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