Cradle Of Filth - Evermore Darkly

Cradle Of Filth's new recording has a great intro called 'Transmissions from Hell'. It reminds me of old school recordings like Motley Crue's Shout At The Devil or Iron Maiden's Number Of The Beast. It has creepy effects with a narrator talking about digging a hole in Iraq, recording 'sounds from Hell' and then saying "Here is that recording," then the metal starts. It's fun, and I like when artists take time and put the effort in to do those things. It's a great start to a new cd got me right in the mood.

These guys are as heavy as they come, tight and fast, and talented musicians. The singer isn't screaming all the time in one tone or growl. He mixes it up and uses his voice in more than just a constant scream-growl-howl, which is nice considering so many metal singers (growlers) these days sound the same from song one to song ten. Once I listen to two songs I get bored with the rest of a cd because it sounds the same. Not with Cradle though. They also have a talented female voice that makes an appearance in the song Lilith Immaculate, both singing and with some auto tune or harmonize effects while she speaks. It gives it a horror film feel. It's fun to listen to.

They have two songs called 'Forgive Me Father'. One is 'I have sinned' and the other is 'I'm in a trance." 'Forgive Me Father I'm in a Trance' has electronic drums and sort of a techno feel to them and it's a fast song throughout, going about 144bpm. I don't know how most metalheads will like it but I did. To me it's fun when artists mix it up some. At least it isn't a ballad. It's electronic but also headbangin.

Overall I like Evermore Darkly. It definitely has a dark feel and they mix it up and give us a full album. They use some keyboards, electric drums, female vocals, a great intro to the cd, and they're bashers. Something missing for me is lead guitar solos. That's the only drawback for me. I love metal guitar and I love great solos. Cradle doesn't deliver there. Otherwise it's a good cd that's worth checking out.

\m/
Terry

Psycroptic - The Inherited Repression

These guys shred, wicked fast, and the recording is as tight as I've heard. Their guitar player is talented and pulls off some riffs that are amazing, truly amazing. There's one in the opening track, 'Carriers Of The Plague', that blew me away, a fantastic, technical, catchy, metal riff. But this dude doesn't play leads??? I don't get why so many bands leave leads out, and I can't believe this guy can't play them after hearing his riff ability. Some of them are almost leads in themselves. He burns through scales, or parts of scales as riffs but he doesn't play leads. Did some band in the past have commercial success without using leads and now everybody else is following? Remember Metallica's St Anger? That was a conscious decision to not play leads because they were following a trend, and it pissed off Kirk, but he caved and did what Lars suggested.

Anyway, metal and rock has had success over the years largely because it's produced great guitar players who can stand on their own. Nowadays many bands don't do them. Maybe it's just me? I wanna hear a dude shred though. Psycroptic's axe player is truly talented and I'm sure he can play leads, but he doesn't.

My other bitch for this band is the 'Cookie Monster' (screaming all the time for those of you not familiar with that reference) on vox. Once you've heard him scream for ten seconds you've heard all he has to offer. Every song sounds the same as far as vocals are concerned. I know a lot of guys like that, but it's just not for me usually. I absolutely love metal music but I get tired of hearing the same "singer" in almost every band. Some of them I can handle but a lot I cannot. If you're into that then you might like this guy. I would like it more if it was changed up some. For me I like to hear singing and screaming mixed, not just full on screaming from start to finish. He's good at it, I'll give him that, very powerful.

Okay, my bitching is done. On the good side, like I said, these guys are tight, I can make out every kick drum, every note the guitar player does, and so on. Speaking of kick drums, this dude is so fast and precise it could be mistaken for a machine playing the drums. It's almost inhuman how fast he is, and I love some good double bass. I'll say it again, the guitar player shreds but he doesn't play leads. Still, he's worth giving a listen to. Maybe their style will fit you better than me. They definitely don't suck, it just isn't quite my thing. Their music is solid, it's heavy and tight, though I tend to lean more toward 'pop metal'. I like catchy, heavy riffs, like Pantera for instance. They had a style I loved. Psycroptic, after the first song doesn't really have much that 'catches' me, it's more like classical in the sense that there's good parts in a song but it goes all over the place and has tempo changes that make a person lose their groove. Psycroptic reminds me of that some.

I dunno, if you've liked their work in the past you'll probably like Inherited Repression, as well. It's good, just not quite my thing. Close, but no cigar. That riff in the opening track was stellar though, and there is definitely some solid parts that I dig. It's alright:-)

\m/
Terry

Alice Cooper Welcome To My Nightmare 2 Is Disappointing

So I am working on my book (yes I am working on a book of fiction. Don't expect it anytime soon) and I figure I might as well put on one of the many new cd's that people sent to me recently. I have to say I was extremely excited to hear this new one from Alice Cooper. Not that I was expecting it to be anything like the first Welcome To My Nightmare. You can never go home again, but I have enjoyed his new material so I had high hopes. Then that first song starts. Very soon I hear auto-tuned vocals. Yeah, no shit!? This new cd starts off with a song that includes a good helping of auto-tune vocals. Since when does a legend like Alice Cooper need auto-tune? Since his vocals on the rest of the cd are perfectly fine I am lead to believe that a producer or maybe co-writer Desmond Child needs to be punched in the throat.

The cd does have some good solid tracks on it, but it also has some songs that will make you want to start stabbing yourself in the head with a screwdriver. When "Disco Bloodbath Boogie Fever" started my wife asked if that was the song that had the queen of annoying Ke$ha on it. Sadly the answer is no. It is more annoying than the song with auto tune! "Ghouls Gone Wild" isn't too much better either. I must really stress that for the most part this is a good cd, but there are a few tracks that should have been buried in a very deep pit and set on fire so as to never leak to the public. They are the sonic equivalent to taking a gut burrito fueled shit on a five star dinner plate. I was shocked that the song with Ke$sha was one of the least annoying. In fact it was one of the better songs on the cd despite a small bit of auto-tune on it as well. The auto-tune here was not only done way more tastefully, but it was also not the first song on a cd from a Classic Rock legend.

So who will like this cd? Despite the cd getting several positive reviews, I'm not sure anyone can honestly like this. The stinkers have such a putrid stench about them that they ruin any enjoyment that the possible good tracks could bring. If someone is a pop fan they will not like this because it is mostly full of Rock songs. The Rock songs are going to hear the pop songs and consider nails on a chalkboard a better choice of something to listen to. If you were a fan of the first Welcome To My Nightmare just go out and buy that instead. This cd has nothing to do with that classic and if you are expecting that in any way you will be as disappointing as I am right now.

Cd Review: The Von Ehrics - Two Foot Stomp

When I saw the band described as a mix of '"cow punk, country, gospel, and red dirt rock" I knew this was going to be painful. I have found that if a band can't nail their sound down to less than four basic styles, it means they sound like a clusterfuck. Either that or it is just plain horrid. This is a little of both. It's like the band has no focus, no inspiration, and no vision. They just can't seem to pick what cliché they want to follow. It's like a ton of over done crap all tossed together. At best it is like someone put a really bad Pop Country 45 on high speed. At other times it comes off like an old school punk band tried to get their inbred cousin to fill in on vocals.

This is proof that bands sometimes need to stop working so hard on trying to be new, cutting edge, and innovative, and maybe just try to write a good song. Sure they sound like no one else has, but there is a reason. Everyone else can hear that this sounds like absolute crap. Alice Cooper said it best, "Where's the song?" I was so busy cringing at the punk rock hickville that I couldn't remember anything about a song seconds after it ended. This is really bad Country mixed with even more pathetic Punk.  Maybe this might work as a novelty for some, but there is no way this band will last any longer than Green Jelly did unless they can learn to focus on one style and learn to write some actual songs. Wow was this painful. I think I liked Rednex  song "Cotton Eye Joe" better. Or maybe I just despise any and all Country so bad that even a small hint of it is like nails on a chalkboard? Either way I really hated this one. Fair warning though? The cd I was sent had one track listing and the cover it came with had a totally different track listing, so this means these idiots might have two releases. I'm sure they both suck, but the person in charge of putting cd's into jewel cases has as much focus as the band so it fits.

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CD Review-Pale-In The Time Of Dangerous Men

Pale's album, In The Time Of Dangerous Men, will probably be too indie-rock sounding for most Rock My Monkey readers.  That doesn't mean this band or album sucks, but they are definitely not a hard rocking, throw back a beer after a long day kind of band.  They're more atmospheric, a bit moody, teetering on a whiny style, but not so much that you could call them emo.  I think they have potential, but they are missing a bit of "oomph" to their sound.

The lyrics at least have some thought to them, even if they aren't epic or deep.  A lot of the choruses repeat what I'm sure the band intended to be meaningful, but most of the time that's a swing and a miss.  At least it's more clever than just "oh baby, I need you" or other obvious tripe attempting to talk your girl out of her panties.  The shallow end of the lyrical pool still lets you create some kind of splash. 

You can tell when one song ends and the next one begins on In The Time Of Dangerous Men, but most of the songs still sound like minor variations of each other.  This makes it good for background music, but not if you're trying to catch a new listener's interest.  After several listens I still can't pick out one outstanding track, except for the one heavier (not heavy) song, Our Lone Star Shines, that sounded like it was from a different band.

Here are a few things I would suggest the band do a little differently to keep my interest past a few listens.  Songs like My Final Warning and Catastrophic Skies go on for too long.  I get they were trying for a certain vibe, but it felt like an endurance test at the three minute mark, let alone at the four minute mark, and beyond. A lot of the songs on the album are past four minutes, and that's just too much emoting and feeling for me after twelve songs' worth.  They're good, but they'd be better if they ended even thirty seconds earlier.  

This album won't put you in the right mood to listen to it.  You have to be feeling pretty mellow already to be able to enjoy it.  In The Time Of Dangerous Men is a solid album, but it has nothing outstanding to set Pale above the pack of bands that sound a lot like they do.  The singer has a good voice, which would benefit from staying away from the high notes, and so many "oooh ooohs" as filler, and the band all obviously know how to play their instruments.  But Pale is missing that spark that will light a fire in the listener and make them seek out more of what they have to offer.  With time I think they could get there, especially if they continue in the vein of songs like Our Lone Star Shines.  But this album won't be the one to break them big.

Despite a few issues with it, I really did like this album.  It was good mood music, good to play in the background while I worked.  But my tastes are definitely more towards the "this band wouldn't survive three seconds onstage opening for Motorhead" end of the listening spectrum.  The heaviest song on the album is Our Lone Star Shines (also one of the shortest, which I don't think is a coincidence), but still probably isn't heavy enough for a typical RMM reader.

Most RMM readers aren't going to even give this band a listen.  But for those who are secure enough in their self-assigned gender role to take the chance, I don't think you'll rush to turn it off.  Wait for that mellow mood to strike you.  I think you then may kick back, sip that beer instead of chug it, and imagine the members of Pale walking into a biker bar.  Then ponder all the permutations of events that could ensue from there.  There's value in being able to let your imagine wander like that.  Give it a go with Pale's In The Time Of Dangerous Men!