Review: Deftones - Diamond Eyes

I’ve always thought it was pretty unfortunate that Deftones tends to get lumped in with the nu-metal scene.  Sure, they started their careers right around the same time - and even in the same geographical area - as bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit, and they’ve continued appearing on tour with their supposed peers in the genre as the years have gone by.  But Deftones never did quite fit in.  Sure, they could be just as heavy as any other band in the scene when they wanted to, but beneath the testosterone-fueled riffs, there always seemed to be a bit more substance.  Their melodies were more unpredictable, their riffs more technical, their rhythms more complex, and Chino Moreno’s distinctive vocals lent an almost ethereal quality to the band’s music.  Deftones perfected this mixture of energy and atmosphere on their third full-length, 2000’s White Pony, which proved that even the nu-metal scene was capable of producing music with real depth and emotional weight (and, paradoxically, proved that maybe Deftones wasn’t just another nu-metal also-ran after all).  As great an album as White Pony is, the band has spent the last decade trying to create another album that measured up to its achievement, with mixed results.  To their credit, they haven’t exactly been stuck in a sonic rut, trying to recreate the sounds found on their breakthrough; on the contrary, their following albums have covered a variety of ground, from the dark, vaguely lo-fi brutality of 2003’s self-titled release to the sonic experimentation and progressive leanings found on 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist.  In keeping with this trend, 2010’s Diamond Eyes finds the band shifting directions once more, tightening up their sound into an intense, intricate, and efficient juggernaut.  Does it escape the ever-looming shadow of White Pony?  Maybe not quite.  But it does offer a whole lot nonetheless.

For starters, Diamond Eyes has Deftones playing more tightly than ever.  The whole band locks into riff after propulsive riff, blazing through some of their most technically-challenging material yet.  If anyone ever doubted these guys’ playing ability, songs like “Rocket Skates” and the title track should serve as proof to the unconverted.  Drummer Abe Cunningham shines throughout the album, ably tackling unpredictable time-signature changes and locking in with guitarist Stephen Carpenter’s crushing riffs.  Speaking of Carpenter, the guitar playing on Diamond Eyes is fantastic, featuring some of the heaviest material of the band’s career.  (Of course, the fact that Carpenter made use of an 8-string guitar for roughly half the album, bringing gut-wrenching, Meshuggah-like low notes in abundance, certainly doesn’t hurt in the heaviness department.)  But each riff, no matter how punishing, exists as part of a finely-crafted and, yes, catchy song, buoyed by Chino Moreno’s signature vocal acrobatics. Moreno’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics and Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to singing - consisting of, at just about any given time, either a sigh-like, almost feminine whisper or a blood-curdling shriek - give each song a unique identity and, depending on the song, underscore or starkly contradict the mood set by Carpenter and the rest of the band.  For an idea of the range Deftones display on Diamond Eyes, listen to “Cmnd/Ctrl” and “Sextape” back-to-back.  The former is a raging cyclone of screaming and low-F-sharp-string chugging, while the latter is an ethereal ballad, almost reminiscent of something The Cure or U2 would have come up with twenty years ago.  And they’re both awesome.  The fact that the band can seemingly change identities on a dime like that is what makes them so interesting and satisfying to listen to, and it’s the expert execution of both these identities that makes Diamond Eyes such a compelling album.  It may not be as much of a game-changer to the metal scene as White Pony was back in the day, but it’s hard to complain when the results are still this good.

Rating: 4/5

Standout Tracks:
“Diamond Eyes”
“Sextape”
“Rocket Skates”
“You’ve Seen The Butcher”

