Album Review: Rasplyn - "Scenes Through the Magic Eye"

Today's review is going to be of some music a little left of center. No grindcore, no brutal slamming guttural death metal, no smash-everything-around-you hardcore rap. Today we're going to look at something droning, psychedelic, and transporting. Today, we're reviewing Rasplyn.

Rasplyn is the solo experimental music project of Carolyn O'Neill, who is quite the busy bee these days. Between featuring on other releases like John 3:16's 2012 release Visions of the Hereafter - Visions of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, co-founding the Logan Square New Music Ensemble, directing short films, and managing Resolution Digital Studios, Carolyn still manages to put out a great debut album under the Rasplyn moniker.

Now, don't let that album cover fool you. I judged the book by it's cover on this one and went in to the album thinking it would be some cheesy new age music with some ham fisted middle eastern influences. Little did I know, Scenes Through the Magic Eye would contain some of this year's most interesting sounds.

The album is mostly classical or orchestral pieces composed by Carolyn herself, each accompanied by here reverb-laden, stereo-panning vocals flowing in and out of the tracks. The album does have a middle eastern flair to it, but it is definitely more subdued than I thought it would be. These influences are precisely that, influences. Rasplyn isn't defined by middle eastern tones and melodies, but uses them to her advantage. The tracks more often than not have some droning strings in the background with everything else floating overtop, creating a sort of shoegaze effect. The closest pieces of music I have to compare Magic Eye to would be John 3:16's Visions and to a lesser extent, some of Sunn O)))'s experiments with classical instruments. If Visions transports me to an isolated pond at night, Magic Eye brings me to a temple at the break of twilight. Something ancient and well before any of our times, but still preserved. While it's been overgrown with vines and foliage, it still stands, monolithic in the distance. As the album continues I explore the temple, finding remnants and fragments of the peoples and cultures that have visited it before me. Some morbid, some less so, but all of them engrossing nonetheless.

Rasplyn's debut album is something that definitely surprised me in a good way. To me, her music should really be a part of a soundtrack to a movie or video game, with its massive production and transporting qualities. 

Scenes Through the Magic Eye comes out on Mythical Records on November 30th. You can check out Rasplyn on Bandcamp, Facebook, and on her personal page.

That's all for now, folks! Jeremy, I'll see you in court.

-DG

Album Review: Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2

It's been over a month since my last full on album review, which I think is kinda funny considering I started this blog by reviewing nothing but music. Either way, fuccbois beware, because this next album is about to go twin hype and do a dance on your wind pipe.

Run the Jewels have been my favorite rap group since they dropped their debut album, Run The Jewels last year. Consisting of two of my favorite rappers, one of whom is also my favorite producer, this is a duo that can't be beat in my books. Consisting of the odd combo of southern rapper Killer Mike and New York rapper/ producer El-P, this is one of those instances where two very different people come together and make something greater than the sum of their parts.

Run The Jewels 2 is a natural extension of last year's debut, bringing in more serious and socially conscious lyrics more akin to those in RAP Music and Cancer 4 Cure. There's religious imagery out the ass, and lots of content calling out police brutality, corrupt political and judicial systems, and racism in Western culture. Don't worry, though, everything that makes Run The Jewels the most metal rap group is still there. Between some of their most violent and raunchy lyrics and El bumping out some of his most aggressive (and most addictive) beats yet, this album doesn't show the duo softening up anytime soon.

Another thing RTJ has stepped their game up on is who and how they use their features. Rage Against The Machine's Zack De La Rocha, Foxygen's Diane Coffee, Three 6 Mafia's Gangsta Boo, Blink-182's Travis Barker (!), and Beyoncé's Boots all contribute monster verses, haunting hooks and melodies, or in Barker's case badass drum fills to RTJ2.De La Rocha and Gangsta Boo are the two standout performances on the album for me, although Boots cuts a close third. De La Rocha is actually sampled and looped in the beat to "Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)", and Gangsta Boo drops one of the raunchiest verses I've heard, which is twice as powerful following Killer Mike and El-P's hypersexual lines in "Love Again".

I know I'm a huge fanboy and I hype Run The Jewels a lot, but this is by far my favorite album of the year so far. It floored me after my first listen, and every time I listen through it again, I pick up on more nuances in El-P's production, or catch more clever wordplay in everyone's lyrics. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

You can get RTJ2 for free (that's right, FREE) off of Run The Jewels' website. Catch Run The Jewels on tour this month, and if you see them on their Toronto date, come say hi (and buy me a beer)!

That`s all for now, folks!

-DG

Gupta's Best of 2014 So Far

It's October, and you know what that means: we're halfway through the year! No, wait. That isn't right. This is just fluff text because I can't think of a joke to make light of the fact that my Best of 2014 So Far list is coming in 4 months late. Punchline.

List time! In no particular order:

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

The 'Don is back! Their twerktastic new album is exactly what I hoped The Hunter would be. 'Round the Sun sounds like the natural extension of Crack the Skye, toning down the proggy breakouts and stepping up the addictive hooks and psychedelic spaciness.

Brann Dailor takes up majority of the vocal duties on this album, which is great because he's stepped up his singing game tenfold since The Hunter. While I don't consider 'Round the Sun to be better than Crack the Skye, Mastodon have definitely put out one of their best albums to date. Listen: The Motherload

Iron Reagan - The Tyranny of Will

For those of you who don't know, Iron Reagan is a hardcore supergroup featuring members of Municipal Waste, Darkest Hour and Mammoth Grinder. Ultimately, this is Municipal Waste with more of a punk sound and politically heavy lyricism, but just because they're more serious, doesn't mean they aren't as much fun. Listen: Miserable Failure

'68 - In Humor and Sadness

Rising immediately out of the ashes of The Chariot, Josh Scogin has paired up with drummer Michael McClellan (of no fame whatsoever) to drop some of the noisiest rock music of the year. The whole founding of the band was based on being the loudest duo, and considering Scogin's live set-up has him running through two guitar rigs and a bass rig, I think they've accomplished that stunningly.

Don't expect this to sound a lick like The Chariot, though. Black Keys meets Black Flag is the name of this album's game. Listen: Three Is A Crowd

Body Count - Manslaughter

First off, I non-ironically love Body Count. Ice-T may seem like the least likely frontman for a hardcore group, but between his time in this band and his outstanding performance in Leprechaun 5: In Da Hood, he's quickly become one of my favorite celebrities.

Manslaughter is exactly what you'd expect for Body Count in 2014. Caveman riffs, d-beats, and Ice yelling about murdering people in horrific ways. This album does take an uplifting turn, surprisingly, with songs like "Back to Rehab", and "Get a Job", and their covers of "99 Problems" and "Institutionalized" are A+. Listen: Talk Shit, Get Shot

Electric Wizard - Time to Die

The Wizard returns with the newest offering of hazy, fuzz filled, crushing doom. This time, things take a turn for the psychedelic with Jus, Liz and crew working with layers and layers of effect-ridden guitar tracks rather than simple, lumbering leviathan riffs. The end result is the same: your speakers will give you a contact high, and your walls will be shaking from the sheer heaviness of the sound.

Legalize drugs and murder. Listen: I Am Nothing

Gridlink - Longhena

 In my typical fashion, I'm going to quote myself because I'm lazy:

Longhena sets the bar to an impossibly high level for any band that plays this strain of grindcore. Chang's banshee vocals, Matsubara's rhythm playing that somehow fits under the category of "shred guitar" (not to mention his actual lead playing), Fajardo's accompanying drumming, the string sections, the interlude track, holy shit people, everything fits so nicely together that I honestly cannot find a weak point to this album. It even comes with a set of "karaoke versions" of the tracks for those of you who hate Jon Chang. Listen: Look To Windward

Earth - Primitive and Deadly

Dylan Carlson and co. have always had hit-or-miss releases as far as I'm concerned. While I love albums like The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull and Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method, their earlier drone material and their latest bland offerings don't quite enthrall me in the same capacity.

Primitive and Deadly seems to take a page out of Earth 2's heaviness, mix it with some of their mid-career cowboy riffage, and introduce some great guest vocals for an album that stirs up images of lonely foggy nights and smokey dive bars. Listen: From The Zodiacal Light



So there you have it. These albums have stood out to me so far this year, and I'm sure there'll be a couple of more albums to add to the list by year's end. God knows how pumped I am for the new At The Gates and Run The Jewels records; I'm certain both will end up on my big list.

What do you guys think? Do you like the albums I chose, or do you think my taste in music is utter shit (more likely the latter)? What were your favorite albums this year so far? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook!

That's all for now, folks. Jeremy, I'll see you whenever.

-DG

Album Review: Live In Regret - "Find A Solution"

Shut up, I know it's not Friday. I'm going to be up in the grim and frostbitten north of Onaping, Ontario from this Thursday to Sunday so I figured I'd post now rather than wait 'til next week. As punishment, Jeremy, I will fully listen to and review any album you want me to for next Friday.

That being said, let's get down to the very first album review for this newly reinvigorated blog!

This is what going to school for engineering feels like.

 A week or so ago, Live In Regret dropped a new album chocked full of mathy, noisy, hardcore goodness. These UK chaps have been partaking in some of the old ultra-violence since 2008 now, and Find a Solution marks their second full length album. Two years ago they dropped Let Go, a solid hardcore album whose opening track "Coward" was featured on our very own Grindhouse Vol. 1! The band is a three-piece, with their guitarist taking over studio bass duties.

There's a certain amount of Converge worship these days with most noisy hardcore and metalcore bands, but Live In Regret manages to pull it off with a little bit of personal flair. The band seems to take after the spastic stylings of The Chariot, although they keep it coherent, as the songs don't seem to feel like they're about to fall apart. I typically group bands that sound like The Chariot with bands that sound like Dillinger Escape Plan as well, but Live In Regret have that looseness that traditional 80s and 90s hardcore has. Not every note is as meticulously planned out as "Sugar Coated Sour" is, which is a refreshing thing to hear from a mathy band. It seems that bands that play this style of music are typically so wrapped up in playing in as many stupid time signatures as possible or playing the most technically complex music they can that they forget to feel. Seriously. I know this sounds like hippy-dippy bullshit, but hardcore is one of the most emotionally evocative genres out there. When bands prog it up to the point where it sounds like robots are playing, it kind of defeats the purpose of the music. So kudos to Live In Regret for helping to bring the human element back to mathcore.

I have to commend all the members of the band for some solid performances and songwriting. While each song doesn't last particularly long (the longest clocks in at 2:02, the shortest at 0:39), they ebb and flow naturally, with enough distance between the mathy, noodly bits and enough variance between everything else to keep things interesting. I'm a very big fan of the drumming on this album, because the drums are played with the guitar and bass, not underneath them.

I do find the production kind of lacking for this album, but considering this is a relatively new band's second full length, I con't complain too much that they didn't get to record at God City Studios or anything. The production isn't bad, but if the drums could be a bit more articulate and the bass raised in the mix, I think it would help a ton with their sound.

You can catch Live In Regret on Facebook, Bandcamp, and you can buy a customized teddy bear on their very own webzone. I hear this world wide web is going to be the next big thing!

Jeremy, I'll see you on Tuesday.

-DG

Blastbeat Reviews: Bateman, Wings Denied, Botfly

Some more quick reviews -- this time for some lesser known bands. These bands have all just released their debut albums, so they haven't been on the scene for too long. Shall we?

