In Flames – Sounds of a Playground Fading (2011)

Photo Credit: In Flames

Early last year, In Flames lost their last remaining founding member, Jesper Strömblad, so he could get treatment for his problems with alcoholism. Fan reaction was certainly mixed in reaction, with some saying the band was no longer In Flames, and others looking forward to how they moved on without Jesper.

After nearly a year and a half of waiting, fans got their answer with the release of Sounds of a Playground Fading. The album’s guitars were recorded entirely by Björn Gelotte, In Flames’ co-lead and rhythm axeman since 1999. The result is surprising.

In Flames has been steadily moving towards a more metalcore and nu-metal influenced sound since Reroute to Remain in 2002, and while this album still has some of those influences, it has some of the heaviest riffs they’ve done since then. The guitar work is a big step up from their previous album A Sense of Purpose – it’s more present, it’s heavier, and it’s much more at the forefront of the mix. Gelotte has brought back the heavier elements of the band’s classic melodic death metal style (“A New Dawn”), while making sure it still sounds modern (“Deliver Us”).

While much of the album’s bulk is good old familiar In Flames, there are a few sonic experiments as well. “The Attic” is reminiscent of the instrumental tracks on Whoracle and Colony, but it has more free-form guitar playing, and features a largely spoken-word performance by Anders Friden. In a similar vein comes “Jester’s Door”, a short track featuring a Hammond organ, an almost electronic drumbeat that kicks in halfway through, and more spoken-word by Friden. And in the album’s most perplexing twist, it closes with “Liberation” – a rock ballad with a powerful chorus and clean vocals. It’s completely against what is expected of In Flames, but it sounds great, and shows that they’re willing to try experimenting with new sounds.

Friden has taken an even more experimental slant on this album, besides the two-tracks he provides spoken-word vocals for. Similar to what he did on A Sense of Purpose, his vocal style has moved even more into his half-screaming, half-singing territory. Anders is not the world’s best singer by any means, but by some miracle, his voice can fit into the slower parts of the songs quite well. He has less success with his new screaming style, though, with his vocals often sounding weak and almost forced. In some spots he does go into a lower, more powerful growl, which he still sounds comfortable in, but unfortunately this does not happen much. But even despite this, it’s probably for the better – with the exception of “A New Dawn” (quite possibly the best song on the album), I can’t picture any of these songs with his Whoracle-era vocals – it just wouldn’t work.

Even though not every song on Sounds of a Playground Fading is a hit, and Anders’ vocals can be rough at times, this album can definitely be called a return to form. They are capable of retaining their old sound and further developing it without Jesper, and prove it here. It is a surprisingly good album from a band who’s future looked doubtful, but they persevered, and showed that they still have plenty of creative juice left in the tank.

Foo Fighters – Wasting Light (2011)

Photo Credit: Foo Fighters

On Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace, the Foo Fighters were tracing a clear evolutionary path that started on In Your Honour‘s acoustic disc – they were starting to blend a softer, acoustic side into their rock songwriting, creating a dynamic, mature record that they hadn’t come close to before. Fast forward four years from that album, a time in which their first Greatest Hits compilation was released, as well as a stint behind the kit in Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl, and we get Wasting Light, the band’s newest offering.

Wasting Light seems to forget the past six years. Having the distinction of being the only album recorded in Dave Grohl’s garage, it sounds like the product of it’s environment. Largely gone is the push and pull, loud and soft dynamic of Echoes, and instead, it’s replaced by a solid 48 minutes of rock. From the get-go, it starts of with a jangling pick-scrape rhythm, before bursting into a powerful guitar riff and Grohl’s scream of “these are my famous last words”. Much of the album follows this pattern, of big distorted guitars and intense vocals, and even when it calms down for a moment, it settles comfortably into the niche Grohl created on There Is Nothing Left to Lose – well-crafted, mid-tempo rock songs destined for the radio.

And while this is the best rock they’ve played since The Color and the Shape, I can’t help but feel like it’s a step back. Echoes demonstrated that they have the potential to be something else besides the biggest alternative arena rock band out there, by putting Dave in what I think is his best environment – an acoustic one. But despite that, I can’t be too disappointed. This is one of the most solid albums the band has written in a good while, avoiding the confused and muddled sound of One by One and the bombast of In Your Honour‘s rock side. It sounds like how it was recorded, by a bunch of friends hanging out in a garage, playing music together. It’s fun, natural, and doesn’t demand much of the listener. Each of the songs is built to get stuck in your head, without resorting to over-the-top hooks or the cliched sound of many modern rock bands. It may be a step off of the path they were originally forging before their break, but it’s deliciously Foo in every way, and fires on all cylinders.

Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)

Photo Credit: Radiohead

In Rainbows is Radiohead’s seventh album, released in 2007. It comes from a band with a long history of taking chances and experimenting with their sound, never releasing something that sounded like a clone of their last album. And true to fashion, In Rainbows sounds like nothing they’d done before – and like everything – all at once.

Radiohead consists of five members, Thom Yorke (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Jonny Greenwood (guitar, Ondes Martenot, effects), Colin Greenwood (bass guitar), Ed O’Brien (rhythm guitar/effects), and Phil Selway (drums). Most people know the band for their biggest hit, “Creep”, and brush them off as just another alternative rock band from the 1990s. However, beyond that, they developed into a band with a penchant for pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable from a rock band, and that sense of daring is probably the biggest reason why I enjoy their music so much.

In their previous work, they morphed from a British alternative rock band, into something resembling the offspring of Pink Floyd and Aphex Twin – expansive textures and paranoid, insular electronica. Before the release of In Rainbows, they had largely eschewed the melodic quality of their earlier work, which alienated the band to a lot of casual listeners. But with this album, they managed to make something that blended both that strong melodic sense, and the lush textures that they had become more known for. The first song on the album, “15 Step”, is a good example of this – it starts off with a looped electronic drumbeat (that’s strikingly danceable), before Yorke’s high, melodic vocal line comes in. From there, a clean, jazzy guitar line enters, adding texture, but still leaving more than enough space for the bass guitar and vocals to breathe and mingle.

Texture and space are in fact the two biggest keys to the album’s sound. After the short, uncharacteristic burst of fuzz-guitar rock on “Bodysnatchers”, the album quiets down into songs like “Nude” and “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”, which bring in slower tempos, plaintive melodies and lyrics, orchestration, and warm, rich instrumentation. The songs ebb and flow with keyboards and strings, groovy bass lines, and well-placed guitar work that neither dominate the songs, nor sink into the background. Right when you think “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” is about to explode into climax, everything but Yorke’s vocals fall away, and when “Jigsaw Falling into Place” starts off with a quiet acoustic guitar intro, it’s the one that launches into a powerful and cathartic resolution halfway through.

Another facet of this album is how subtlety complex it is. At first listen, the songs sound fairly simple, but on repeated listens (and a good pair of headphones), it reveals more and more layers of sound. Keyboards, guitars, xylophones, drum machines, and reverb build to create a full range of sounds, and makes it a rewarding album to dig into time after time. Radiohead also sounds like they have embraced jazz more than on any other album, with the song “House of Cards” being the most prominent example of this. The guitar comps a jazzy chord progression along to Selway’s restrained time-keeping, which also adds a sparse, relaxing atmosphere to the song.

The title “In Rainbows” is more than perfect for this album – it has more vibrancy and color than any other album in their catalog. It doesn’t follow the normal Radiohead format of veering away from the expected on each album, but still manages to be surprising. They managed to combine the cold, computer-generated effects of their albums Kid A and Amnesiac, with a more natural, human element, and a sense of melody that they’d hidden away for nearly a decade. Even though this review sounds cold and professional, everything I have talked about here contributes to why I love this album so much – as much as I enjoy their more electronic, expansive songs, I am a sucker for the melodic, human feeling that their first three albums had. All of the different layers intrigue me as a musician, because they work together in ways that are subtle and sometimes almost imperceptible, but in a way that if they were not there, you would definitely notice. And unlike some of their moodier work, In Rainbows isn’t as emotionally draining to listen to, compared to Kid A or Hail to the Thief. It’s a much easier record to reach for anytime, and still get something that sounds like Radiohead. All in all, In Rainbows is a feat – ten years after their most critically acclaimed album, long past the prime of many other bands, they pulled out an album that stands alongside their best work, and in the light of The King of Limbs, is a like a send off to what Radiohead was, letting them adventure off into more obscure formats and sounds.

Avenged Sevenfold Drummer Found Dead at 28

James “The Reverend” Sullivan, drummer for Avenged Sevenfold, was found dead in his home on December 28th, 2009. The band had just gotten off a tour in support of their 2007 self titled album, and was planning on entering the studio to record what they were calling their “biggest record ever”. Sullivan’s death is listed as being caused by “natural causes”, but the police are currently investigating his death.

Chris Cornell Announces Soundgarden Reunion

With the start of the New Year, Soundgarden is also getting a fresh start in the 21st Century. Last night, a Soundgarden reunion was announced on Chris Cornell’s Twitter and Myspace accounts, with a link to http://www.soundgardenworld.com, the band’s (first?) official website.  For fans signing up for their mailing list, you’ll be treated to the music video for “Get on the Snake”,  a track from 1989′s Louder Than Love. As of yet, there are no solid plans regarding touring or the recording of a new album, but information should be expected in the coming weeks and months.

