Archive for October, 2022

Album of the Week 43-2022: Joanne Shaw Taylor – Nobody’s Fool


Joanne Shaw Taylor is many things. A great guitarist with a fiery, yet surprisingly economic playing style. An excellent singer with a warm, husky alto. But above all, Joanne Shaw Taylor is a fantastic songwriter. And it is that side of her that is front and center on her new album ‘Nobody’s Fool’. Because of that, ‘Nobody’s Fool’ is quite possibly the most varied album she has released so far, or at least on par with the wildly eclectic ‘Almost Always Never’. And yet, ‘Nobody’s Fool’ has a very pleasant flow, which makes it an immensely satisfying listen.

Variation is the biggest strength of ‘Nobody’s Fool’. The soul influences are more pronounced than on any of Taylor’s previous albums, but there are southern rock songs, acoustic ballads and tightly arranged, poppy guitar rockers. This is great news for anyone but the most conservative blues purists, but even for them there is plenty of heartfelt, blues-inspired guitar playing on the album. Sonically, ‘Nobody’s Fool’ is certainly Taylor’s most adventurous album to date. She experiments with a wider variety of acoustic, clean and overdriven guitar sounds than ever, sometimes layering them on top of each other to great effect.

All of this would be pointless if the songs weren’t any good. Fortunately, they are. ‘Just No Getting Over You (Dream Cruise)’ was an excellent choice to be the first single, as its greasy soul grooves and Stonesy riffing certainly wet the appetite for the album. ‘Then There’s You’ is a nice ragged bluesrocker given a rootsy edge by the way the acoustic and electric guitars interact, while the opening title track would not have sounded out of place on any of the Allman Brothers albums with Dickey Betts as the main songwriter, with the main difference being that Taylor has a better feel for tight hooks.

When ‘Nobody’s Fool’ strays further from Taylor’s core sound, however, it is just as satisfying. ‘Figure It Out’ marries sixties style pop melodies with rough, pointy riffs somewhat reminiscent of Joan Jett, while ‘Runaway’ is a sunny pop song with upbeat guitar work. ‘The Leaving Kind’ is a fantastic acoustic-based ballad that sounds like it ought to be accompanying a dramatic scene in a black and white movie, while the other ballad ‘Fade Away’ is beautifully subdued and emotional. An absolute highlight, however, is ‘Bad Blood’, an exciting track with a monstrous groove and reverberating guitars reminiscent of spaghetti westerns, but also an excellent build-up in tension.

Signing to a label owned by Joe Bonamassa – who guests but thankfully doesn’t sing on ‘Won’t Be Fooled Again’ – fortunately has not limited Joanne Shaw Taylor to making blues records. In fact, ‘Nobody’s Fool’ is just about as far removed from blues an artist can get whilst still retaining a blues foundation. Since songwriting on the edge of multiple rootsy styles has always been Taylor’s forte, I am glad to hear that aspect of her artistry being what ‘Nobody’s Fool’ is all about. Anyone with a feel for blues, soul and classic rock should give the album at least a shot. You will not regret it.

Recommended tracks: ‘Just No Getting Over You (Dream Cruise)’, ‘Bad Blood’, ‘The Leaving Kind’

2022
10/30
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Album of the Week 42-2022: Vorbid – A Swan By The Edge Of Mandala


What a surprising evolution… Prior to ‘A Swan By The Edge Of Mandala’, Vorbid made a combination of thrash metal riffs and distinct progressive compositions that made me see them as part of the same scene as all those proggy thrash bands whose name start with a V. You know the drill: Voivod, Vektor, Vexovoid. This new album by the Norwegians just shows they have developed so much that they are truly in a league of their own. While there are familiar elements, Vorbid set out to do something original on ‘A Swan By The Edge Of Mandala’. What’s more impressive is that they actually succeeded.

