Fields Of The Nephilim – Dawnrazor

Review# 365

Last but far from least and also the first. Dawnrazor is the first full length Fields Of The Nephilim album. It is brilliant. Musically it sounds amazing and Carl McCoy's voice fantastic. The music feels like Goth met western film, while FOTN have always had that image it is really apparent in the music here too. This is one of those rare albums where the music is great from start to finish. While you are out getting a copy of Mutter as I recommended you should also try and find a copy of Dawnrazor... Though you will likely need to look on line to find it.

Dust: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UbiNKU227Y
Dawnrazor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8CPt_afd2w
Power: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K70OSjPsWAo
Preacher Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsSFR43Z600

Rammstein - Mutter

Review# 364

Probably the most popular Rammstein album Mutter has some of their biggest and most enduring hits. It is a very good album and I can't really fault it. But then I am bias. It packs in the hits as well as a bunch of other goodies. And it is well, just awesome. If you don't have it you should get it. Go on, off with you now its been out for a while so it should be cheap. Just trust me on this, I don't actually need to tell you anything about the album.

Zwitter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EI6N8TS9Bg&feature=related
Ich Will: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4K6ZxDwi34
Sonne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRsJonFe8A4
Mein herz brennt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o0mVxyj_8o

Ministry – The Land Of Rape And Honey

Review# 363

Just to set the record straight first up, Ministry did not just happen to think up the land of rape and honey as a song/album title. They pinched it from a town in Canada. While on tour they were stopped in this town which grew a lot of honey and rapeseed (re-branded into eveyones favourite; canola) and in the gift shop were mugs that said that they were "The Land Of Rape And Honey". I read that on Wikipedia so its most certainly 100% true. All that aside, this is a most brilliant album. The sound of it is grainy which suits it down to a T. The songs are great, kicked off with the ever popular Stigmata, with a lot of varying sounds throughout. Really its just another great album from the ever awesome Ministry.

Stigmata: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxaPj19VnRA
Flashback: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxiggKI6wC0&feature=related
The Land Of Rape And Honey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSlMmC513gg

Deathstarts – Night Electric Night

Review# 362

It really took a long time for Night Electric Night to grow on me. I absolutely loved and thrashed the first two Deathstars albums but when this hit I just couldn't get into it. I played it a lot at first but only a couple of songs really jumped out at me. After coming back to it again just recently I have finally clicked with it. The sound is huge and the songs are great, Night Electric Night is a huge song and will be one of their staple anthemic tunes. I am not sure what my problem with it was at the time but hey, its all good now.

Night Electric Night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwkfIAkKsPc
Death Dies Hard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWUmw2ITaFA&ob=av3e

Mastodon – The Hunter

Review# 361

Personally I still prefer the older Mastodon albums but The Hunter is still pretty kick arse, at least for the first half. I was so dubious after Crack The Skye that I almost didn't check out the first track Black Tongue. But that track is fricken cool, in fact the first half of the album is. There is still a huge Prog element but it has been brought back a bit with a more psycadellic edge and some interesting songs. There are some great lyrics too like the opening line to Curl Of The Burl "I killed a man, coz he killed my goat..." you know you are being set up for something special when you hear that for the first time.

Black Tongue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwgqenxNUfs&ob=av2e
Curl Of The Burl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAihDAJX8Ow
Stargasam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fte2YrMta7g

Mortiis – The Smell Of Rain

Review# 360

Ahhh Mortiis, a favourite of mine and yet is intensely hated by my partner. In fact I only know of one other person in my (admittedly small) sphere of friends and acquaintances who also likes this weird and wonderful artist. There are far to many people who are goblin snobs. The Smell Of Rain is probably my favourite of the Mortiis back catalogue. It is a fun industrial cum synth pop cum dance album. On one hand it is a bit outside what I usually listen to but on the other it has a good strong industrial sound at the root of the music. It is an interesting album and a huge change of direction from all that Mortiis had done previously (see earlier in the year where is reviewed all of Mortiis era I back to back) and also completely different to the follow up album The Grudge (see even earlier in the year for that one) which stripped off a lot of the pop elements. In the era time lines associated with Mortiis's music The Smell Of Rain is the only album to be thought of as era II. So its not great intense thought provoking music and yes its a bit weird and the music videos really don't help and yeah I get that not everyone is going to like what I like, but if you haven't already give a goblin a chance.

Parasite God: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM-VTCesxHg
Marshland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yagjl3_-gP0

Behemoth – Demigod

Review# 359

A brutal stomping album from Behemoth. It is a bit of a grower but none the less it is still a remarkable album.