Release Date: May 4, 2010

Review: Periphery - Periphery

One of the things that makes metal one of the most interesting genres of music to me is that it’s always changing.  It seems that every few months, a new band will come along and start a new trend in musical style or playing technique, and inevitably, a horde of other bands will follow suit and an entire scene or sub-genre will sprout up practically overnight.  While the trends themselves can be somewhat irritating - God knows not every stylistic bandwagon actually yields any really worthwhile musical output - simply following them and witnessing the evolution of an entire musical culture is fascinating.  In the past year or two, Periphery have almost singlehandedly spawned one of these trends, popularly referred to as “djent” (an onomatopoeic term meant to mimic the style’s signature guitar methodology - distorted, palm-muted, staccato, and highly-syncopated riffing on heavily-detuned guitars, usually seven- or eight-string instruments).  Showing masterful use of the internet hype machine, Periphery’s chief songwriter and general mastermind Misha “Bulb” Mansoor spread his music’s popularity through YouTube videos, forum posts, and even the lumbering dinosaur of MySpace.  This was so effective that Periphery became the most iconic band in the burgeoning djent scene before their debut album was even released - which, naturally, only served to ramp up the hype for the record even more.  So when the band’s self-titled debut finally dropped in April of 2010, was there any possible way it could live up to expectations?  Simple answer: yes - and then some.

Rest assured, there’s no shortage of music on Periphery: the album clocks in at over 70 minutes long, practically twice the length of your average metal LP these days.  But even within that very generous runtime, almost every second is crammed full of more notes than most ears would be able to process at full speed.  These guys can play - there’s no doubt about that.  Fittingly for a band with three guitarists (count ‘em, three: Mansoor, Alex Bois, and Jake Bowen), there’s definitely plenty of shred to go around, ranging from the signature djent sound of chugging, angular, super-low-end riffs to lots of flashy lead playing, mostly of the dissonant, avant-garde variety - there’s very little about the guitar playing on this album that anyone could call “traditional.”  Of course, the bass playing (courtesy of Tom Murphy) is equally impressive in keeping up with the six- and seven-string insanity, and the drum tracks (programmed on the record but reproduced faithfully in the band’s live show by Matt Halpern) provide a frantic, pummeling undercurrent to everything.  However, there are a few moments of subtlety here and there: touches of electronic ambience serve as brief interludes between many tracks, and several songs (notably “Light” and “Ow My Feelings”) have enough dynamic peaks and valleys to let an individual instrumental or vocal part really breathe here and there.  And speaking of vocals, the band’s current singer Spencer Sotello gives a pretty impressive performance, stretching his range from soaring high notes to a guttural hardcore growl.  This is really a world-class assembly of musicians, and every note on the record is played with flair, taste, and a seemingly boundless supply of talent.

But so what if they can play - are the songs any good?  The world is full of technically talented musicians who can’t write a good song to save their lives, after all.  Seemingly against all odds, Periphery sidesteps that pitfall by actually having great, catchy songs with real emotional weight underneath all the shredding.  In between the notes flying at light-speed, there’s always a singable melody or catchy riff.  “Letter Experiment” is at once one of the most crushingly heavy songs on the album and one of the most anthemic, and album closer “Racecar” is a 15-minute epic that cycles through seemingly dozens of rhythm patterns and riffs while never losing its central sense of melody or theme.  (The latter also features a particularly tasty guest guitar solo by Jeff Loomis of Nevermore, which is worth the price of admission alone.)  “All New Materials” and “Jetpacks Was Yes!” are melodic enough to be radio-friendly, while still featuring just as much virtuosic playing as anything on the rest of the album.  Okay, you get the idea.  Periphery have struck a great balance between shameless technical skill and songwriting ability with their debut record, and that makes it an incredibly fun album to listen to.  This should have no trouble satisfying fans of the band’s YouTube videos, at any rate.  Even if Periphery seems a little too ambitious or overwrought for its own good (the word “excessive” comes to mind during certain parts of the album, although for the most part it’s not too overwhelming), it’s still a damn good start for a metal band that’s sure to have a promising future, and that’s already had an undeniable effect on the musical landscape around them.  Keep your eyes on Periphery - if their debut is any indication, they’re sure to keep impressing with future releases.

