What Are You Listening To Now? 6.0

[litfan10]

Thanatos Rising

Sorizon

Update: a review likened these guys to Dream Theater and Symphony X....uh....no, just no.

Gut reaction: ahh look at them play super fast, aren't they cute......

 

[litfan10]

Pentesilea Road's eponymous first album

Not bad, pretty nice straight forward prog rock

 

[MetaBob]

Valley Winter Song - Fountains of Wayne

Can't get it out of my head, probably because the piece I've been writing for the last month is tentatively titled Valley Winter Loop.

 

[litfan10]

Can't get it out of my head, probably because the piece I've been writing for the last month is tentatively titled Valley Winter Loop.

After this post I can't get ELO's "Can't Get It Out of My Head" out of my head.....
Well, there are worse songs to have in my head....

Happy writing Metabob

 

[Blind_Justice]

Thanatos Rising

Sorizon

Update: a review likened these guys to Dream Theater and Symphony X....uh....no, just no.

Gut reaction: ahh look at them play super fast, aren't they cute......

This sounds more like late '80s Bay Area speed/thrash than prog. Early Death Angel, maybe Heathen. Too bad the cool shred is totally butchered by both a very cheap production and those god-awful growls. I mean, I LOVE death metal, but these guys play otherwise very melodic stuff and the growls fit that syle like porn moans fit The Four Seasons. Extra dislike for over-processed, heavily triggered drums and "el cheapo" guitar tones, especially on the downtuned 7-string.

Witherfall play this style much better.

Edit: Nearly forgot: Thanks for the well-wishes. M&M 14 was a BITCH to write. Took me only four months instead of the usual one. :|

 

[PaxNurgle]

Okay boz and gulz, want to hear some awesomely spectacularly cool old-school metal?

Well, check THIS out. This album fucking DESTROYS! and it's a shame it was their one and only good release because it's really that awesome. I swear, the vocalist sounds like Dio, but the music is twice as fast and powerful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9HQhH8OZeo&t=826s

Savage Grace "Master of Disguise" LP from 1985

Sadly, the band never really came close to equalling this. After this came out, they fired their drummer and vocalist, and the guitarist turned into some real sleazy, con-artist kind of dude. If you like metal you gotta listen to this though, because it's really friggin' good. REALLY good.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Okay boz and gulz, want to hear some awesomely spectacularly cool old-school metal?

Well, check THIS out. This album fucking DESTROYS! and it's a shame it was their one and only good release because it's really that awesome. I swear, the vocalist sounds like Dio, but the music is twice as fast and powerful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9HQhH8OZeo&t=826s

Savage Grace "Master of Disguise" LP from 1985

Sadly, the band never really came close to equalling this. After this came out, they fired their drummer and vocalist, and the guitarist turned into some real sleazy, con-artist kind of dude. If you like metal you gotta listen to this though, because it's really friggin' good. REALLY good.

You, sir, madam or Spawn of Chaos, have impeccable taste!

 

[Blind_Justice]

Wolfheart - Hereditary
https://youtu.be/vN7l4av_gjk

There is barely anything original in this track. The band name is lifted straight from Moonspell's debut album and the sound is a blatant Amon Amarth rip off. I usually like melodic death metal, but this ... is just boring. Sorry, guys. I've heard the exact same grooves and riffs dozens of times. The mix is a banger, but given today's music tech, anything less than that is an insult.

Demonical play a similar style but manage to surprise the listener.

 

[litfan10]

The Darkest Days Are the Brightest

Anneke Van Giersbergen

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Friday Night In San Francisco - John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, & Paco de Lucia (Columbia vinyl 1981)

Silky, lush, immersive jazz-flamenco concert from a trio of virtuoso performers, a cool treat I return to time and again, especially in the wee small hours when sleep won't come.

 

[Blind_Justice]

The Darkest Days Are the Brightest

Anneke Van Giersbergen

The title is kinda reminiscent of a Katatonia record. How's the music? I really liked her VUUR stuff. And basically everything else she does. Her voice is just so... yum.

 

[litfan10]

The title is kinda reminiscent of a Katatonia record. How's the music? I really liked her VUUR stuff. And basically everything else she does. Her voice is just so... yum.

I love, love, love Anneke.

This is a very unusual album. A while ago her marriage was in huge jeopardy of divorce. She drove off with an acoustic guitar and isolated herself and used music to work through all the emotions and figure out what she was doing with her life. This album is the product of that time, hence the title.

It is a very quiet album which I feel enhanced her voice amazingly well. I love her heavy stuff, Vuur very much included, but wow, she sounds incredible here.

Side note, she came out of isolation feeling her marriage was worth the fight, and they are happily together again now.

 

[Handley_Page]

Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz

 

[A_Bierce]

Dore Previn—Mythical Kings and Iguanas

 

[Blues]

Friday Night In San Francisco - John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, & Paco de Lucia (Columbia vinyl 1981)

Silky, lush, immersive jazz-flamenco concert from a trio of virtuoso performers, a cool treat I return to time and again, especially in the wee small hours when sleep won't come.

Great album, one of my favorites!

 

[Blues]

Even If It Breaks Your Heart-Will Hoge

 

[Haulover]

The Darkest Days Are the Brightest

Anneke Van Giersbergen

The title is kinda reminiscent of a Katatonia record. How's the music? I really liked her VUUR stuff. And basically everything else she does. Her voice is just so... yum.

I love, love, love Anneke.

This is a very unusual album. A while ago her marriage was in huge jeopardy of divorce. She drove off with an acoustic guitar and isolated herself and used music to work through all the emotions and figure out what she was doing with her life. This album is the product of that time, hence the title.

It is a very quiet album which I feel enhanced her voice amazingly well. I love her heavy stuff, Vuur very much included, but wow, she sounds incredible here.

Side note, she came out of isolation feeling her marriage was worth the fight, and they are happily together again now.

I need to hear this.

I interviewed Anneke in 2006, just before she left The Gathering - a fun conversation. And I had a brief conversation with her in 2007, just before her first solo release - as I'd been sent a pre-release copy. And that's the only solo Anneke (or "Agua de Annique") I have - it was called "Air". It didn't impress me, and I thought she'd lost it since the early days of The Gathering.

But I haven't heard anything by her since then, and was not aware of her personal situation.

Seems I need to catch up on her back catalog.

 

[Haulover]

Here's what I wrote after my brief 2007 conversation with Anneke:

The Gathering practically invented its particular genre of music in the early '90s. It was dark and doomy, laden with heavy guitar riffs, angry solos and compelling arrangements - and it was all fronted by a golden voiced siren whose delivery created such a contrast with the underlying instrumentals that it quickly spawned many followers. Think Italy's Lacuna Coil, Finland's Nightwish, Austria's Edenbridge, and Dutch compatriots Within Temptation and After Forever; and ultimately, the super-successful mainstream American group Evanescence - who we have described in these pages as a Janie-come-lately clone of Mandylion-era The Gathering.

We interviewed Anneke van Giersbergen the singer and heartbeat of the band in April 2006 after the band released Home, which we declared to be very good but without the edge the band was known for in its earlier career.

Then - without warning - Anneke announced her resignation from The Gathering, expressing a wish to pursue solo interests. And now, with her first effort Air by the (almost) eponymous band Agua De Annique, we're able to gauge the results of the move that shook the Dutch alternative rock scene.

What does she hope to accomplish? What kind of songs will she write? Who's in the new band? Will The Gathering ever reunite? We caught up with Anneke to ask those questions ... and many others.

Firstly, let's establish something: Anneke's departure from The Gathering is permanent.

She'll tell you it was a friendly parting of the ways and that they're still all friends, but when pressed about how often she expects to socialize with her old bandmates, she plays it coy with a "we can't tell just how it's going to play out..." Then when pressed further about the possibility of a reunion, she replies "Who knows - maybe in ten years or so. Who knows...".

The new band called Agua De Annique is not quite a solo project. Although it's clearly named for herself, it isn't quite a band either - at least, not in the traditional sense. Anneke's vocals are at the heart of he music, and she adds the and piano lines. Husband Rob Snijders plays drums, Joris Dirks plays guitar and provides a few vocal lines, and Jacques de Haard plays bass. But each of these artists has a 'home' band as well, for whom van Giersbergen has provided vocals on various occasions - so the four artists, and their respective bands, form a loose alliance of musicians who form and re-form as the need arises. We've seen this work successfully before, with the loose alliances (including a husband and wife team) in the Lana Lane / Erik Norlander / Rocket Scientists / et al group of artists.

Many of the songs on Anneke's debut album Air were written years ago - some were offered unsuccessfully to The Gathering and others never left the shelf. Other songs are new, but all are what Anneke describes as "romantic and dark, but also showing glimmers of hope". She makes it clear that "...because these songs were written by one person they don't have as many elements as The Gathering's music - they're simpler, not so layered and not as eclectic". She describes the songs as "alternative pop-rock", and the words 'progressive' and 'metal' no longer form parts of her lexicon. "The songs are about life, and simple things," she tells us. "Although a few of the lyrics are a bit more eclectic, or metaphorical".

There isn't really a theme, or a unifying concept, to Air - besides the fact that they describe vignettes of her life through the passage of several years. The songwriting is 95% her own - over 6 months she brought her songs into the studio and the band helped refine them, helping build a rich character into each track.

Marketing the new band in the Netherlands may be a slam dunk, since her departure from The Gathering - and the impending release of Air - have been blessed with plenty of mainstream media attention. More remote markets may be more of a challenge, though, and is being driven by interviews, the distribution network she's built, and principally, an aggressive online presence. Her ex-Gathering status will obviously give her a jump start in many markets. There could be tours in the future, although she acknowledges that those are "much harder in the USA". The first pressing is relatively modest, and reprints will be planned after the initial uptake has been evaluated. Her production costs were very low, though, so van Giersbergen is hoping for financial as well as artistic success.

Click here to see our reviews of Agua De Annique's Air.

 

[Haulover]

Here's the review I wrote of Air:

It starts with a very simple drum beat that seems to find its way into almost every subsequent track, and develops into a straightforward vocals-oriented piece sung by The Gathering's ex-siren, Anneke van Giersbergen. Hence the band's name - get it? Agua De Annique - with the 'agua' referring to the repeated reference to water as a metaphor for so many things in her lyrics.

But although this band belongs to The Gathering's ex front lady, don't expect to hear that band's sound here. This is more Sleepy Buildings than Manyylion - more lullaby than rocker, more pop than prog. Anneke herself describes the music as "alternative pop-rock", and admits that "because these songs were written by one person they don't have as many elements as The Gathering's music - they're simpler, not so layered, and not as eclectic". We would agree. Listen to "You Are Nice" to see what she means - linear, straightforward, and not progressive, doomy, metallic or gothic in any way. It's very song-oriented, and with 13 radio-friendly short songs in 51 minutes, and only two songs (barely) breaking the 5-minute mark, the album is clearly directed toward a commercial market.

The songs describe vignettes of her life through the passage of several years. Anneke's excellent singing seems to permeate every bar of every song, and her vocal delivery is faultless and her pitch control is spot on, as you'd expect, though you might wish for a bit more complexity or a few more instrumentals to punctuate the songs. The lineup is pretty standard, though it's enhanced by guest artists helping out with more vocal lines, strings, flute and trumpet. More emphasis on those additional textures would have been nice.

It was made clear to us that our review copy is probably not the final mix. Production was generally quite good even in this pre-release version, so - as with The Gathering - expect Air to be a well produced, professionally turned out body of work. Let's face it - after all that time in a top-flight genre-leading band that released 8 studio albums, completed several world tours and won numerous awards during her tenure, Anneke has become the consummate professional.

Click here to read our article, published after a recent conversation with Annique. Er - with Anneke.

 

[Haulover]

Lemmeno if you have any interest in my (much longer) 2006 interview with Anneke.

 

[litfan10]

Animal Logic's eponymous first album.

to be followed by their second and last album Animal Logic II

Man, I so loved this group - one of the best bands to come out of the late eighties/early nineties. I am so excited to hear Deborah Holland announce that they are back together working on at least a new EP. That will be absolutely an immediate purchase and on constant rotation.

 

[litfan10]

Lemmeno if you have any interest in my (much longer) 2006 interview with Anneke.

absolutely

 

[Blind_Justice]

@Haulover: You have to check out VUUR and The Gentle Storm. The former is a rather technical prog album, surprisingly harsh at times yet still with some fantastic melodies. I would have been fine with less abstract breaks and time changes, but the vocals make this a very interesting listen.

The latter she did with Arjen Lucassen and is a concept album based on a true story about a Dutch sailor and his wife in the 17th century and the letters they exchanged. They did the whole thing twice - as a folk album and a prog metal album (sold as a deserving 2CD box). IMHO MUCH better than Transitus. "Shores of India", especially in the metal version, is a mega-song. My lady love says she would have loved Tommy Karevik for the male parts.

 

[litfan10]

@Haulover: You have to check out VUUR and The Gentle Storm. The former is a rather technical prog album, surprisingly harsh at times yet still with some fantastic melodies. I would have been fine with less abstract breaks and time changes, but the vocals make this a very interesting listen.

The latter she did with Arjen Lucassen and is a concept album based on a true story about a Dutch sailor and his wife in the 17th century and the letters they exchanged. They did the whole thing twice - as a folk album and a prog metal album (sold as a deserving 2CD box). IMHO MUCH better than Transitus. "Shores of India", especially in the metal version, is a mega-song. My lady love says she would have loved Tommy Karevik for the male parts.

I find I gravitate to the storm disc (the folk side is labeled as "gentle") much more than the folk of Gentle Storm but both are fantastic and yes on a much heavier rotation for me than any Areyon albums. There are neat videos of several of the songs both storm and gentle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY0Y1AwOyw0

 

[litfan10]

@Haulover: You have to check out VUUR and The Gentle Storm. The former is a rather technical prog album, surprisingly harsh at times yet still with some fantastic melodies. I would have been fine with less abstract breaks and time changes, but the vocals make this a very interesting listen.

scratches head.

but....but....is prog.