New Music Review - Blind Image

Another new band from India, this one goes under the moniker of Blind Image.

http://www.blindimage.net/

New Music Review - Limit Zero

Time for something new. As well as reviewing the bigger bands who have their CDs in shops and a big fanbase, I'll also be reviewing up-and-coming artists from all around the world - If you have a band with an album or an EP recorded, let me know here or at our Facebook page and I'll put you down for a review. You'll have to send me your music too!

Today's band is Limit Zero, from India.

Meshuggah - The massive Review

Meshuggah are a crazy band, and one that have divided my opinion. I used to love them, and then just as quickly as I fell in love with them, I began to fall out of love with them. As crazy and intense as they are, their lack of dynamic quickly became boring to me and I never really went back to them.

First, a word about Meshuggah for the uninitiated. I'm not going to try and pidgeon-hole them into any particular genre, but some tag words which you could use to describe them are "Math-metal", "Progressive Metal", "Experimental" and "Downright insane".

Have you ever heard a down-tuned guitar? Meshuggah took it a step further, going almost an octave lower than the standard guitar tuning (yes, practically a bass) and now play guitars with 8 strings on them. Ever heard an odd time signature? Meshuggah again took it a step further and play music which is pretty much a consistent jumble of polyrhythms, usually over an implied 4/4 backbeat on the drums to allow you to headbang along. Despite this, they also have moments of very sparse, ambient and sometimes disturbing soundscapes.

So what's my current opinion of the band?

Its not background music for sure. Meshuggah are a band which you have to sit and listen to, you can study it and find a whole wealth of crazy ideas or you can just let it drag you in - its quite hypnotic in a certain way. However, this is what I've always had a problem with. Despite it being deep music which is great for sitting and listening to, its unique over-the-top level of relentless brutality gets tiring. There are only two dynamics within Meshuggah's music - insanely heavy metal, and its-quiet-almost-too-quiet bad-LSD-trip infused ambient gaps.

I'll probably address this again and again as I listen, but its one of those marmite qualities about their music. Some like this incredibly stark contrast - I myself love a lot of music with stark contrast. However, the fact that Meshuggah takes it to both extremes makes it a fatiguing listen for me. Its so heavy and relentless, and needs some dynamic, but when you get to the quiet but it tends to feel like its dragging on too long and all of a sudden you're wanting the brutality back. Its tension and release, but I feel that its tension and release taken too far.

These are just my own reactions to the band, though. They have a legion of fans who love this tension and release, and who could listen to the brutality on repeat all day. To those people, I give kudos. My brain can only handle so much extreme complexity within a space of time under normal listening conditions.

So anyway, I've decided to come back to them now. I'm going to listen to every single album, in no particular order, and give a fair subjective review on their work. Perhaps I'll come out of this with a new found love, perhaps I'll think they're boring and pretentious, who knows.

Here goes.

Porcupine Tree: My favourite band, reviewed to death.

Absolutely everyone who knows me in real life knows how much I rave about this band, and in particular the frontman/writer/arranger/producer Steven Wilson. If you already know and love Porcupine Tree, then this blog post won't really give you anything new. I thought I'd just add to the reviews on this page and review as much Porcupine Tree as I can be bothered to.

Meaning, 'I was gonna review every single album but they have too many'. Plus, its hard to review the really old Porcupine Tree without a half-burnt joint and some ambient lighting for context.

So anyway, read on for a lot of words, about the band that is, for me, the greatest one ever.

Review: t.A.T.u - Waste Management

An entire album presented as a single hour-long song? Sign me up!

Of course, most people remember Tatu (which I'm going to type as a word because the mix of capitals and full stops takes too long) as the "omg lesbian marketing scam". Of course, it was successful in creating a stir, but then they kinda vanished. Since then, they now have 3 albums out, the latest of which (Happy smiles) has been re-jigged into a single and called "Waste Management".

Blatant repackaging or artistic beauty? Read on.

NICKELBACK - The good, the bad, and the suck

Nickelback are my favourite band to talk about. Why is that?

Because everybody hates them. So much.

I know exactly why everyone hates them. I know all the songs they hate. I hate some of those songs too. You can't get past the fact that some of those songs are really contrived and awful.

So why post about this band that everybody hates?

Well, to put it bluntly: I fucking love Nickelback.