The art of reviewing a 20 track label compilation CD is not dead I hope!!
This is a Scottish label - featuring 20 bands from the North East of Scotland. Best part is, with only one or two exceptions, it has a universal appeal to most open-minded fans of indie and rock.
Aberdeen's funk metallers Hot Mangu kick things off with a pounding electric bass that disembowels you before you start, while a chunky guitar riff adds to the effect and drums crash as the vocals sneer and sear above the red hot rolling thunder of funk and metal, something that truly lights up your life with some incendiary guitar work, a song that sticks in your head and setting the standard for what follows to try and equal. So, along come The Xcerts who laugh merrily as they smash the barrier with a roaring indie anthem that drives forward with its angst-ridden vocals, lurching drums, throbbing bass and chiming lead guitar and adrenaline-fuelled riffing, the worth of any major indie band with a point to make and a point to prove on a song that is just electrifying and delivered with an intensity that makes you sit up, take notice and love the thing to pieces. For the first minute of the track by Hidden Leaves, you're waiting for its mix of contemporary indie arranging ringing lead guitars, gently firm rhythm section and soaring vocals to take off then just when you think it's not going to, it does genius!! Then it veers from skywards chorusing to stumbling verse in a natural manner, again with a huge sounding intensity as the song climbs into space like a rocket, ending with a jetstream of electric guitar-fuelled outro. Avoid The Morning deliver a roaring slice of rampaging punk-rock that's got structure, melody, power and passion written all over it, the vocal a mix of hollered singing and sky-high hooks, the riffs a rifle-fire to your heart, the rhythms a blaze of glory and the song another slab of dense rocket fuel that proves absolutely irresistible.
Edgar Prais sounds a bit like an Elvis Costello impersonator with a chip on his shoulder, at first, but then moves on to a more sneering territory with well written lyrics, something that acts as a chorus, a quite full sound with lots of layers, a kind of purposely flat vocal delivery, and hints of cheesy commerciality along the way. Hmmm......the jury's out on this one. The Marionettes restore confidence with a searing slab of galloping rockabilly-as-punk attitude that provides a fast-paced route to your head with a sea of bouncing rhythms, a vein of melodic lead guitar squall and a song that, ultimately, goes round and round in your head but then shoots out of your ears. The Confidantes mix a kind of early seventies Jonathan Richman, with contemporary ska-punk top provide something that bounces along superbly and possesses all the airs of CBGB's era New York Post-punk with an angst on the vocal, a nod towards Richard Hell and The Clash, and is one of those songs that works its way in the more you play it. Captain Face begin things with a stuttering lead guitar, crashing rhythms and an in-your-face vocal sneer that I can't say did anything for me initally, but as the song built up with more guitars and more strength, things somehow fell into place. A bit awkward sounding, fairly short but different enough to work.
The Lorelei serve up a dish of harmony-laden modern-era folk-rock, with a tasty sea of electro-acoustic instrumentation, harmonies that could almost be of a Crosby, Stills & Nash album and what you think is going to be a seriously ballad-styled anthem before it suddenly mutates into a sea shanty and turns right into Grace Emilys for the final half of the track overall, the sort of thing that shouldn't work in a zillion years but ends up being totally irresistible, an absolute belter of an arrangement, a song that builds to fever pitch, a song that must be awesome when you see them do it live, and if you thought there could never be an answer to Grace Emilys, think again! Vesuvian then go and push the power button to nuclear with a red hot slice of mile high riffing as this wall of guitars blasts out above pounding bass and crashing drums, the vocals sung effectively, almost struggling to be heard above the cataclysmic electric indie rock backing aa the whole lot drives forward in unstoppable fashion and becomes a musical supernova of gigantic and quite awesome proportions this is stunning! Fivefifteen surge ahead with a new indie sound that adds organ to the guitars, bass runs racing up and down the mix, a sea of guitar riffs to give strength and depth while the vocals are solo and multi-tracked to give the song the final sense of power, yet maintaining an emotive delivery throughout. The arrangement is surprisingly intense and this huge ball of fire rolls along to seriously effective degree, even a guitar break over swirling organ and crashing rhythms, totally in keeping with the massive sound that this band seems to be all about another absolute belter, they must be incredible live in concert.
Kashmir Red take blues-rock by the scruff of the neck, punk it up, pummel it to pleading point, kick it in the delicate bits then toss it in the blender marked power overload and the result is this roaring anthem of hi-octane rock and riff rage that blasts along with the strength of a wrecking ball, an undercurrent of massed ranks of guitar firepower, destroying everything in its path, while the singer delivers as though his very life depends on getting it right as the band fires its way to hell. Awesome!! Rescue Party take things down a notch perfectly positioned on the album with a kind of indie power ballad featruing chiming lead guitar, driving drums, tasty bass and a mix of lead vocal and harmonies that give a distinct whiff of Shake Some Action styled Flamin' Groovies, before the arrival of an epic riffing guitar and high-flying chorus give rise to thoughts of The Draymin, no bad thing, for sure. It's this mix of Draymin and Groovies that really take this song from good to great, with a huge sound matched by its knowing when to pare things down and yet still keep the mood, flavour and passion of the song firmly intact. A searing sea of unforgettable potency. Debbie Cline Band provide a holler of a song that's got this swirling psychedelic fuzz guitar riff at its epicentre, while the biting vocal snarls on top of pounding garage drums and throbbing bass as the psych guitar is replaced by simply furious buzz-saw riffing. It's all got a sense of anger to it while at the same time sounding taut and almost chokingly intense, not the sort of song you'd want to run into on a dark night, but if you see it coming, then worth admiring as it shoots past but don't get in you might never get out!! Evil Demon Theory's track is a powerful mix of stoner rock and indie that doesn't lose sight of what makes both work, so that the sound is dominated by this huge slurry of sludge guitar riffing and leads which take up most of the song, the background vocals more of an aside to the epic guitar work as the rhythm section provides the perfect foil for the guitarist(s) to pour more fuel on the inexorably spreading fire.
Enrapture go for the jugular and every other body part, come to that with an absolute roar of death metal rage, the anticipated throaty holler mixed with gurgling power metal vocals, allied to furious guitar riffing and lightning speed drums, provide this on-fire howl that would easily wake the dead and probably have them making the tea at the same time. Bizarrely enough, though, I have to say I thought it was good in the context of a single track on an album as good as this, that is although I couldn't east a whole one!! Oddly enough, Downfall then come along and just as you think it's the same thing again, they start to sing rather than go for the blood curdling death metal roar you breathe a sigh of relief THEN they go for the death metal roar! Luckily, the singing takes precedence as the backing is a furnace heat of metal riffing and driving drums, the presence of searing lead guitars lighting up an otherwise slightly faceless track, in fact the guitar work MAKES the track if they'd had the confidence just to sing and leave out the roar, could have been stunning. Then blow me down!! - yet MORE death metal, this time harder, faster, more out of control and, by now, downright dull, as you hit the skip button as quick as you can first slip-up on the album, guys shouldn't have put these three together or should have left one of 'em off!!! Mercifully, I let it play and found it only lasted about a minute so forgave them for it!!Although, for the absolute rage and roar and chaotic cataclysm that is the track from We Shall Be Released, I was thinking of taking that back, until the massive nuclear blast of anger and what sounds like a million metal bands falling down a flight of stairs, twenty storeys up, somehow sucked me in, spat me out and left me a dribbling wreck on the floor. See how you like it!! Finally, there's Ablach and more deathly metal OK, a joke's a joke, guys. Prof that you can have too much of a good thing for, in the realms of what death or black metal is all about, this is, I presume, what the crowd wants but it's not what I want and before I could hit the stop button, it stopped!!
Like I said, the art of the 20 track sample album review is not dead pick me up, guys, I'm bleeding!!