Rating: 4.5/5

Standout Tracks:
“Letter Experiment”
“Racecar”
“Ow My Feelings”
“All New Materials”

Release Date: April 20, 2010

A Very Relative Pitch Christmas

Okay, guys.  I know you're expecting some sort of diatribe on the pitfalls of Christmas music or something else seasonally appropriate, but I really just wanted to toss up a quick message wishing everyone reading this a very merry, safe, and musically satisfying holiday season.  Surprising, I know.  But what can I say?  The presents are piling up under the tree, the smell of delicious food is filling the house, the world outside is covered in snow, and everyone is just generally in high holiday spirits.  And I can be a sucker for that sometimes.  So, from this humble blogger to whatever far-reaching corner of the interwebs you happen to hail from, Merry Christmas.

And by the way, you might be lucky enough to see another review here before the end of the year.  You know, if you behave yourself.  Santa's watching.  But if you don't quite make it to the Nice list within the next week (or, more accurately, if I don't manage to get off my ass and actually finish a review in time), make sure to ring in the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 in style.  Thanks for sticking with me this whole time, and I'm looking forward to posting more opinionated craziness in the coming months.  See you next time.

Review: Coheed And Cambria - Year Of The Black Rainbow

Coheed And Cambria have always been a couple steps away from your typical rock band.  While most of the band’s peers in the alternative/punk/whatever-you-want-to-call-it scene would be content to release album after album filled with suitably fist-pumping guitar riffs and catchy choruses, C&C have bigger things in mind - like, for instance, crafting a five-album-long epic sci-fi narrative told from the viewpoints of a wide cast of characters and spanning decades of storyline.  If nothing else, these guys are sure ambitious.  But what comes first - the story or the music that’s telling it?  For the most part, C&C’s music has been a perfect match for their storytelling ambitions, both complementing each other and creating satisfying results.  But for the first time in the band’s career, 2010’s Year Of The Black Rainbow sees the scale tipping in the direction of conceptual grandeur, which is all well and good, except that it comes at the sacrifice of the actual music.

Year Of The Black Rainbow is something of an oddity in C&C’s catalog for both musical and conceptual reasons.  For starters, in terms of the story’s progression, this is a “prequel” album - rather than continuing the established (if hopelessly convoluted) storyline set in motion by previous albums, this album goes back to the very beginning of the story in George-Lucas-like fashion and tells of the origin of well-established characters and events.  Aside from the many reasons this is rarely a good storytelling idea (and being a massive movie/TV/book geek in addition to a music nerd, I could go into those in great detail; for the sake of space here, though, I’ll spare you from that particular rant), this narrative backtracking gives the whole album a forced, pre-decided feeling - the constraints placed on the direction of the story seem to bleed through and put similar constraints on the music, precluding any serious progression in songcraft.  It’s as if Claudio Sanchez, the band’s lead singer/guitarist/lyricist/general mastermind, felt obligated to go back and tell this part of the story instead of being genuinely inspired to do so, and painstakingly forced out an album’s worth of musical material just to serve as a vessel for his narrative.  Which is a pity, because Sanchez has written some damn catchy songs in his career.  On YOTBR, however, catchy hooks are few and far between, and compelling lyrics to sing along to are even rarer.

Spotty writing aside, YOTBR is also hampered by some highly questionable production choices.  The mixing throughout most of the album seems muddy and poorly defined, a sharp contrast to the clear, satisfying mixing of the band’s last few outings.  All the intricate guitar work and touches of keyboard and sound design are simply a chore to pick out of the mix, rather than being enjoyable to listen to.  In certain places, the presence of electronics and other Pro Tools touches are just a little overbearing, such as “Guns Of Summer,” with its programmed industrial-breakbeat rhythms overpowering the positive aspects of what would otherwise have been one of the stronger songs on the album.  To put it simply, the mixing and over-production makes the album much more difficult to listen to than it should be.  There are some bright spots on YOTBR, however - Sanchez’s songwriting skills aren’t entirely absent.  Single “World Of Lines” is a short, satisfying blast of energetic prog-punk, and one of the album’s most fun songs to listen to.  Another highlight is the pulsing, down-tempo quasi-ballad “Far,” an instance in which the album’s abundance of studio sound-design techniques actually works in favor of the music instead of obfuscating it.  These tracks, along with a couple others - “When Skeletons Live,” “Made Out Of Nothing (All That I Am),” and “In The Flame Of Error” are all fairly enjoyable pieces from the latter half of the album - are, unfortunately, exceptions to the rule.  C&C’s future is uncertain at this point.  According to Sanchez, this  chapter of the story is the last that needs to be told.  Will the band continue writing music around its grandiose concept, move on to other, more accessible subjects, or simply dissolve and pursue other projects?  No one knows at this point - perhaps not even Sanchez and company.  If this does end up being the last album from C&C, however, it’ll be a shame that they couldn’t have exited on a higher note.