‘A Swan By The Edge Of Mandala’ sounds like Vektor and Porcupine Tree had a baby that was partly raised by prog era Enslaved. The clean vocals by lead guitarist Daniel Emanuelsen in particular have a lot in common with Steven Wilson and Herbrand Larsen, while rhythm guitarist Michael Briggs went from a high-pitched screech to something more typical of extreme metal. The guitar riffs are still rooted in thrash with plenty of cool harmonies, but they are far more avant-garde and unpredictable this time around. Sonically, they cover all ground between squeakily clean and a grainy distortion, while there are hints of Opeth in the rhythms and chord voicings.

It is truly difficult to describe in words just how unique this mix of influences sounds. Frustrating as it is for me as a music journalist, simply describing ‘A Swan By The Edge Of Mandala’ cannot do it enough justice. What I do know is that once I heard ‘Ex Ante’ develop from an atmospheric progressive rock track to a monstrous prog metal epic with fantastic lead guitar work, I could not get enough of it. Rarely have I heard the adventurous compositions of seventies progressive rock, the arrangements of modern prog and the intensity of thrash metal combined in such a satisfying manner. If ever.

Stylistically, the album runs the gamut between more direct songs focusing on how many dynamics can be squeezed out of a bunch of strong riffs with unpredictable rhythms (‘By The Edge Of Mandala’, ‘Union’, ‘Derealization’) to elaborate prog epics that move from tranquil to intense with ease (‘Paradigm’, the excellent opener ‘Ecotone’, the aforementioned ‘Ex Ante’). It is admirable how drummer Marcus Gullovsen can handle all extremes with ease. A fast double-bass roll sounds just as effective as a subtle part with well-placed ghost notes and his drum sound is surprisingly natural for metal as technical as this.

If I have any complaints about ‘A Swan By The Edge Of Mandala’, it would be that it deserved a more climactic ending. Closing track ‘Self’ is excellent, its seventies Genesis middle section even one of the best moments on the album, but the final minute and a half appears to build towards something that doesn’t come. However, that is a minor complaint about what is truly a fantastic album. Anyone into both progressive rock and thrash metal should give the album a shot. Open-minded fans of progressive death metal will likely enjoy this as well. Probably the most pleasant surprise of the year as far as metal goes.

Recommended tracks: ‘Ex Ante’, ‘Ecotone’, ‘Self’, ‘Derealization’

2022
10/23
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Album of the Week 41-2022: Queensrÿche – Digital Noise Alliance


Ever since Todd La Torre took over as their lead singer, Queensrÿche returned to being a good metal band. Great news for people who, like myself, think that ‘The Warning’ is the best Queensrÿche album, but there have been some grumbles about the band not being as progressive as some fans would like. ‘Digital Noise Alliance’ might be a step in the right direction for those fans. Not that ‘Digital Noise Alliance’ is a full-on progmetal album. Queensrÿche was always too melodic and accessible for that. Its compositions, however, are notably less straightforward than on its direct predecessor ‘The Verdict’.

Compositionally, ‘Digital Noise Alliance’ takes more hints from Queensrÿche’s biggest commercial success ‘Empire’ than anything since La Torre joined. Now, I personally think ‘Empire’ is by far the weakest of Queensrÿche’s first six studio releases. Fortunately though, it isn’t the choppy, borderline incoherent songwriting they took from that album. The riffs here are still of the traditional US power metal variety, but the songs are given more room to breathe this time around, allowing the melodic hooks to shine through a little more. The songs themselves aren’t all that intricate, but a lot of care has been put into the vocal and guitar arrangements.

Another thing that clearly got a great deal of attention is the tracklisting. ‘Digital Noise Alliance’ starts with a few relatively accessible, familiar songs before branching out a little more. ‘In Extremis’ and ‘Chapters’ are similarly-styled, catchy USPM tracks with great guitar harmonies and memorable choruses, after which ‘Lost In Sorrow’ and ‘Sicdeath’ slowly start experimenting with unpredictable rhythms and less conventional song structures. It’s a good way of drawing old school Queensrÿche fans and casual listeners in. By the time the album starts becoming a bit more experimental, listeners have already gotten used to the core sound enough to not be alienated.

