After a short posting hiatus, I’m back. I covered for Willie Strausser today so look for both Native Metal and Janitor From Mars. 6 hours of mainly doom metal and styles spawned from doom with some psychedelic hard rock thrown in.
Ronnie James Dio left this world at 7:45am yesterday. He will certainly be missed and I decided to do an extended show from 4-5pm with a few Dio, Heaven and Hell and Black Sabbath songs. He was also part of Rainbow and Elf as well. Rest in peace, Ronnie.
Changed my show theme this week to that of the A-Team theme. I just love the way it sounds and it fits the image I’m trying to project.
http://www.wruv.org/schedule/sunday
(Janitor From Mars only available in archives for one week! Also, check out the 4-6pm show for the extended 1 hour set)
Playlist for this show on Radioactivity:
http://tinyurl.com/janitorfrommars051610
The Kandidate- Until We Are Outnumbered
released Feburary 9, 2010 on Napalm Records Added to WRUV 5/7/10
The Kandidate is a thrash metal band originally started as a two man project, evolving over the years into its’ present form. First impressions are a strong album full of thrash metal riffs and drumming. Delving deeper, Strength Through Diversity starts off this album with the vocals of Jacob Bredahl cutting through the music like a knife. Brutal, uncompromising thrash metal is the style here with fast drumming, etc. It does have a slight black metal tinge in the way the drums are structured and also a bit of hardcore. The pacing of the drums in Shut ‘Em Up has a very hardcore feel to it. Distress And Decay is the shortest song on this album and I really like the beginning of it. I’m not sure what else I could say to add to this album but I like how they build upon their sound from track to track. It’s certainly not enough to label this as thrash metal when you can see the obvious hardcore and black metal influences. Certainly worth checking out if you love thrash.
FCC: Check for profanity
Try: 1,3,4,6
01. Strength Through Diversity
02. Give Up All Hope
03. Shut ‘Em Up
04. Distress And Decay
05. In Hell
06. We Conform To The Unrighteous
07. Live A Lie
08. The Kill
09. Enemy
10. Yours Truly
4/5
One Brick Down- Tribalcore Leader
released July 29, 2008 added to WRUV May 7, 2010
From NJ, One Brick Down’s overall sound has a strong hardcore influence but the title of this album seems to point to a variation of hardcore. A Letter To The Devil Within has a good mix of hardcore guitars and what seems to be tribal-like drumming. Sludgy and distorted as well. Certainly an interesting mix. Rebirth continues much of the same theme and is reminiscent of Earth Crisis and similar bands in style. Karma Teeth offers the most variation in their sound and is a cleaner track with less distortion/sludge and lots of tribal drumming in the background. Interesting concept from an interesting band. I can’t really say if it’s anything I’d listen to often but it’s worth checking out once or twice.
FCC: 1,8,13
Try: 2,4,5
01. Diehard
02. A Letter To The Devil Within
03. Oath
04. Rebirth
05. Karma Teeth
06. The Walls Collapse
07. Means To An End
08. Against The Grain
3/5
The Gloominous Doom- The Feature
released May 2, 2010 on DRP Records
Press release describes this band as a genre-bending band and judging by the song titles, they seem to have a sense of humor, which I like. Urine Trouble reminds me of the opposite of a product Tommy Chong used to shill called Urine Luck. Regardless, the beginning has a bluesy feel to it that gives way to a classic hardcore punk feel mixed with a tad bit of thrash. Possible influences that come to mind include Econochrist, Municipal Waste and Metallica. It’s kind of all over the place and a chore to really listen to but a good attempt here. Most songs are in the 3-4 minute range with the exception of a few. The first part of this album seems to have a combination of the influences above and again, seems to be hard to follow along with. The White Mist Of Summer Mountain Road changes it up a bit as it’s the longest song on this album but it seems better fleshed out with a nearly psychedelic vibe to it. Tuned-down and full of distortion as well. At 3:30 into this song, it changes up and takes on a more frantic pace with the drums adding more of a distorted hardcore feel to it. White Worms From Hell and Thrashsphault sound a lot like lost Sublime tracks and throw in a good amount of thrash. Desolation of Smaug has a very bleak, slow start to it which doesn’t last long, developing into a song that I feel is equal parts Black Sabbath and black album-era Metallica. It seems to have the most depth out of all of the songs on this album. In fact, I think that The Gloominous Doom’s sound benefits the most when they are given more time to flesh it out. Short, loud bursts just don’t work well for this group. I’d love to see them develop this part of their sound more but for the most part, this is a solid album that attempts to capture the spirit of several genres.
FCC: 1, 4
Try: 2, 8, 11,12, *14*
01. Portal Potty
02. Urine Trouble
03. Deuces Wild
04. The Feature
05. Lager Jam ’87
06. Rigormortis
07. Old Bay, Old And Grey
08. White Worms From Hell
09. The Night Of The Scrappelizer
10. Extreme Glacical Movement
11. The White Mist of Summer Mountain Road
12. Thrashpault
13. JFKFC
14. Desolation Of Smaug
15. Midnight Murder Rampage
Decided to do an all-metal show since I was subbing for Willie Strausser and Native Metal from 12pm-2pm in addition to my regular show. I did a showcase of the doom metal style and its’ various sub-styles. Was a bit late but otherwise, good show. It may very well spell the direction of Janitor From Mars in the future but I still have plans to continue spinning punk and hardcore whenever available. 3 hour shows are coming up with the Summer semester so there’s more time to explore punk sub-genres and make themed shows.
http://www.wruv.org/schedule/sunday
(show only available in archives for one week!)
Playlist for this show on Radioactivity:
http://tinyurl.com/janitorfrommars042510
Die Among Heroes- Self-Titled
originally released September 2009 Added 4/21/10
Metalcore band from TX and this is their first album. First impressions are reminiscent of Killswitch Engage and generic metalcore that seems to dominate the commercial radio stations in this area. Not a bad thing though but more exploration is needed. In the Event I Don’t Return has a very commercial metalcore sound with clean vocals and what appears to be solid, but unoriginal musicianship. They have the hardcore riffs down right along with the blast beats. Not much else to spark my interest with this track. Perish What Ignites The Flame and Under These Street Lights both have a very Trivium-like feel to them and again, aren’t quite what I’m looking for because of the emo-like harmonies married to generic blast beats/hardcore guitars. Not one to completely pan an album, I seek out a tolerable track and find it in, shit, who am I kidding? I just can’t get into this stuff. Check it out if mediocrity is up your alley but otherwise, you can do better and you know it. I’d suggest listening to KsE instead of an imitator. Perhaps I’ll send this to the Wire and they’d probably spin the hell out of it. Just not gonna happen here.
FCC:
Try: 2, 8
01. Sound Of Memory
02. In The Event I Don’t Return
03. Perish What Ignites The Flame
04. Forgive This Murder
05. Under The Street Lights
06. WIth All That Has Been Lost
07. Her Warm Embrace
08. My Failing Attempts
2.5/5
Karen Page- Self-Titled
released February 16, 2010 on Rotten Records
From pouring through the press information, I get the impression that Karen Page is a band that exists solely to blow your eardrums out. For me, this shouldn’t be a problem but I worry for the rest of you who hear them for the first time. Out Of The Woodwork starts off this record with brutal blast beats mated to slow, moody hardcore riffs with a few breakdowns within. Interesting mix of styles. Your Body Is Like A Wasteland manages to differentiate itself with more of an old-school metal sound, in which I can detect a bit of Iommi/Butler influence. Morality As Home Entertainment seems is very listenable partly due to the strong hardcore influence full of sludgy guitars, timely breakdowns and even a slight amount of blast beats. Overall sound is appealing to anyone who enjoys hardcore. At 2:00, the tempo slows down to something more mellow in nature to finish off this song. The Beyond is another strong track to close off this album. In conclusion, this album is worth a few spins because of the way it attempts to deviate from the hardcore norm at the beginning and by the time you get to the middle, the band seems to settle into more of a hardcore state of mind. Worth checking out.
FCC: None
Try: 1,3,7,12
01. Out Of The Woodwork
02. The Icebox
03. Your Body Is Like a Wasteland
04. Snake Eyes
05. All Sixes
06. Interloper
07. Morality As Home Entertainment
08. Bag Of Nerves
09. Nailbiter
10. Monster
11. Dead Men Tell No Tales
12. The Beyond
3/5