Slaves Shall Serve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oey85FGHOHc
The Nephilim Rising: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ720jR-ff4

Alice Cooper – Schools Out

Review# 358

Schools Out is a great album that fits nicely into the slot of "great albums to listen to while drinking in the sun". The title track has been a staple in Alice Coopers live set ever since the album release in 1972 but the rest of the album is still brilliant.

Schools Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBMEeLWI6a8
Gutter Cats vs. the Jets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxijgJWdFWY

Pink Floyd – Animals

Review# 357

The last of Josh's picks. Sorry Josh, this bored me so much that I can't actually remember any of it.

The Devin Townsend Project – Ghost

Review# 356

Ok this is only the second time I have listened to Ghost but I just don't like it. I mean, its nice and pretty but I just can't get into it. It bores me immensely. Its ambient and kind of Enya-ish and I have no problem with Devin going for this sort of thing but its not my cuppa and I have absolutely no idea what to write about it. So I will picks some songs at random and you can make up your mind about it.

Ghost: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfathnkhkoQ
Dark Matters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4islpdNtbs

The Devin Townsend Project – Deconstruction

Review# 355

Deconstruction is a concept album about a man trying to find the true nature of reality. Through out the album you follow him to all sorts of random places (even bumping into our old friend Ziltoid The Omniscient who now appears to be running a carnival of freaks) and ultimately he ends up in hell where the devil presents a cheeseburger and explains that it contains all of the universes secrets between the buns. Unfortunately this man is a vegetarian so cannot eat the cheeseburger and so leaves without ever finding out.
The album is crazy and hectic and took a lot of listening to get anything out of it. Now I personally find that the record revolves primarily around a handful of tracks; Julaar, Deconstruction, The Mighty Mastubator and Planet Of The Apes... The rest don't really do a huge amount for me personally. The guest vocalists do a great job, I especially love Ihsahn's subtle yet awesome addition to Julaar.

Julaar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-DKs0qfdEk
Deconstruction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv0RIwdVrRg&feature=related
The Mighty Mastubator: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58mv4sP-4TU
Planet Of The Apes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjR71VwiP6s

The Devin Townsend Project – Addicted

Review# 354

The second album in the Devin Townsend Project, Addicted, is a pop rock fuelled, sing along piece of fun where all of the song titles have exclamation marks. The album features Anneke van Giersbergen, ex The Gathering, taking on a chunk of vocals.
While there are still a lot of serious themes involved it has been approached in a new and refreshing theme. Again, another album that I am surprised by the amount of play time I have given it with almost exclusive plays for the first month after I got it. There is also a great cover/re-work of Hyperdrive off the Ziltoid album... Not really sure if it's a cover if it's one of his own songs but hey.

Bend It Like Bender!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xr83DFlzjU&ob=av3n
Universe In A Ball!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1IZpNm2Qyw
Hyperdrive!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBP8-ootc40
Supercrush!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VgFnOMprpA

The Devin Townsend Project – Ki

Review# 353

The first Devin Townsend Project album is Ki (pronounced “key”), it is a rather progressive album (and you could probably guess what my thoughts were when I heard that in the rumour mill for the first time!) but it is so down to earth and is in no way pretentious or irritating. Devin uses a rather diverse range of vocal styles that are well balanced with the music and never feel just randomly thrown in. The music is well textured and supports the vocals perfectly, there is also quite a range of musical diversity in sounds throughout the album. I surprised my self with how much it got played during the 6 months or so after I brought it, these days I only really pull it out when I have time to really listen to it and feel like some relaxing music.

Disruptr: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG7Tvxf-3cU
Trainfire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M06vB9YeIjw
Heaven Send: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJkSr92bQDw
Ki: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gmLplFmUns

Candlemass – King Of The Grey Islands

Review# 352

Amazing doomy album from Candlemass. Great pace and texture to the album.

Emperor Of The Void: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tQuq6oqB0Y
Of Stars And Smoke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIG9fraiBU8

The Sisters Of Mercy – Floodland

Review# 351

Floodland is a brilliant album, its all skinky gothic 80's rock and the best of the three albums released by The Sisters Of Mercy. All of the elements come together perfectly with a great balance between vocals and music. Also, amazing Bass.

This Corrosion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obzPPeHgHRQ
Lucretia My Reflection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuezNswtRfo

Fear Factory – Mechanize

Review# 350

A brilliant return to the scene from Fear Factory. A blistering and cohesive album that was one of my favs from last year. Brilliant.

Fear Campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpyrLTn1EaU
Powershifter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flzimbVxOHI

Paradise Lost – Draconian Times

Review# 349

Draconian Times is an amazing musical work from one of the leaders of the Gothic scene, Paradise Lost. The album has all of the right elements; passion, energy, sound and an ability to conjure up associated imagery.

Hallowed Land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bsdncbj7_DI
Enchantment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPVdLWFwKa0