The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 202

Agreed on Awolnation, I think their debut is my favorite so far. There are some moments on the new one that are reminiscent of UTIOG, which I dig.

Pretty sure Bitch City is on YouTube.

 

I'm glad this album stimulated a nice conversation!

 

@JediMasterKevo182 continues his trend of encouraging me to check out bands that were a bit too heavy for me to fully dive into in the early 2000's. I listened to [deep breath] Good Apollo, I'm a Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness this week, which was the first full album I had ever heard by Coheed and Cambria. Of course, I was familiar with Coheed's popular songs from their early career, including "Devil in Jersey City," "A Favor House Atlantic," "Blood Red Summer," and "Welcome Home" and "The Suffering" from this album.

Having only heard singles, I expected this album to come crashing through the gates with some high-pitched wailing and prog-rock riffage, but to my surprise the album opened with the strings and piano instrumental "Keeping the Blade." This flows into the soft "Always & Never," a stripped-down song with fingerpicked guitar and softly sung vocals with no other accompaniment other than a few synthy noises and the sound of a child speaking and laughing in the background.

The pace picks up at track three with the well-known Spanish guitar riff kicking off "Welcome Home." Not much to say about this song that hasn't already been said. It is good. It is powerful. It was once a bit overplayed, but I hadn't heard it in a few years before listening to this album and I am firmly back on board at this point. "Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial)" follows, and it is another example of this band's penchant for mixing pop melodies with experimental riffs and odd time signatures. I was pretty surprised throughout this album at how the band takes musical arrangements that seem pretty complex and inaccessible and blankets them in vocals and melodies that turn them into radio-ready head-boppers.

"Apollo I: The Writing Writer" was one of my favorite songs on the album with some fantastic rhythmic moments. The drums and bass are in lockstep, creating a really nice groove that I found myself nodding along to throughout the song. "Wake Up" is another soft acoustic track, and again I was caught off guard by how pretty Coheed can sound. This is a great sentimental track and shows a range that I did not know the band possessed. "The Suffering" is another track that I knew before this week, and it still holds up as a really solid catchy progressive pop/rock song.

The final six tracks, the last four of which are the four 7+ minute parts of "The Willing Well" suite, didn't grab me quite as much as any of the previous songs did. The Willing Well songs are really interesting and take a ton of twists and turns throughout their 30-minute runtime. "The Willing Well III: Apollo II: The Telling Truth" is my favorite of the Willing Well tracks. While I enjoyed listening to them and really appreciated the musicianship, the long prog-rock epics aren't really my thing. Not sure that I would revisit those particular tracks very often even though there were moments throughout that I really liked (guitar riff at the beginning of "The Willing Well IV" is naughty).

Overall, I enjoyed this album and I'm really glad I finally got to experience a full Coheed and Cambria release. Being the unapologetic alternative/pop fan that I am, I was more attached to the first half of the album and its catchy pop hooks than the proggy second half. However, the entire album is a really impressive piece of work.

 

Great job as Always:) always nice to see respect for the craft these guys do on this album

 

*Tears Up* Kevo i'm so proud! I would be furious upon realizing that you have never listened to this album (I'm perhaps a little personally offended), but the glowing review of one of my favorite albums of all time makes up for it.

 

Awesome reviews Kev and I’m glad you enjoyed both the albums.

That MCS album is my second favourite behind CTTM (it runs it very close) but it does have my favourite track by them in Disappear. Well second favourite my favourite is actually a cover (Wait So Long) they put out around the same time as MDL. If you haven’t heard that check it out, it was on a spilt with alt country band Trampled By Turtles (they covered Disappear).

I really hope MCS do a vinyl reissue for it like they did with EIIKM at some point.

With Creeper Hannah doesn’t actually do the intro but as a huge fan of the band before this album dropped, even I thought that was her at first too. You should check out their 3 eps prior to the album when you have some time as all 3 are really good too.

 

Man that Coheed album is what sold me on the band after refusing to listen to them for years. After that I was all in and dove into their older stuff. Guess I'm listening to them tonight!

 

Awesome reviews! Glad to hear you enjoyed both records.

"Good Grief" is my favorite track off the Dessa record. Also, the AWOLNATION record is polarizing I was curious how it would land with you.

 

As much as I do like AWOLNATION I do agree that nothing he has done touches UTIOG - that record is incredible.