Rating: 2.5/5

Standout Tracks:
“World Of Lines”
“Far”
“When Skeletons Live”
“In The Flame Of Error”

Release Date: April 13, 2010

Review: Karnivool - Sound Awake

Every once in a while, I come across a band that deserves to be a lot more famous and widely recognized than they are.  Sometimes these under-appreciated groups come out of left field with an album of unexpected technical skill and emotional impact, and I’m blindsided by appreciation.  Writing objectively about albums like this and avoiding the pitfalls of fanboy-like adulation is tough sometimes, but I’m attempting it here by reviewing the most recent album by Australian prog-rockers Karnivool, Sound Awake.  I have no shame in declaring that this album, released in North America in February 2010 (having been available in the band’s home country since the previous summer), is one of the most impressive pieces of work I’ve listened to in quite a while, and has quickly earned a place alongside my favorite albums of all time.  Seriously.  It’s that good.

Karnivool’s beginnings were relatively humble - the band’s early material found them focusing on a style of melodic alternative metal that wouldn’t sound out of place next to Sevendust or Breaking Benjamin - but even on releases like 2005’s Themata, their experimentation with time signatures, polyrhythms, and song structure suggested that they might have a little more in common with Tool or Meshuggah than their peers.  Both of those bands’ influence on Karnivool’s sound continues to be pretty obvious on Sound Awake (lead singer Ian Kenny’s vocals in particular owe a massive debt to Maynard James Keenan), but their sonic palette has expanded quite a bit to reflect the influence of other bands like Radiohead and Porcupine Tree.  What this all adds up to is a record that, while not as immediately metallic or riff-laden as its predecessors, is overflowing with ideas from all across the musical spectrum.  Sound Awake may not be quite as heavy as Themata, but what the band sacrificed in heaviness it made up for in ambition and dynamic control.  The album is, in a word, epic.  Practically every song is a roller-coaster of crescendos and decrescendos, dissonance and resolution, restraint and release.  The band hasn’t lost its metallic edge, that’s for sure; they’ve just learned to bring the heavy when it counts the most.  Case in point: “New Day” and “Deadman,” two of the album’s finest songs, both stretch out for well over eight minutes (in the latter’s case, over ten) and take every single second to build meticulously from subdued openings to ominous, building passages (a verse here, a bridge there, with little regard for the order in which these things usually come), finally reaching explosive, anthemic conclusions that make the entire journey more than worthwhile.  Even the shorter, radio-friendly songs on Sound Awake feel huge and expansive.  “All I Know” trudges along relentlessly while its melodies weave seamlessly around each other, buoyed by Kenny’s soaring vocals.  Album opener “Simple Boy” begins with an eerie marimba line before the rhythm section (comprised of Jon Stockman on bass and Steve Judd on drums, both delivering world-class performances on the album) storms in with a filling-rattling groove; however, guitarists Drew Goddard and Matt Hosking subvert the traditional headbanging guitar riff and take a more atmospheric, effects-laden approach throughout the song, making it all the more intense.  It’s this creative, expectation-defying mentality that makes the album so thrilling to listen to; Karnivool is clearly a band of unusual maturity for its members’ ages, and on Sound Awake, they display an incredible amount of songwriting and compositional talent.

