Kiss - Destroyer (1976)

How is a "Classic" album defined?

My blog - my rules, so:

Every track should be fantastic, no fillers and

certainly no points at which the flow begins to

meander or lose impetus.

Everything is perfect from the artwork

to the order the tracks are in.

The album will never lose its place in your

musical heart - you may not play it for a year

or so but when you do, it is like a friend who

will never let you down ..... how unlike life!

And most importantly, it should be able to transport

your emotions to a different place - as soon as the 1st

track starts, it will calm you down, get you ready to go

out, prepare you for a fight, make you drive like a lunatic,

help you to take off the electronic tag and go stalking again -

whatever you need to do, the classic album is there in times

of need.

In the mid seventies, Bob Erzin produced three albums, that

for me, I consider to be classics.

They are:

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

Lou Reed - Berlin

and todays offering - "Destroyer" by Kiss.

Orthodox - Baal (2011)

Being pretty new to this sort of genre, I can only

describe as I see it and if the descriptions are not

proper like, complain to Sludge Swamp when they

get up on-line again!

Experimentalish Doom? That's what I am going with.

Lots of tribal drumming, shit loads of heavy riffs

and some drones which I think are coming from the bass.

The tracks feel very free flowing but never turn into

aimless jamming - the distorted guitar helps to pin

down the song which the thundering rhythm section

pummel into submission.

This album is only five tracks long, giving them time

to get almost trance like with the riffs circling around

a spiral of textured, fuzzed-out, slightly psychedelic

mantras but don't worry, the powerful vocals stop any

thoughts of hippy-dippy shit spoiling your day.

Band Info

The Danger of Being Bored at Work

Across the road from where I work, there is a Community

Notice Board. I glued these posters up early in the morning

over the course of several days and sat back to watch peoples

reactions from the safety of my window.

The CCTV poster had some people trying to smash the camera

above their heads - of course they were not being monitored

- it was just a Speed Trap camera pointing about 250 feet

from where they were!

The Drunk Bus Driver poster had the police and about 15

blokes from London Transport scraping the poster off the

board + 3 buses that would not move until it was gone! I

promise that I was not responsible for the RMT going on

strike last month!

The Slag Alert Poster worked beyond my wildest dreams.

It had a crowd of about 11 youths all reading it when one

teenager on a bike went fucking nuts!

He started to scream "Who did THIS"! over and over again,

followed by "No one does this to me", took out a knife and

started to attack the poster - stabbing and cutting the paper

to shreds, not noticing that it was pasted onto glass with the

inevitable results of then being showered with shards of wreckage!

I think it took about 3 days for me to stop laughing - was it something I said?

Aaaaaah - happy days!

Rabbits - Lower Forms (2011)

Rabbits like their music raw and crunchy with a

sludge undertone.

Aggressive and heavy, elements of doom are

mixed up with a pleasing amount of hardcore.

Plenty of distortion and pounding drums give

a tribal feel to the songs but there is still a lot

of atmosphere to be had, especially when the

slow passages kick in.

Murky and dirty riffs crawl their way out of

the mire and like The Melvins output, worm

their way into tunes that never stop being

uber-powerful.

Band Info

Wayne Kramer - The Hard Stuff (1995)

Brother Wayne keeps the spirit of the MC5 alive

and kicking with this album that is packed with

full on punk rock'n'roll.

His quite rightly revered guitar playing is at full

throttle here, powerful and solid, no fancy fretboard

wankery, just heavy grooves that pack a punch.

He handles all the vocals with passion and gives

a spoken word performance on "Incident on Stock

Island" over fantastic guitar that could of been quite

boring in other hands but is delivered with humour

and style, making you live the story he is telling.

Most songs are short, solid slabs of hard edged rock

but with a gritty punk feel which show that this veteran

of the Detroit sonic scene is far from rolling over and

becoming a byline in musical history.

Anyone with an interest in the MC5 should give this a listen.

A Storm of Light - As The Valley of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade (2011)

A Storm of Light have always threatened to break

out of the post-rock genre and with this album,

have blown it out of the water.

With songs that do not just rely on loud/soft

passages, this brings in Sludge/Doom, experimental

ambient and big doses of metallic heaviness.

Bringing in Kim Thayli from Soundgarden to wail

his trademark riffing over some of the tracks gives

an almost traditional rock feel to them, stopping the

meandering that can bog down so many post-rock songs.

Don't get me wrong, the tracks are still long but much

more focused and intense.

Josh Graham's distintive vocals are very much evident

and the drumming from Billy Graves approaches epic

proportions.

The overall feel to the album is of controlled menace

with shuddering bursts of power.

If you like this band, be prepared to like them even more.

If you have never really got into this sort of stuff, give it

a listen as I cannot see anyone else coming up with something

to better this until the long awaited new Neurosis comes out.

Band Info

End of Level Boss - Inside the Difference Engine (2007)

While waiting for the new album, here is the 2007

release from End of Level Boss.

This is Stoner but with a metallic throb and the

vibe of (dare I mention a dirty word?) grunge.

Lots of discordant guitars with a heavy psychedelic

feel to the solos. Not sticking to one generic style,

there are also welcome hints of doom and a big

dirty, fuzzed out head nodding feel to all the tunes.

The tight riffs compliment the innovative song

structures but never get bogged down in technical

trickery which so many bands seem to think means

clever song writing.

Band Info

Cream - Blues Addict (1967)

Recorded live at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit on

Oct 15th 1967, this captures the band raw and sweaty

at their best, giving the psychedelic blues sound a

new and rockier workout.

I have always felt that in the studio, Cream came across

as too polished and in some cases, almost tame but on

this album - full of the classic tracks you would want to

hear - the legend of the band becomes fully justified.

I should post more of this stuff more often than I do but

would recommend Trippy Jam for the blog to visit if you

need more.

Ten Volt Shock - 78 hours (2010)

Some fantastic post-hardcore on show here.

On guitar and vocals is Frank Otto from the

German band "Kurt", so you kinda know the fine

sounds you are gonna hear.

This has the best rumbling bass sound since early

Motorhead crossed with JJ Burnel and the drumming

hits harder than a drunken step-father beating up his

ginger haired teenage son.

Plenty of inventive riffing going on, giving each song

a noise-rock template from which the vocals can go

into full David Yow frenzy.

In fact, if you like Jesus Lizard, give this a listen.

Band Info

Big thanks to Elementary Revolt for turning me onto

this band.

Troubled Coast - Letters (2011)

Coming across like the bastard son of La Dispute

and Touche Amore, Troubled Coast play a thrilling

mixture of post-rock and modern post-hardcore.

Shouted vocals and clean singing/spoken parts

convey real emotion and the thick, distorted guitars

have hooklines and riffs that stick in your brain.

Melodic hardcore sometimes gets bogged down with

cut'n'paste tunes but these songs have a deft structure

that makes each tune sound fresh and original.

Troubled Coast have a great feel for atmospherics

within the song passages and I have a feeling that

this album will creep into my list of the years

best albums. Hugely recommended!

Band Info

Bandcamp