 

Since a lot of people really loved the Senses fail album and since I'm going to see them Sunday I'm going to write a review about the show for all you lovely people in our club.

 

Looking forward to it!

I’d do the same for Starset tomorrow since a lot of people enjoy my Rec of them but @bachna84 already handled that masterfully

 

Don't let me steal your thunder! You may have a way different experience at your show, especially since it's 6 or so weeks after the one I attended :)

 

@Nate_Johnson traded and I received:

Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It (2018) Holy Roar Records

This is my first time hearing anything from Rolo Tomassi - I intended to give this record a listen before it was assigned after reading so many rave reviews when it was first released.

Rolo Tomassi is a British progressive metal/experimental/post-hardcore band. One of the defining characteristics of Rolo for me were the screams provided by their female vocalist Eva Spence. If it weren't for the second track's clean vocals I would have never guessed the screams were performed by a female.

The record opens with "Towards Dawn" which is a nice instrumental piece in the post-rock/progressive vein that leaves an unfamiliar listener wondering what path the record with take. The second track "Aftermath" (my personal favorite) is a somber piece sung entirely in clean vocals - it reminded me of a post-rock/less produced version of Pvris. Then comes "Rituals" which borderline comes out of nowhere and slams the listener with intense screams right out of the gate. The dichotomy of these two tracks blew me away and was easily my favorite moment of the record.

Unfortunately after "Rituals" Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It started to slowly lose me. Eva's scream style began to feel monotonous and the dark/eerie quiet parts mixed with heavy chaotic guitars/drums left me yearning for cleaner production. I can understand the overall praise for this record but stylistically it didn’t click with my musical tastes. Rolo went for something big and ambitious with Time Will Die and I felt that they accomplished it with this record. Although I wouldn’t revisit this record or their back catalog I can appreciate their artistry.

7/10

Favorite Tracks:
Aftermath
Ritual
A Flood of Light

 

Deftones
Diamond Eyes


Alright @sophos34 gave me the pleasure of listening to the Deftones last week, now I've always knew who the Deftones were and I always knew how iconic they were and still are. I've only been and a casual listener of this band and I was never sure where to truly start. Well let me tell you, Jake gave me a god damn gem to listen to in Diamond Eyes. It really kicks off beautifully with the title track and oh my it really kicks you in face. Chinos clean vocals are just down right soothing in the song. The one thing I love based off the title track is the fact these dudes love to jam. The album doesn't slow down after that, as it kicks into " Royal " and we have another banger on our hands. The crunchy guitars are something that really attracts me, as of matter the guitar work on this album is really well done. Now, as a big Pantera fan I hear the heavy Pantera influence. I hear a little Phil in Chinos voice, and I'm not complaining. The more I listen to this album I see why these guys have been a true staple within the music community and why they are well respected. Also, the production is top notch on this album, upcoming bands take notes because this how it's done ! Also, extra points for the album art work because it's a thing of beauty with the white owl. Thank you, Jake for giving me such an outstanding album to listen to ! Sorry if it's not the best review in the world aha.

Hot Take: I've always had people compare Deftones and Tool, well I can honestly tell you Deftones when that battle in every fucking regard !

 

Love this album. I may disagree with your deftones>tool comment but that’s subjective. Excellent review

 

Great review! It’s definitely not for everyone but I am glad you gave it a shot.

 

It was a cool listen and I'm glad that I heard it.

 

Safe to say I'm killing it with the recs

 

This session i will listen to

Towkio - WWW
The Honorary Title - Anything Else But the Truth

while @highfidelity203 will listen to

The Naked and Famous - Passive Me Agressive You
There For Tomorrow - A Little Faster

 

I just listened to this album this morning!

 

How did you like it?

 

I thought it was pretty great! I wasn't too surprised at the shift the album took because I've seen some discussion in here (otherwise I definitely would have been!). Those first 3 tracks are all so different from each other!

My favorite track on first listen was Whispers Among Us.

 

@theagentcoma and I traded and he gave me:

Ataraxy: Where All Hope Fades (2018) Dark Descent Records

I am sure almost all of you have no idea who this band is and neither did I until I did this review but I will try and shed some light. They are death/doom/black metal band out of Spain and this is their third record. Ataraxy by definition is a state of serene calmness and this band is FAR from that.

I am going to try and paint of picture of what the band is like. I recently watched the movie The Brothers Grimm on Netflix and this band would be perfect do the soundtrack for it. The intro/instrumental track, The Absurdity of a Whole Cosmos, sets the tone to the album with this very dark and brooding atmosphere that makes you feel like something is wrong and you are not exactly safe. It almost has this fantasy aspect to it, and makes you feel like you are about to go on some journey and boy are you in a for wild ride. With @theagentcoma I expect nothing less.

Like Between the Buried and Me, each song is pretty lengthy with the shortest track being the introduction and the average song length at least five to eight minutes and the final track being a whopping twelve. Despite this, just like BTBAM, they keep your attention the entire time, weaving in an out of death/doom/black metal and they do it seamlessly. The genre I have had most difficult time getting into is death metal and this record was the perfect one to slowly ease me into it. I think the reason I dislike death metal is the lack of melody and Ataraxy brings you plenty of it with their blend of genres and this is the perfect record to slowly ease you into it. With that being said, these extreme forms of metal are not for everyone. I personally really enjoy when they head in the doom or black metal direction but they do each genre exceptionally well.

Vocally, it sticks to the standard death/doom fair of feeling tortured. There is very little diversity but it serves the role of what they are going for. The album as a whole is very slow but purposeful and wants to paint a picture and take you on a journey and that is extremely admirable that they are able to create this feeling with just music.

Closer, the Blackness of Eternal Night is amazing and I could have it on a loop. It goes back into the same dark tones the intro brought us and makes you realize this story will not end happily. Then it leads into straight up doom territory and sits there for a majority of the song. I love how around the four minute mark things just slow to a halt and you know the story is coming to a close with light guitars with an almost black metal feel to it and the vocals kick in for one last breath and the use of an organ in the last minute or so is brilliant.

Let me close this review by saying that the drums are amazing and are the glue that hold this entire record together. The fact that they can transition from death to doom in split second is inspiring. I will definitely be spinning this for some time but it is not an "everyday" album that's for sure.

9/10

Favorite tracks:
The Blackness of Night
The Absurdity of a Whole Cosmos
The Mourning Path

 

@suicidesaints and I teamed up a while back and he gave me:
SiR: November (2018) Top Dawg Entertainment

Let me start off this review by saying that this album was the most out of my comfort zone I have ever gone and for that I applaud @suicidesaints for making me go there. With that being said, I have safely returned and I don't think album is going to sell me on the R & B genre.

SiR is an Inglewood, California singer/songwriter and has the honor of being placed on a label with heavyweights Kenrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q, amongst many others. This is his debut album and sees him tackling the overly used topic of maintaining a relationship and be true to the one you love. Throughout the 11 tracks and only 32 minutes we experience his roller coaster ride of being in a relationship.

For a R&B/hip hop record there are only two guest appearances and one is by label mate Schoolboy Q on the lead single, Something Foreign. I find this song a bit hypocritical as he is depicting the act of making love while Schoolboy Q totally negates it, making it sound almost animalistic:

"Take you down, the frown go up your face
Arch your back and bend it back in place
F*** you good,
I’ll f*** you good,
I know"

This theme goes on throughout the duration of the album, second guessing himself about what is right. Never Home even features brief clips of voicemails from a woman who is supposedly his wife where she asks him why he is never home and never talks to her when he is on the road and he wonders if it is even worth it to keep the relationship going. I guess he eventually goes back to this woman because closing track, Summer in November talks about how he finally commits to be only with her.

One thing is clear that he can sing and at times he even sounds a bit like Michael Jackson or Usher. When he does rap he almost sound like Snoop Dogg. But the use of autotune on a few tracks and especially I Know, with this repetitive phrase: "I know who your baby mama is" is really off putting. You can sing! Is T-Pain still a thing in 2018?

The production is really impressive and smooth and I would actually it enjoy it if it there was an instrumental version.

My other gripe about the album is the use of this robotic voice "K" that chimes in every few songs to remind us percentage wise where we are on the record. Can we not just use whatever device we are listening on to check this?

Suffice to say, I will not be revisiting this record but good for @suicidesaints for trying!

2/10

 

Ignorance toward aurotune is dumb. It's not used to correct bad singing. It's an effect. Like distorted guitars. You'd never tell a guitarist "you can play guitar why are you using distortion." Autotune doesn't even work if you can't sing well