It is in these relative experiments where ‘Digital Noise Alliance’ shines. My personal favorite is the exciting, multi-faceted ‘Nocturnal Light’, which builds from an atmospheric, quasi-industrial intro to a stomper with effective start-stop riffs and teasing guitar harmonies that allow La Torre to take all the space he needs. ‘Hold On’ needed some time to grow on me, but it is genuinely interesting how that song transforms from a radio rocker to something more complex later in the song. Another highlight is the dark ‘Behind The Walls’, which is a great exercise in tension and release. ‘Out Of The Black’ and ‘Realms’ are simply fun proggy heavy metal tracks.

‘Digital Noise Alliance’ isn’t perfect. Epic closer ‘Tormentum’ shows great promise, but probably should have been worked on a bit more before being recorded, while the Floydian acoustic guitar work of ‘Forest’ is interesting, but lacks the resolution to be as good as ‘Silent Lucidity’, which it clearly appears to imitate. Having said that, I appreciate the experiments on ‘Digital Noise Alliance’. They are what make the album interesting rather than just another Queensrÿche album. Although I still think this line-up has not quite fulfilled its full potential yet, ‘Digital Noise Alliance’ is a rewarding listen that proves there is more motivation to Queensrÿche than just keeping the tours going.

Recommended tracks: ‘Nocturnal Light’, ‘In Extremis’, ‘Behind The Walls’

2022
10/16
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Album of the Week 40-2022: Erja Lyytinen – Waiting For The Daylight


Honorary monikers can be compliments for musicians. But they can just as easily be too limiting to properly describe what they are doing. Case in point: Erja Lyytinen. For a while now, she has been known as Finland’s blues queen. But if her new album ‘Waiting For The Daylight’ proves anything, it would be that she is so much more than just a blues musician. First and foremost, she is a fantastic songwriter. ‘Waiting For The Daylight’ is a varied album full of excellent guitar-driven rock and pop songs, some of them barely even revealing Lyytinen’s blues roots.

Blues is never far away from what Lyytinen is doing and there is plenty of her renowned slide guitar work on ‘Waiting For The Daylight’. However, the album focuses more on her strengths as a songwriter rather than as a musician. There are definitely some bouts of great musicianship here – from Lyytinen herself as well as her excellent backing band – but all of it is in service of the songs. The amount of variation on the album is one of its biggest strengths. Lyytinen’s songs range from raw and rootsy to more polished productions, without ‘Waiting For The Daylight’ ever sounding like a disjointed mess.

While the album starts promising enough, the song that really sold me on ‘Waiting For The Daylight’ is ‘Run Away’. It is an expertly arranged, atmospheric and somewhat dark guitar pop song with a brilliant chorus and Lyytinen’s best vocal performance on the album. There is a subdued anger to the vocals that never really explodes, which makes ‘Run Away’ an exciting listen every time. ‘Last Girl’ is another one where the melodic rock influences are at the forefront, while ‘Love Bites’ sounds like a particularly dramatic show jazz number reinterpreted brilliantly by a rock band.

On the more rootsy side of things, ‘Diamonds On The Road’ is a masterpiece with its groovy main riff and subtle guitar arrangement. ‘You Talk Dirty’ is the oldest composition on here and starts out feeling like a more traditional bluesrocker, but the way it works towards its awesome climax is fairly unique. The title track is about half stoner rock, half ballad and builds towards a fantastic classic rock guitar solo near the end. That ultimately is Lyytinen’s biggest quality as a songwriter and arranger: to always find a surprising twist on traditional forms. Opener ‘Bad Seed’ is probably closest to a standard bluesrocker, had it not been for its subdued pre-chorus and the distinct Indian-sounding scales in its guitar solo.

Don’t let the blues queen moniker scare you from listening to Erja Lyytinen if the genre isn’t your thing. ‘Waiting For The Daylight’ is so much more than twelve-bar progressions and improvised pentatonic licks. It is the work of a mature songwriter who knows how to employ all the tools in her arsenal. That includes rootsy riffs and melodically strong slide guitar solos, but also carefully crafted arrangements and highly memorable melodies. The album is simply full of excellent guitar music, regardless of genre. And if that is your instrument of choice, you would do yourself a great favor by listening to ‘Waiting For The Daylight’.

Recommended tracks: ‘Run Away’, ‘Diamonds On The Road’, ‘Waiting For The Daylight’

2022
10/09
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Album of the Week 39-2022: Magma – Kãrtëhl


When Magma announced ‘Kãrtëhl’ would be a bright and optimistic album, that was not necessarily a reason for me to look forward to it. To me, Magma is generally at their best when their unconventional blend of proggy jazz-rock with modern classical overtones is as dark and oppressive as possible. And yet, ‘Kãrtëhl’ is their best release since 2009’s ‘Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré’. Without the shadow of a grand concept looming over the album, ‘Kãrtëhl’ is notably more song-oriented than other recent Magma releases and a much more satisfying listen as a result. It does sound a bit lighter than the likes of ‘Zëss’, but that is hardly a complaint.

‘Kãrtëhl’ marks the first time since 1985’s much-maligned ‘Merci’ album that other musicians than drummer and band leader Christian Vander have contributed to the compositions of a Magma album. Listeners will not be able to tell immediately, as each of the six songs sound unmistakably like Magma. ‘Do Rïn Ïlï Üss’ in particular, a composition by singer Hervé Aknin, is a good jazzy number that could have been on any of the band’s late seventies albums and not stand out as weird. However, these outside influences may be part of the reason why ‘Kãrtëhl’ is so memorable and melodically strong.

Overall, ‘Kãrtëhl’ finds the middle ground between the grand choral majesty of ‘Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré’ and the more concise songwriting of the likes of ‘Attahk’. Also, for the first time in quite a while, the tracks feel like actual songs instead of movements of a larger composition. Every track has at least one melodic theme that carries the song, often multiple, and the arrangements are generally fairly tight. The musicians are allowed to let loose sometimes, especially that busy, but well-crafted bass line by Jimmy Top – son of former bassist Jannick – in opening track ‘Hakëhn Deïs’ is impressive, but it’s all in service of the compositions.

Despite being a relatively upbeat album by Magma standards, ‘Kãrtëhl’ still excels in its light-and-shade workings. ‘Ẁalomëhndêm Ẁarreï’ cleverly contrasts massive choral climaxes with an overall undercurrent of brooding menace and doom-laden riff work by Top and guitarist Rudy Blas. A very dynamic track and the highlight of the album. The following ‘Ẁïï Mëlëhn Tü’ is the darkest track on the album with its slow build and the way the ominous melodies interact with the unpredictable rhythms, but it also has a more upbeat climax. In addition, none of those darker moments would have stood out quite as much without the pleasant melodies of ‘Irena Balladina’ or the gospel leanings of ‘Dëhndë’.

Ultimately, ‘Kãrtëhl’ is a relatively accessible Magma album. Listeners who are intrigued by their style, but find their most popular works a bit too much to take in will likely find something to enjoy here. It is an extremely well-written and even better performed album that sounds like prime Magma. Out of their longtime fans, the ones likely to be most pleased by ‘Kãrtëhl’ are those who liked the more song-oriented approach of their late seventies output. Because that is truly where the album shines: every song can be enjoyed on its own without missing the larger concept. Highly recommended.

Recommended tracks: ‘Ẁalomëhndêm Ẁarreï’, ‘Ẁïï Mëlëhn Tü’, ‘Hakëhn Deïs’

2022
10/02
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