BATEMAN - SMUT

Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Bateman are a 5 piece hardcore band that dish out a simple and noisy hardcore drenched in sarcasm and misanthropy. Smut is their debut album, marking their first real foray in to the ever growing and ever evolving Australian hardcore scene. The album is chocked full of slammin' riffs and catchy songs, but doesn't really come out above the many other noisy hardcore and grindcore bands coming out from down under.

Their weakest link in my eyes is their vocalist who can belt out some great growls and some really wicked, gargling highs, but decides to sound like an angry pirate through 75% of the album. I thought it would be something I'd get used to after multiple repeat listens but even now, a month after first hearing it, it's as jarring as I originally found it. Smut is worth a listen to for fans of the Australian hardcore scene, but unless Bateman step their game up for their next release, I doubt I'd keep up to date with their goings-on. Visit them on Facebook and Bandcamp. Overall Score: 2.5/5

WINGS DENIED - MIRRORS FOR A PRINCE

Wings Denied proves to be the first progressive metal preview I've done since November of last year. I grew out of prog metal a couple years ago and have kept a fair distance away from most progressive metal bands (save for Meshuggah) that think the rhythmic chugging of the lowest string of their guitars makes music. Wings Denied's debut comes in as a cross between the djenty Periphery and the grandiose Protest the Hero. Contrary to Bateman's Smut, Mirrors for a Prince benefits from a pretty solid vocalist. I find his growling and screaming a bit lacking, but his clean singing is top-notch.

The instrumentation on this album is nothing to scoff at, but really doesn't grab me or prove to me that I should be listening to Mirrors for a Prince instead of Volition or Traced in Air. That being said, overall I enjoyed this album, and I'm interested to see where they'll take their sound. I see Wings Denied on the cusp of becoming a band I could seriously care about, but I'm going to need some convincing. Check 'em on Facebook and Bandcamp. Overall Score: 3/5

BOTFLY - PARASITIC OSCILLATION

Another band in a big hardcore scene, but this time we've got a familiar name. Keegan Goodspeed of bluebird and The Wides has been keeping himself busy with another hardcore band, this time taking a heavier and more aggressive route with his project Botfly. Parasitic Oscillation is the band's debut release (after a single song release in 2013), and comes across as dark, frustrated, and melancholic. There's an almost psychedelic vibe to the tunes as different riffs slither their ways around, going from droning crunchy guitars to full blown high gain riffage. The last song on the album "days late" is one hell of a closer, without a distorted guitar in sight, but Goodspeed screaming bloody murder overtop. It's something that seems odd written out, but it grabs your attention right away and makes sure you're paying attention as the last chords fade out on the album.

Keegan takes up the mic here as wall as guitar duties, and dishes out some '80s style hardcore vocals that border on crust punk sounding. I'd be willing to bet Botfly was inspired by bands like Amebix, Discharge, and Nausea as well as some darker indie rock bands. I'm really digging on Parasitic Oscillation, and I really want to hear Botfly with some better production. The rawness and grittiness of this album definitely adds character, but when there are big crescendos and dynamics in the songs, I think some thicker, clearer, and heavier production will do them wonders. As far as I know, Botfly do not have a Facebook page, but you can check out Parasitic Oscillation and any of their other releases on their Bandcamp page. Overall Score: 3.5/5

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Movie Review: Godzilla (2014)

Ever since the first trailer for Godzilla flashed before my eyes, I was totally pumped. The titular monster looked amazing, Bryan Cranston was in it, and it looked like it would be the first Godzilla movie to be taken seriously (and hopefully the one to erase peoples' collective memories of the 1998 flop).

This post is naturally going to contain a ton of spoilers, but for those of you who don't want to know anything about the movie, here's a quick spoiler-free blurb for you.

I liked Godzilla, but I was pretty disappointed with it. Our King of Monsters looked and was animated amazingly, the acting was nothing too bad, and the cinematography was exceptionally well done. Gareth Edwards is a relative newcomer to the directorial world with nothing I recognize in his filmography, but he did a great job making Godzilla seem gargantuan and well, Godlike with his cinematography.

