Articles
lanky has written the following articles:
Nick Cave, Warren Ellis - The Proposition OST
It's an odd thing, releasing film soundtracks on CD. I mean real soundtracks - there's nothing odd about releasing compilations of shit songs by cool bands with a loose connection to American Pie. But this is background music, composed to accompany specific moving images and dialogue, and since I haven't seen the film, I can't help but feel I'm missing something...»
Brian Eno - How Many Worlds
Ah, Brian Eno. It's been a while, but he's finally stopped experimenting with ambience and started writing songs again.»
Life of Agony - Broken Valley
Of all the albums I've heard this year, I can't think of one I've simultaneously looked forward to and dreaded as much as this. Life of Agony's 1997 opus 'Soul Searching Sun' was virtually flawless, and the prospect of a second round had me creaming myself. But, of course, there was always the chance 'Broken Valley' would be standard reunion fodder and piss all over the band's fine legacy. So which is it?»
Deep Purple - Rapture of the Deep
Deep Purple in the twenty-first century are very much like Pierce Brosnan's James Bond - a suave, charming and elegant composite of the best bits; recalling and updating past glories without breaking into a sweat, never really pushing the boundaries but being interesting enough to justify a new release every couple of years. And there's no invisible cars or over-long action sequences to ruin this one.»
Killing Joke - Reissues
Twenty-five years after Killing Joke's emergence, their first four albums (well, three and a live mini) have been remastered with specially chosen bonus tracks and the like to clog up HMV sales for years to come.»
Nine Inch Nails - Only
"You might say I'm losing my focus," sings/says Trent Reznor fifty seconds into the new Nine Inch Nails single. Yes, I might. Production quirks aside (live drums - ooh!) current release 'With Teeth' is probably the most pointless disc NIN have ever released and 'Only' epitomises this.»
Undercut - To Die For
Another winner from the band I like to refer to as This Year's Del Amitri.»
The Conway Story - Ghostwriter
'Ghostwriter' presses all the indie ballad buttons, managing to be at once droning and anthemic, swelling at all the appropriate moments and delivering a memorable if meaningless refrain.»
The Morenas - It Shouldn't Mata
There's something of a buzz around The Morenas at the moment and, with their debut album on the way this summer, 'It Shouldn't Mata' is the first step of their bid for fame. Will it work? I don't see why not.»
Motormark - Chrome Tape
Digital hardcore with a precise balance between the digital and the hardcore. Solid electro beats with retro synth and grunge guitar. Like a robot Roxette.»
VAST - Nude
With Filter AWOL, it's high time for another mildly industrial one-man-band to keep Reznor's throne warm while the great man diddles. In VAST's case, that one man is Jon Crosby, and 'Nude' more than justifies his turn on the throne.»
Headrush - Back Again, Rock 'N' Roll
The title says it all really: a full-on, balls-to-the-walls rock experience.»
Undercut - Soul Food Mother
It's a sound big enough to fill the aircraft hangar the band have been rehearsing in, but tight and focused with it.»
Big Strides - Suicidal
Witham, the piss-soaked little Essex town that I call home, used to have its very own record shop. It was about the size of your bedroom and it sold hundreds of singles by the likes of Schtum, Flyscreen and Pura Vida. London three-piece Big Strides, had they been releasing singles in 1996, would have been among these greats.»
Dream Theater - Live at Budokan
The key to good progressive rock is in the word "progressive". Seems obvious, no? At its height, prog was forward-thinking and innovative. Nowadays, any band can be tagged as prog rock (or at least prog-tinged) as long as they've got gay-sounding vocals and long songs filled with pointless guitar noodling. Witness Muse. And Dream Theater.»
Blackmore's Night - Beyond The Sunset - The Romantic Collection
You're familiar with Ritchie Blackmore, of course, from Deep Purple and Rainbow; here's what he sounds like when he's wearing his other hat. You know, one of those funny black ones like Puritans used to wear.»
Megadeth - The System Has Failed
Two years ago, so the story goes, Dave Mustaine fell asleep on his arm and woke to find that he couldn't play the guitar anymore. Consequently, he disbanded the then-directionless Megadeth and declared his musical career over. Now he's back to drag his band's name through the mud once more.»
Taproot, Disturbed, Chevelle, Unloco - Music As A Weapon II
Fourteen tracks of mediocre bands giving uninspired live performances of songs with titles like 'Empty', 'Bruises' and 'Dehumanized.' Bet you can hardly wait...»
Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue
You've heard it before, and it was better last time. Unless last time was Good Charlotte, in which case Yellowcard just have the edge. And that's as good an example of damning with faint praise as you'll get anywhere.»
Vaux - There Must Be Some Way To Stop Them
It's one of the harsh truths of life that not everyone can be be groundbreaking and revolutionary. Sometimes a band has to settle for merely being very good at what they do. Colorado-based hardcore sextet Vaux are one of those bands.»
Amen - Death Before Musick
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Since 2000's 'We Have Come For Your Parents', Amen frontman Casey Chaos has parted company with both his record label and the other four members of his band. You'd never know it from listening to 'Death Before Musick', though.»
The Wildhearts - Coupled With
'The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed' was loved and loathed in roughly equal measures. 'Coupled With', a collection of recent B-sides along with lost single 'Stormy In The North, Karma In The South', might serve as something of an antidote. It's the stuff that didn't fit in with the sugary, loved-up theme of the album; the stuff with the balls. And there's a lot of it.»
Iron Maiden - Dance of Death
It's become something of a tradition to praise any new Maiden album to high heaven, and royally slag its predecessor (which was, of course, praised to high heaven when it came out). So, in keeping with tradition, 'Dance of Death' is an improvement. 2000's
The Wildhearts - The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed
It hurts to write this, it really does. I love the Wildhearts. Even the bits everyone else hates. But The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed is... bleh. It's not bad, as such; it's just not good. 'Nexus Icon' kicks us off nicely»
Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
Type O Negative would be fine if they stopped trying to be funny. I respect them for not taking themselves too seriously and all, but it's really distracting when they fill their lyrics with schoolboy humour. From a "special" school. 'I Like Goils' is about a bloke desperately trying to prove how not gay »
Metallica - Load
Rewind back to 1996. Metallica have just spent five years writing and recording the follow-up to the 2nd/3rd/4th best rock/metal album of all-time (the hugely overrated 'Metallica', alternating in frequent Kerrang! polls with 'Nevermind', 'In Utero' and, for some reason, 'Appetite »
(Review of nothing)
"These four walls are closing in/look at the fix you've put me in." So sang a woman in a Rolo advert during Hollyoaks yesterday. But, bless her, she lacked the sheer intensity of Graham Bonnet's original vocal. You can almost hear the veins bulging on his purpling head. 'Since You've Been Gone'»
Of Arrowe Hill - I Are Becoming Instinct
Oh goody. An EP. That means I get to tell you about four songs instead of just one, which gives me more chance of padding this review out to a decent length. Or it would if I had a single thing to say about any of them. Of Arrowe Hill are pleasant enough as prog-flavoured indie background noise. 'I Are Becomi»
The Wildhearts - Vanilla Radio
I'm not sure what to make of this. On one hand, it's not the melody-laden pop-metal we expected from this reformed Wildhearts line-up. Sure, another 'Headfuck' or 'Miles Away Girl' was probably too much to hope for, but on first listen, 'Vanilla Radio' doesn't sound like it would hold its ow»
InMe - Firefly
You've heard the hype: Essex teenagers, known each other since they were kids, blah, Nirvana, blah, Pink Floyd... Debut single 'Underdose' proved InMe could rock with the best of them, now here's the sequel. 'Firefly' is a blitz of crunchy guitars, rumbling bass, sharp drumming and Dave Mc»