Of course, this amount of conceptual ability wouldn’t be quite as impressive if the band didn’t have the chops to follow through.  Luckily, the gentlemen in Karnivool are more than up to the challenge of turning in killer performances to match their songwriting acumen.  As mentioned, Stockman and Judd provide a rhythmic foundation beyond reproach; Stockman’s bass playing in particular is quite impressive, alternating between a chugging low-end rumble and high-register countermelodies that provide great interplay with the guitar lines.  And both guitarists prove themselves as consistently creative, tasteful, and fun to listen to; their explorations with alternate tunings and effects lend each song its own distinct sonic identity, while the album’s heaviest moments feature detuned riffing that’s chunky, tight, and more than satisfying in every case.  Of course, Kenny’s vocal performance is top-notch, displaying the singer’s impressive range and tonal control.  Even the lyrics, often an Achilles’ Heel in bands such as this, are consistently good, without a single cringe-inducing or high-school-poetry-esque moment among them.  Clearly, I love this album.  Listening to it is always a great experience; it’s intricate enough that there’s almost always something new to notice, but visceral enough that it resonates on a deeper, emotional level every time.  Know that feeling?  Listen through to the climax of “New Day” and I guarantee you will.  Sound Awake is an amazing record, and Karnivool are positioned to become one of the biggest bands in the genre; if there’s any justice in the world, many more music fans will become aware of this incredibly talented band’s existence in the near future.  And I personally can’t wait to hear what they do next - if Sound Awake is any indication, Karnivool have a very bright future ahead of them.

Rating: 5/5

Standout Tracks:
“New Day”
“All I Know”
“Deadman”
“Simple Boy”
“Change (Part 2)”

Release Date (North America): February 16, 2010

Review: 30 Seconds To Mars - This Is War

From the beginning of their career, 30 Seconds To Mars have always had a penchant for big statements.  The band, led by actor Jared Leto on lead vocals and guitar, has released three albums in the past decade, and each one has been chock full of the kind of huge, anthemic rock that’s tailor-made to fill stadiums and blast out of car windows.  The band does have their progressive leanings - most heavily showcased on their self-titled debut, released in 2002 - but at their heart, Leto and company just want to make people sing along and pump their fists.  That fact has never been more obvious than on their 2009 release, This Is War.

30STM’s sound has evolved pretty drastically from album to album, and This Is War continues to take steps away from the chugging, theatrical industrial-metal that made up the majority of their debut.  One of two things that stick out like sore thumbs here is the heavy prevalence of synths and electronics - the band was clearly indulging their love of old-school synth-rock throughout the writing and recording process.  And for the most part, it works pretty well; most songs benefit from the programmed percussion tracks and 80’s-influenced keyboard patches that abound on the album.  Heck, “Hurricane,” one of the more enjoyable songs on the album, is based entirely around a pulsing electronica backbeat and synth-orchestra backdrop to Leto’s always-melodramatic singing - quite a big leap away from their blistering first single back in the day, “Capricorn (A Brand New Name).”  This isn’t a bad thing at all, though, since it’s actually a very satisfying song.  Of course, there are a fair share of rockers on This Is War, but the vibe this time around tends to be much more uplifting and less brooding than their earlier material.  Tracks like “Kings And Queens,” “Closer To The Edge,” and the title track are some of the most anthemic, singalong-inspiring songs 30STM have ever recorded, almost coming across as a heavier, goth-ier U2.  You’d think that the soaring, triumphant melodies in songs like these would be enough to incite plenty of singing along from the band’s fanbase, but it seems like 30STM didn’t want to take any chances, leading to the album’s other glaringly obvious trait: almost every song prominently features crowd vocals backing up Leto’s singing at key moments.  A small, lucky group of die-hard 30STM fans was invited into the studio to record these gang-vocal touches, and to their credit, their contributions really do add to the feel that the band was clearly going for - rabid throngs of followers hanging on Leto’s every word.  In a few places, it actually sounds like the crowd at a live show rather than a studio flourish.  In fact, if the band is guilty of anything on this record that would detract from its enjoyability, it would be simply laying it on way too thick.  The crowd vocals really don’t seem all that necessary sometimes, and the already-busy mix would be a bit less cluttered without them.  Also, Leto’s vocals are so over-the-top sometimes that it’s distracting - instead of coming off as earnest and convincing, his over-singing gets to ridiculous extremes on occasion.  30STM really did craft a good album with This Is War; it just seems like they were trying so damn hard.  With future releases, if the band lays back a bit and lets things come more naturally, the results would likely be even more inspiring.  Until then, This Is War will make a welcome addition to their repertoire, and fans of the band should certainly enjoy singing along to every word.

