Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Top Albums of 2013: Honourable Mention

I liked these albums quite a bit. Just not enough to write about them.

Alice In ChainsThe Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory And Injury
AnciientsHearts Of Oak
AutopsyThe Headless Ritual

Agrimonia – Rites of Separation
The Black Angels – Indigo Meadow
Black Sabbath13
Black Wizard – Young Wisdom

The Body – Christs, Redeemers
Boris - Präparat

California X –
California X
Colin Stetson -
New History Warfare Vol 3: To See More Light
Crystal Stilts – Nature Noir
Dead MeadowMarble Womb

Ensemble Pearl – Ensemble Pearl
Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind
Fuck Buttons –
Slow Focus
Gorguts –
Coloured Sands
Gnaw – Horrible Chamber
Hallow Moon –
Hallow Moon
Immolation – Kingdom Of Conspiracy

Inquisition -
Obscure Verses For The Multiverse
KEN Mode -
Entrench
Kylesa –
Ultraviolet
Locrian
– Return To Annhilation
Lycus
– Tempest
Melvins – Everybody Loves Sausages

Moths & Locusts
– Mission Collapse In The Twin Sun Megaverse
Mount Kimbie -
Cold Spring Fault Less Youth
My Bloody Valentine –
M.B.V.
Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds –
Push The Sky Away
Noisem –
Agony Defined
Pelican
– Forever Becoming
Portal
– Vexavoid
Russian Circles - Memorial

Skeletonwitch
– Serpents Unleashed
Shining – One One One
SubRosa – More Constant Than GodsThree Wolf Moon - Three Wolf Moon
Toxic Holocaust – Chemistry Of Consciousness

Ty Segall – Sleeper
Vastum
– Patricidal Lust
Ulcerate - Vermis

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Mind Control
Vattnet Viskar
– Sky Swallower
Windhand - Soma

Watain – The Wild Hunt
Wolf People - Fain
µ-Ziq – Chewed Corners

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Friedhof - Friedhof



Band: Friedhoff
Album: Friedhoff
Label: Sound-Star Ton
Year: 1971

This obscure German power trio released one album of raw axe-worship in 1971, then promptly faded into legend. Named after the German word for “graveyard,” these guys grind out a gloomy but high energy take on hard rock and proto-metal, complete with hot and highly indulgent lead guitar playing, and no attempt whatsoever at anything resembling a song for the radio. They didn’t even bother hiring a singer!

 In much of my research on the band, I’ve seen them referred to as a krautrock band, mostly due to the fact that they are German, from the early ‘70s, and very few people have actually heard the record. This is false. Don’t track this record down expecting to hear anything resembling the endless grooves of Can, the lysergic free rock of Amon Düül II, the mantra-like jams of Ash Ra Tempel or the synthetic dreamscapes of Tangerine Dream. This is a hard rock record, pure and simple, and these guys want nothing more than to melt your face.

Side 1 consists of just two songs, the first of which opens slowly, stoking the flames of a psychedelic jam and building into what is eventually a pretty rockin’ crescendo. Appropriately titled “Orgasmus,” it takes a while to get going, but once that jaw-dropping lead guitar starts to let loose it really cooks. It also takes over 11 minutes to run its course, which should tell you what these guys think of the notion of restraint. Not to be outdone, the second cut “Nothing at All” is even longer, though it generally follows the same formula. A little over three minutes in, the rhythm section drops away, leaving the guitarist to go absolutely mental over complete silence, covering every harmonic corner of his guitar neck and digging into his fretboard as if his life depended on it. It’s an astonishing guitar performance, and if you like heavily distorted wah-inflected leads complete with relentless pick attack, screaming bends and feedbacking amplifier abuse, this might be one of the most exciting things you’ve ever heard. And that’s not even halfway through the song! Soon it’s the drummer’s turn, as he whips out a couple minutes of arrhythmic drum solo that was an occupational hazard to most rock fans of this era. Eventually the full band kicks back in and pummels the message home for another off the rails jam to close out the track.

Side 2 has a few more bite-sized tracks, and a couple like “Undertaker’s Joy” flirt with some pretty catchy lead lines. It’s really just more of the same. Friedhof basically do one thing, but they do it with conviction and a ton of energy, and the playing is pretty accomplished throughout. Although the record is extremely rocking, it’s got none of the strung-out brutality of some of the doomier bands of this era like Sabbath or Pentagram, and at the same time not a whiff of blues purity or progressive ambition sullies their pure single-minded determination to rock out. If you want to hear some absolutely ferocious lead guitar playing that sounds like it was recorded in a dungeon, you’ll dig this. If you’re wondering when the vocals are gonna kick in, best to just give it a pass.