You might be thinking, that all this sounds great and how it could the movie possibly be disappointing for me, but the problem with the movie wasn't the visuals. Godzilla clocks in at over two hours long, and our giant radioactive lizard friend doesn't really make a proper appearance until the very end. While I respect and love the concept of the "slow reveal" in monster movies, it didn't feel like Edwards teased Godzilla throughout the movie. It felt frustrating, because everyone already knew what Godzilla looks like. If Godzilla was something akin to Ridley Scott's Alien, then the slow reveal would work perfectly. Since Big G doesn't get to romping and stomping 'til the last quarter of the movie, we're stuck following around characters we don't really care about for an hour and a half.

Once Godzilla does get his full reveal and gets to do his Godzilla things, the movie gets awesome. They took the Pacific Rim route and made Godzilla move like a 400 foot tall, 2,000 ton beast. Something that is slow but purposeful, and really looks like it has mass to it. The ending of the movie was definitely the best part, overshadowing the previous hour and a half entirely. It's worth the 10 dollars admission just for the end, but be prepared to slug through an entire feature length movie's worth of boring content.

Now that I have that out of the way, here on in there are SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS.

Alright, now I can delve into what actually happens in the movie. I want you to re-watch the trailer at the top. Now, I want you to forget it because the movie I watched was not the movie advertised in that trailer. Here's what I got from the trailer:

• 0:05 - Oh my God, it's Bryan Cranston. Ever since Breaking Bad shot him up to A-list actor status, I can only hope he stars in more movies in the future. Yo, Mr. White!
• 0:26 - So this is going to be kind of like a conspiracy theory movie, cool.
• 0:37 - Obligatory ruined Statue of Liberty.
• 0:43 - Oh shit! Is Gojira!
• 1:28 - Are those eggs? Is Godzilla pregnant? Why are they holding on to a missile?
• 1:30 - Ken Watanabe!
• 1:32 - Oh fuck, Godzilla can't fly. That means this is going to be a monster mash!
• 2:00 - Oh my. That's a big monster. Also, since we live in the post- Michael Bay Transformers era, everything big must move via bass drops.

So, looks awesome, right? I have to admit Godzilla's trailers and teasers were all amazing, and the hype for this movie was incredible, so I was doubly crushed when I found out:

• Bryan Cranston dies in the first 20 minutes. His son, Generic Army Guy With A Family is the main character. Yay.
• This isn't a conspiracy movie. This is an army/ soldier movie with monsters sometimes in the background.
• Lady Liberty wasn't featured in the movie. Also, this movie doesn't even take place in or near New York City.
• That's all you see of Godzilla over and over again for an hour and a half.
• I will talk about this egg and missile thing in a second because it makes no sense.
• Ken Watanabe isn't really in the movie too much either, and when he is, all he does is stare past the camera, slack-jawed.
• This is a monster mash movie, and the battle scenes are freaking amazing. So, good on the movie for that.
• Again, Gareth Edwards did an amazing job with portraying Godzilla's size, so, no complaints here. Except for the bass drops thing.

Let's explore all these issues, as well as some non-trailer issues, starting at the beginning. The writing for this movie was pretty awful. The acting wasn't bad, but the lines people would say were sometimes cringe worthy. After a scene where GAGWAF has to leave for Tokyo, both his son and wife ask when he'll be back. His responses were along the lines of  "Yeah buddy, I'll be back tomorrow. I promise" and "Of course I'll be back tomorrow, it's not like it's the end of the world" respectively. Holy balls people, this movie is a Godzilla movie. We know that shit is going to go down. Don't fill up screen time with that useless dialogue. Even dialogue later in the movie is choppy and doesn't make sense. GAGWAF needs to get from plot point to plot point by finding soldiers and saying that because he's in the army, he can just kind of join up with them and do their missions or get transportation anywhere. Now, I don't know what the army is like, but I doubt a low ranking officer can just command other people's squads and platoons to do anything. Also, I didn't know they taught you how to airdrop from 10,000 feet into a large city when you become an explosive ordinance disposal officer.

The writing continues it's stinkfest with most of the explaining they try to do for the monsters. Apparently Godzilla and the MUTOs (the bad guy monsters in this movie) are ancient species that used to roam the earth when the Earth was forming and was extremely radioactive. They feed off of radioactivity rather than meat or calories or anything like that, so as the planet formed and became less radioactive on the surface, these creatures moved further and further underground or into the ocean to get closer to the Earth's core. As far as that goes, I have no problem with their origins because if they aren't going the "we played God and created these monsters", they have to shoehorn them in somehow. Ancient radioactivity eating alpha predators, cool. I can dig that.

I have a problem with two parts of the monster-science the movie employs. First, they call Godzilla the "equalizer". When things get "unbalanced" on the Earth, like say when a creature comes along and starts smashing everything to bits, Godzilla awakens to destroy it and restore balance it back out again. This is exactly the reason why Godzilla appears in the movie, to destroy the MUTOs because he believes they are unbalancing the Earth. Hey, you know what else unbalanced the Earth? Fucking humans. The movie even takes a pro-environmental stance, and doesn't acknowledge that humans have done more damage to the planet than the MUTOs did. If anything, the MUTOs were properly equalizing the planet by destroying humans.

The second bit of science I didn't like was how MUTOs had to swallow atomic bombs to feed themselves. Atomic bombs themselves aren't really radioactive. Once they explode they sure as hell are, but when disarmed bombs are just laying around, I doubt they're oozing tons of radiation. If they were, the U.S. military has some serious improvements to make in the health and safety of their soldiers because those poor souls were hauling around bombs for the better part of the movie. They make a point in the movie to say that a modern atom bomb could easily kill either a MUTO or Godzilla from the blast and shockwave alone, so there's no way a MUTO could eat a bomb and then somehow have it explode inside and absorb the fission radiation. Similarly, that bit in the trailer with the eggs wrapped around the nuke, that wouldn't work. The missile was there to bask the eggs in radiation, which it won't, and if it did, that would mean that is exploded. If a nuke could destroy both mama and papa MUTO in its blast, it could sure as hell wipe out every single egg in the nest.

The final frustrating part about Godzilla is that they could have dropped the whole Pacific Rim-esque "we need to nuke the shit out of these monsters" plot because it was totally unnecessary. When you go to see a movie like Godzilla and you know it's going to be a brawl between monsters, the movie has to end with Godzilla beating the monsters. Nobody would watch the movie if the King of Monsters wore down the bad guys and then just backed off and let humans steal the kill with a nuke to the face. That would be awful. So the hour and a half long "GUYS WE HAVE TO GET THE NUKES TO SAN FRANCISCO RIGHT NOW TO DEFEAT THE MONSTERS" stuff in the movie was useless because the audience knew that it wouldn't work and that Godzilla would be the one to win the fight and save the day.

That being said, the fight scenes between Godzilla and the MUTOs were 100% pure awesomeness. You just couldn't look away whenever he was on screen, and both kill scenes Godzilla had were some of the best that I've seen in modern cinema. That final radioactive breath down mama MUTO's throat was enough to warrant seeing this movie. It's one of those scenes that everybody in the theater will cheer for and that you'll talk about and act out to your friends for the next couple days.

So, my feelings towards Godzilla lie just above lukewarm. Overall, I enjoyed it, and I definitely recommend seeing it on the big screen for the final fight, but it feels like watching a feature length soldier movie with a 30 minute Godzilla short at the end. There are holes in the plot and writing, but again, that last quarter of the movie, along with the great cinematography is well worth the price of admission.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG