With its bright sounding guitar lines and prominent bass groove, ‘Pyramid of Djoser’, the lead track from Yawning Balch’s fourth opus, opens a little more forcefully than you’d possibly expect from a typical Yawning Balch recording. In many ways, its busier feel, evident even from its first few bars, comes closer to sounding more like a Yawning Man leftover. This doesn’t make it in any way bad, of course: for desert rock fans, the immediacy with which the quartet hit a rocky groove here creates something striking; something which, stylistically, sits at the pinnacle of desert rock coolness.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
ABRAMS – Loon
Combining a stoner rock swagger and a post hardcore crunch, ‘Glass House’ by Abrams isn’t particularly shy when it comes to sharing a huge riff. Throughout the track, the band attack with a real intent, and although there are moments where a superb drum sound feels like the dominant force, a really crunchy Helmet influenced guitar sound brings a huge amount of weight to an impressive, heavy melody. The bulk of this performance delights in sharing a great groove, but even when Abrams slow things enough to drop into a classic hardcore breakdown, or unexpectedly break into a thrashy riff to finish, the tones and attitude shared are absolutely first rate.
SLAYER – Hell Awaits: 40th Anniversary
Although Slayer would become absolute legends of thrash and their third and fifth albums (‘Reign In Blood’ and ‘Seasons In The Abyss’) would be considered genre classics, the band’s formative years presented a less polished band in many ways. Their debut LP ‘Show No Mercy’ had the speed, but not necessarily the songs or production values. Tracks like ‘Evil Has No Boundaries’ and ‘Die By The Sword’ had a sense of force, but with Tom Araya’s vocal sounding like a man shouting into a bucket and the higher registers of Jeff Hanneman’s guitar cutting through everything at ear bleeding levels, it wouldn’t be until later, via the band’s live shows circa 1991, that the true potential in these songs would become clear. With several years’ distance, other numbers like ‘Fight Till Death’ and ‘Face The Slayer’ just sound a little naive, even if in 1983, Slayer’s speed and aggression was forging a new path for metal.
BLAZONER – Sonic Chambers EP
A well curated covers release can often be fun, but such things rarely come with such a scattershot selection of influences as Blazoner’s ‘Sonic Chambers’. An EP that started out life purely by accident actually plays like a short CV of the US rock band’s chief interests, taking in material by artists as diverse as The Rolling Stones and (the) Melvins.
IAIN MATTHEWS – Rhythm Of The West: The Columbia Years 1975-1977
In 1970, Iain Matthews formed band Matthews Southern Comfort, a top notch country rock band which would become his main musical vehicle following his departure from Fairport Convention. Formed essentially as a vehicle to promote Iain’s 1969 solo album of the same name while out on the road, they’ll always be remembered for their UK number 1 hit with a cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’ – a recording very much modelled upon the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recording – but the band recorded a lot of strong material across two more rather fine albums. Over the next couple of years, Matthews barely rested; by the end of 1972, he’d recorded and toured with country rock band Plainsong and also recorded a brilliant solo album,‘If You Saw Thro’ My Eyes’. That would ultimately be the springboard for a run of great solo records over the next decade.
By the mid 70s, Matthews had already amassed an impressive body of work. His albums ‘Tigers Will Survive’ (1972), the marvellous ‘Valley Hi’ (1973), ‘Journeys From Gospel Oak’ and ‘Some Days You Eat The Bear’ (both released in 1974) shared a typical mix of folk, country and pop-rock tunes mixing covers with original material, but 1975’s ‘Go For Broke’ found Iain taking a dip into slightly more commercial waters. …And it’s with that album – a slightly overlooked entry in the Matthews canon – that ‘Rhythm of The West: The Columbia Years 1975-1977’ begins its look back at another prolific period for the singer-songwriter.