But is this reunion all good? Ever since Chris Cornell’s third solo album, Scream, failed to reach critical and commercial acclaim, rumors have been swirling around the internet about a possible Soundgarden reunion.  This writer asks the question, is Cornell doing this for the money? He has always been the missing link in a full-scale reunion, this being proven when the band reunited with Tad Doyle on vocals back in March 2009. Now that Scream has been met with lackluster sales and critical backlash, it seems a little too coincidental that he is suddenly getting back with his old bandmates.

Another point of contention is the strength of Cornell’s voice. Even though it has recovered a fair bit from his Audioslave days, there’s still the question of whether or not he can reach the stratospheric high notes he was famous for in Soundgarden. Judging from his recent solo performances, it sounds like he has a good shot at replicating most of the songs, but time shall tell.

Despite my criticism, I’m as big a Soundgarden fan as the next guy, and I really hope I’m proven wrong in my skepticism. Here’s to 2010 being the year of Soundgarden!

Between the Buried and Me – Colors (10/10)

Between the Buried and Me – Colors (2007)

“Simply put, Colors is a layered, lush and enthralling masterpiece.“

10/10

Tracklist:

1. Foam Born (a): The Backtrack

2. Foam Born (b): The Decade of Statues

3. Informal Gluttony

4. Sun of Nothing

5. Ants of the Sky

6. Prequel to the Sequel

7. Viridian

8. White Walls

If I had to choose a favorite Between the Buried and Me album, I’d give that distinction to the jaw-dropping Colors. I have still yet to hear anything else on its level, or even in the same building for that matter.

Simply put, Colors is a layered, lush and enthralling masterpiece. It is densely layered, and reveals itself more and more upon every listen. You’d be best off listening through a great pair of headphones, letting yourself get lost in the sonic landscapes created.

If I had to give a single reason as to why I adore the album so much, I’d say White Walls. It’s a no-brainer, closing the album – it sums up the entire experience of Colors in its chugging riffs, brutal vocals, and soaring, melodic guitar work. Despite its 14 minute long running time, it doesn’t feel long at all. It flows as one solid, ever-changing piece – much like the album as a whole. According to iTunes, I’ve played the song a total of 53 times – a whopping 12.36 hours.

White Walls isn’t the only reason Colors has rightly earned it’s praise by both the critics and me – songs like “Prequel to the Sequel” and “Sun of Nothing” build and build to chaotic, cathartic releases – the former being a shining example of this. There’s also another element to BTBAM’s sound on Colors – and that’s their fun-loving, “do whatever the hell we want” personality. “Ants of the Sky” was one of the biggest shocks I’ve ever had when listening to a song – and it came in the form of a hoedown in the final minutes of the song. (The other huge shock would be all of Chris Cornell’s album Scream – but that’s getting into the territory of repressed memories)

Colors is a truly mind-blowing album, and no words can truly describe it. As I said earlier, you have to sit down with a great pair of headphones and absorb it. Otherwise, you’re missing out.

Queens of the Stone Age – Era Vulgaris

Queens of the Stone Age – Era Vulgaris

“…Era Vulgaris manages to keep QOTSA’s trademark sound intact, while embellishing it and taking it where it hasn’t been before…”

7.5/10

Era Vulgaris is an album that continues QOTSA’s trademark thundering hard rock. Produced by Josh Homme and Chris Goss (Also known as the Fiffif Teeners), along with Troy Van Leeuwen’s distorted keyboards, the album leans closer to an industrial sound than previous Queens records. However, their pop sensibilities remain intact, and songs like Sick, Sick, Sick, 3’s & 7’s, and Suture up Your Future get stuck in your head and roll around for hours afterwards.

Despite their ever-present pop edge, the album’s tone is taught and laced with moments of paranoia and tension. Songs like Run, Pig, Run and River in the Road are dark and are propelled by the discordant guitars and Homme’s trademark falsetto (Which somehow balances out the dark atmosphere and adds to it at the same time).

Era Vulgaris also offers a slice of Homme’s apparent resentment of pop culture, in the form of Make it Wit Chu and I’m Designer. The former is almost a parody, taking a stab at all the ridiculous love songs you know and love. I’m Designer attacks celebrity culture, with Homme taking on a hilarious accent as he does so.

However, the second half of the album tends to drag a bit, and aren’t nearly as memorable as the standout tracks. Despite Make it Wit Chu’s joke-y nature, it sounds very out of place, and manages to break the album’s continuity. Misfit Love and Battery Acid are pretty standard tracks, and the latter suffers from some ridiculous lyrics. (“Robots, robots/Brainwashed babies/Blood from a leech/Spoken rabies”)

Overall, Era Vulgaris manages to keep QOTSA’s trademark sound intact, while embellishing it and taking it where it hasn’t been before (but not without it’s rough patches). It is still very much worth listening to, though.