Archive for February, 2010

Album of the day: Cathedral – The Guessing Game

Posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Cathedral - The Guessing Game

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: A double album is always a curious read, and Cathedral’s ninth full-length, The Guessing Game, with which the legendary UK doom outfit celebrates their 20th anniversary, is no exception. All the more so considering The Guessing Game is so close to the 80-minute limit of what would fit on a regular compact disc that, if the band had nixed the two two-and-a-half-minute intros, the record would have fit easily. So it’s not like they’ve come up with such an abundance of material as a follow-up to 2005’s The Garden of Unearthly Delights, but the jeans are just a little too tight to hold what they’ve got. I think we’ve all been there at one time or another.

Please don’t take that as calling The Guessing Game bloated. As one of the bands who set the course for the genre of traditional doom with classic albums like 1993’s The Ethereal Mirror and 1995’s The Carnival Bizarre, they know what it takes to make a good record, and although I generally fall on the side of cut what you need to to make it work — to the point of agreeing with George Martin that The White Album should have been a single disc (would the world really miss “Rocky Raccoon” or “Revolution No. 9?”) — if after two decades of existence, Cathedral want to make a 2CD, I’m not about to fault them for doing so. After five years, I’m just happy to have a new record. Any issue of how to interpret whether to take it as one whole work or two separate albums is secondary to that. Maybe that’s The Guessing Game.

In any case, the remaining original and principal members of the band, vocalist Lee Dorrian (whose back story by now shouldn’t need retelling) and guitarist Garry “Gaz” Jennings, both give remarkable performances throughout The Guessing Game. From “Funeral of Dreams” and down the line of the first disc’s material, Dorrian’s voice is a constant high point. Even as “Funeral of Dreams” pays bizarre homage to ritualistic ‘70s prog — think bands like Black Widow and Coven — Dorrian stays in character and on point vocally. And it’s a hearty “holy shit” moment nearly every time Jennings kicks into a solo, perhaps most especially on “Painting in the Dark.”

Continue reading: The Obelisk » Blog Archive » Here’s a Cathedral Review that Would Also Have to Fit on Two Discs.
(Special thanks to JJ Koczan for the kind permission)

Tags: album of the day, cathedral, doom, Gaz Jennings, JJ Koczan, lee dorrian, nuclear blast, The Guessing Game, The Obelisk
Posted in 2010, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | 4 Comments »

Album of the day: Bardo Pond – Bufo Alvarius

Posted on Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Praise for Bardo Pond’s Bufo Alvarius from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records: One of our favorite records from this Philly drone / drug / psych ensemble, available again on lp, this time with a bonus track, and a cd version bundled with the lp…
Bufo Alvarius, originally released in 1995, was Bardo ...read more

A comprehensive guide to the MC5’s recordings by Arthur Magazine

Posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010

TEN OUT OF 5: A comprehensive guide to the MC5’s recordings, for the curious, the enthusiast and the hopeless completist by Arthur Magazine’s Seth “The Seth Man” Wimpfheimer, James Parker and Ian Svenonius.

MC5 – Kick Out the Jams
Halloween Night 1968, the Grande Ballroom, Detroit. First night of a two-night stand ...read more

Album of the day: Sir Lord Baltimore – Kingdom Come

Posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010

Lovingly pinched from The Ripple Effect: People will debate endlessly about who founded that musical beast we’ve all come to know and love as heavy metal. And while arguments can be made that Blue Cheer unleashed the world’s first heavy metal song with their noise-core version of “Summertime Blues,” or ...read more

Red Sparowes release first MP3 from new album due out in April

Posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010

Los Angeles epic, heavy quintet Red Sparowes has announced North American headlining TOUR DATES this spring supporting its forthcoming third album.  The disc, titled The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies The Answer, will be released via Sargent House on April 6th, 2010. See complete track listing below.
Check out the ...read more

Jucifer: Fleur De Lis Video Released

Posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010

Fleur de Lis, the new video from Athens, Georgia’s Jucifer, can be viewed below. The clip was directed by the band’s own Edgar Livengood and was edited by David Hall of Handshake Inc. (“Maryland Deathfest: The Movie”, Fuck The Facts’  “Disgorge Mexico: The Movie, etc.). The song comes off Jucifer’s ...read more

Dead Meadow: Free Exclusive Fan Download #2 – I’m Gone

Posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Dead Meadow’s second track of 4 fan exclusives is ready to download:

Dead Meadow have just announced the details surrounding their upcoming record release party / film premiere for their upcoming new album and original film, The Three Kings, out on March 23rd. Taking place at the historic location of Hollywood ...read more

Album of the day: The Brought Low – Third Record

Posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: What New York City rockers The Brought Low have always managed to do best is get right to the point, and on their latest offering, the appropriately titled Third Album (Small Stone), the trio make it known right away that they’re open for business. “Old ...read more

Album of the day: Cluster – Qua

Posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Lovingly pinched from BBC Music: Forty years young as a band next year, Cluster’s venerability is not unique in terms of the movement they are most often associated with – the Krautrock scene of 1970s Germany, which was footloose, sincerely experimental and in many cases highly influential. Yet their synthesiser-driven ...read more

Exclaim Conversations: Buzzov*en

Posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Chris Ayers of  Exclaim recently conducted an interview with Kirk Fisher about Sludge Legends Buzzov*en. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.
Exlaim: Why was Violence from the Vault never released until now?
Fisher: Just never really tried to do anything with it and had honestly lost track of my master ...read more