technical and tight while the vocals take their place with screams and heavy clean vocals. I’m bad at describing why I like some singers over others but I can feel emotion in Rody Walker’s voice that a lot of other similar bands miss. His range is pretty impressive too with some guttural growls and soaring clean vocals. This band have a great progression through their songs with songs rarely sticking to a normal verse chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus structure and that’s what hardcore vocals thrive on (I find that as soon as you can predict what hardcore bands will do next, much of the appeal disappears). This band does it brilliantly and I never once found myself wishing for a different vocal style. The range of songs and influences is just perfect and the rhythm section is so tight it’s incredible. Great solos, riffs, bass lines and beats make this band so much more interesting than any others. They won a fan so quickly I can’t get over it. Perhaps I’m late to the party or whatever but I don’t care. Fortress is my album of the week and I only got it on Friday. If you like metal, listen to it. The album will continue to impress and surprise throughout. That’s another thing this album does well, great track order. You may not think about this much but track order is a big deal. I think I’ll talk about that in another weekly. This CD is only 40 odd minutes long so you should listen to the whole thing.
Song Spotlight
Forest Swords - Rattling Cages at Myspace
Forest Swords - Rattling Cages at Myspace
In recent months I’ve started to actively pursue more ambient, atmospheric and electronica music. I’ve quite liked it for a while but I never had the right mood to enjoy it. Forest Swords is one of the first bands I’ve found out about since this decision. The whole atmosphere to this song is beautiful, but almost scary at the same time. The heavy and distorted drums alongside the almost desperate female vocals create a whole sense of uneasiness that builds up around the calmer bells and guitar to create a soundscape that I’m not too sure what to make of. All I know is that I love it. Let me know what you think of this one and also what it makes you think of. For me I can’t help but imagine the English coast in late winter, cold rain and wind trying to distract you from the beautiful nature around you. Wow, did I just write that? It’s amazing what some music can do to you…
My New Albums
Aeon Zen – A Mind’s Portrait & Aeon Zen – The Face of the Unknown A cool progressive metal project with great guest singers. It’s not that unique but it grows on your very quickly and is definitely worth a look. Check out Into The Infinite and Crystal Skies for a highlight from each album.
Seventh Wonder – The Great Escape Prog Metal
I was late getting this album but it’s another good one from Seventh Wonder. I haven’t spent a whole lot of time with it yet though.
Forest Swords – Dagger Paths Electronica/Ambient
A really interesting album inspired by the landscape of Wirral in England. Has some cool tracks and an overall distorted uneasiness that separates this from pure chill-out.
Protest The Hero – Kezia & Protest The Hero – Fortress
I got both of these CDs this week. Kezia is also incredibly good. Check out Turn Soonest to the Sea for more examples of Protest The Hero’s range.
Albums Released This Week
Evergrey – Glorious Collision
Evergrey’s follow up to their return to form: Torn. I’ve heard good things so worth a check out for those who liked Torn. Fans of The Inner Circle and Recreation Day may want to try before you buy. This was released last week, but I missed it.
Jolly – The Audio Guide to Happiness (Part One)
A bizarre title and a weird concept to do with a “therapeutic auditory experience scientifically designed to bring the brain to a state of pure happiness…” I’ve no idea what they’re on about but I heard a preview of this heavy prog rock band and I liked it. I’ll let you know what I think of the CD next week.
Turisas – Stand Up and Fight
I used to have a dislike of Turisas after people tried to invent the battle metal genre for them. I know they’re quite popular with their Folk Metal style so I should really try it.
Last Paragraph
Here’s a little trick that should help all of you CD buyers. Got a film wrapped CD and no knife around to cut it open? Here’s a simple method I learnt from a Swiss guy at a jazz workshop in Montreux. Just find a table with an edge, grab the CD and rest one edge (that’s edge, not face) across the edge of the table. Then just slide the CD down at an angle and it’ll slice open the film corner for you. Now you’re free to peel off the rest of the film and play your CD! Enjoy!