Rating: 3.5/5

Standout Tracks:
“Kings And Queens”
“Closer To The Edge”
“Night Of The Hunter”
“Hurricane”

Release Date: December 8, 2009

Review: The Swell Season - Strict Joy

If you’ve been following this blog at all, you’ve probably figured out by now that I’m something of a metalhead.  Most of the reviews I’ve written have been geared towards the heavier end of the musical spectrum.  Not one to be pigeonholed, however, I also spend a good deal of my time listening to lighter music; particularly over the last few years, I’ve been getting familiar with a wide range of indie-rock, folk-rock, post-rock, and various other hyphenated, hipster-friendly genres of music that rarely, if ever, involve screaming vocals, detuned guitars, and double-bass drums.  However, since I really haven’t been immersed in that scene for very long, I still can’t shake the feeling that I’m sort of a novice when it comes to intelligently writing about it.  Surely my opinions of a genre I’ve only been into for a couple years wouldn’t carry as much weight as my opinions on the kind of music I’ve listened to since high school.  (Of course, this assumes that any opinion I have carries any weight at all, which is a pretty tenuous concept to begin with.)  But gosh darn it, I just like the stuff, so why the hell shouldn’t I write about it?

That caveat aside, I’ll come right out and say this: one of the best albums of the past year or so is Strict Joy by indie-folk group The Swell Season.  The group’s Oscar-winning songwriting duo of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova may have started their rise to renown as actors in the movie Once, in addition to performing most of the movie’s soundtrack, but their most recent album expands on their sound in marvelous ways.  The sheer quality of the songwriting and performances on Strict Joy proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the success of Once and its soundtrack was much more than a fluke or Hollywood-induced trend.  Hansard and Irglova - assisted by a full lineup of other musicians, some migrating from Hansard’s previous band, The Frames - are incredibly talented musicians, and possess a musical chemistry that, if there’s any justice in the world, people will be writing about and admiring for years and years to come.

It’s fairly clear that Hansard is calling most of the musical shots on Strict Joy (of the album’s twelve songs, all but two feature Hansard on lead vocals and primary songwriting credits), which is fine by me, because his writing and delivery are unfailingly excellent.  His lyrics are simple and accessible but not watered-down, and the arrangements are varied enough from one song to another to keep the listener interested throughout the album’s runtime.  Bluesy opener “Low Rising” is an immediate highlight, as well as “The Verb,” “High Horses,” “In These Arms,” and “The Rain,” to name a few.  Hearing Hansard perform these songs is akin to reading an earnest, heartfelt letter from an old friend - he aims right for the melancholic sweet spot and scores a bull’s-eye almost every time.  Irglova’s offerings are much more subdued, but don’t detract from the album in any way - if anything, they serve as a welcome break from Hansard’s methodology.  “I Have Loved You Wrong” in particular is fantastic - the bassline and faint drumbeat combine with Irglova’s just-above-a-whisper vocals to wash over you and make you feel just a little bit more at peace with the universe than you did before.  Well, maybe nothing that extreme, but hyperbole notwithstanding, it’s a truly excellent song, and yet another highlight on a very good album.  Strict Joy is the kind of listening experience that doesn’t come around often enough.  It’s the kind of record that absorbs you from the second you hit Play to the last note.  The songs are the kind of songs that inspire you to pick up a guitar and write your own.  It’s music that’s personal enough to feel intimate, while remaining accessible enough for just about anyone to relate to and be moved by.  It isn’t quite perfect - Irglova’s other featured song “Fantasy Man” and the final two tracks don’t quite reach the sublime level of most of the rest of the record - but it’s damn close.  And if nothing else, it sure was enough to melt the heart of this metal-hardened blogger.  Enthusiastically recommended.

Rating: 4.5/5

Standout Tracks:
“Low Rising”
“I Have Loved You Wrong”
“High Horses”
“The Rain”

Release Date: October 27, 2009