Weekly Bandcamp Album Discussion Club

Trollheart · 05-31-2015, 04:34 AM

Think you probably have enough people interested now to start up. Can we get the first album, as otherwise this could drag on and people will lose interest. I know what it's like running an album club: you need to keep people invested in it and they lose interest really quickly if it stalls, so that would be my suggestion. Either today or maybe tomorrow if you want to give a week/two weeks/whatever to review.

Have you thought about what, if any, format you want to use? Are you looking for structured comments or just basic throw-ideas-into-the-pot, brainstorm kind of thing? I'd be interested to see this get going, as it will be the latest album club and one of the only ones to possibly have a chance of surviving.

**Goofle** · 05-31-2015, 06:20 AM

Since it looks like I'm first I'll go with this album:

https://shepherdrock.bandcamp.com/al...riffalocalypse

Not sure if there's going to be a new thread.

ZRFTS · 05-31-2015, 08:33 AM

Nah. We're going to use this existing thread.

WEEK 1 - SHEPARD: STEREOLITHIC RIFFALOCALYPSE

link to the album

Well that's it I suppose; no self-nomination and yeah, you have a week.

Trollheart · 06-08-2015, 05:16 PM

I don't know if anyone has remembered this, or if everyone is working away on their reviews, but I'm having my last few listens and will hopefully post my thoughts on the album by tomorrow.

DeadChannel · 06-08-2015, 07:39 PM

Oh yeah, this.

I enjoyed the album for what it was worth, and I certainly dig stoner/doom metal. I don't really know if this is doing anything spectacularly new, and some of the production felt a bit off, but it's solid.

Might do a longer review later.

Machine · 06-08-2015, 08:06 PM

Honestly I took a listen and I really didn't have much to say about it. It was pretty good, but not so good that I'll be returning to it a lot something just seemed a little meh about it all the way through. It's a shame because they had some killer ideas I just don't think they were executed with enough care.

Plainview · 06-09-2015, 04:41 AM

Really not my genre at all, so not an entirely pleasant listen for me. Overall though, musicianship seemed strong, and the stoner/psychy aspect was nice and managed to remove some of the pure metal aspect that turns me off. Can't really say anything productive as the genre is so unfamiliar and uninteresting to me.

**Goofle** · 06-09-2015, 06:12 AM

The funny thing about this album is that I loved it the first time I listened. I don't know if I was simply in the mood for that style or maybe my expectations were lower. But this time round I kinda ended up being pretty meh about it too.

I'd give it a solid 7/10 on balance. Some really good moments.

Trollheart · 06-09-2015, 08:46 AM

Since Goofle is well known here for his wide and varied music taste, I had no idea at all what to expect when he proposed this album. It could have been anything from jazz to synthpop or hip-hop to death metal. As it turns out, it's metal of some degree, and when it started I knew I was going to hate it. And I did. The first time. But strangely, as the last song played out I found myself getting into it, and the second time I ran it I was much more impressed. I've now listened to it four times and am ready to give my opinion on it.

I see others have said there's nothing special about it, and to be fair, yeah it is pretty generic. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. Not every band can be pushing the boundaries, testing the envelope and creating masterworks. For what it is, this is very competent, and I think we need to bear in mind that these Bandcamp releases are all (am I right?) self-produced and most likely self-financed, so for a band with no label behind them this is pretty professional sounding.

The singer reminds me of a slower Lemmy, though my experience of this sort of stoner/Doom is quite limited. Later he sounds like Ozzy. The guitar playing appears to be very technically proficient, and the drumming competent, though I can never distinguish a good drummer from a band one, apart from the greats like Powell, Peart, Palmer et al. Yes I see the alliteration; wasn't intentional. I also am only now seeing for the first time that Shepherd are from India, which is not something you would realise straight away, as to my mind they sound quite American. They're obviously very popular, if the sale of their t-shirts is anything to go by. So, down to cases then.

1. Spite pit is a good introduction to the band, crushingly heavy but with a lot of melody

2. Turdspeak (what a hilarious name!) is just crunching, crushing, rumbling Doom at its sludgy, trudging best, and it's here that I begin to note the Ozzy sound to the vocalist's voice. It soon picks up on some fast shredding and there's a kind of Deep Purple feel there for me.

3. Crook goes for the throat right away, big pounding, grinding riffs that seem to well up from the very bowels of the earth itself. I like the hook in the melody.

4. Black cock of Armageddon (another great title!) is where the singer does his best Ozzy impression, but you can definitely see a sameness coming through here; there's not too much variety in the tracks, and many of them sound very similar. They're not bad, just often very alike. This one speeds up nicely at the end, with some fine shredding taking it out.

5. Stereolithic riffalocalypse goes back to snail's pace, dragging your feet along in chains while staring ahead at the miles of desert before you and the sun burns your back pitilessly, no idea where you're being taken. Some good vocal harmonies, very bleak and morose with no real shaft of hope peeking through and nothing but misery and suffering to look forward to at the end of this long road, maybe death if you're very lucky. The song speeds up near the end, but again this is becoming something of a pattern now and does not surprise me. It does give the track a burst of needed energy though.

6. Bog slime is back to crushing us with heavy, neutron-star-grade riffs and returns to the plodding, crawling pace of which this band appear to be most fond. Certainly some very good fretwork within the song, but again it's very close to other tracks on the album, notably Turdspeak and Crook. They do add in some effects, which is different at least. Now we're halfway through and on a cry of “One-two-three-four!” the tempo is kicked up again; you could almost predict what's going to happen at this point. Talk about metal by the numbers!

7. Wretch salad (Is this not almost Sabbath's “Rat salad”?) and we're back to super-slow, draggy drony riffs with another Ozzy vocal.

8. Stalebait: at least the titles are imaginative. I'm afraid I can't say the same about the music. Very formulaic, very basic, very generic. Which is not to say it's not good, just not particularly original. I do love the riff at the end of this though, which is I think where I got the idea this was going to be something worth looking into more, at the time.

I'm not sure if we're instigating/using a voting system, but I'd say I'd award this about 6/10 if pushed.

ZRFTS · 06-10-2015, 12:14 PM

Stereolithic Riffalocalypse

At this point in time, music has become a form of entertainment. Innovation is rare and few in this genre so when a hard rock band comes out from India (which is rare and unexpected), you definately expect them to innovate and well... Put up a chair it's going to be hard to explain.

For the first few tracks, Shepherd displays a mix of hard rock/metal/melodic songs that for the first 3 tracks, actually sounds good. These people have actual talent and professionalism that is rare for a self-distributed release; they know how to do effects, they know how to make it sound a certain way and well... it's melodic.

I can remember for three tracks a certain melody that you can find from India; they do a great job in that they sound hard while accessible at the same time. Out of the three, I think "Turdspeak" has to be the best song because it has that distinctiveness to it. One has to imagine if there was an album of melodic metal hard rock... This could of revitalized the genre and given life to it.

After Track 3; it becomes... uninteresting. It's not tough to listen to nor is it exciting, it's just by the numbers. You've heard this before in bands before and due to my limited band knowledge I can't list the bands but I will say they sound like Def Leppard. I felt uninterested during songs with super creative titles like "Black Cock of Armageddon" and "Wretch Salad" mainly because they are too confident in themselves and don't feel the need to innovate. It's like we're on their 20th album or something.

I will give them credit, it sounds amazingly professional and polished. There are literally no flaws to it. They went to a studio, they got a producer and they did everything well; in fact they're one of the go to bands to study if you want to know how the process works. They're just a couple of people from India so to see them do Hard Rock in contrast from the rest of the musical scene in India. These people have serious talent which I give props to.

However, talent does not excuse the by-the-numbersness of this album. Should you pay $10 for this album. I don't know... That's really up to you and whatever you want to do to support hard-rock. I think by listening to this album, I found out why other genres have gotten so popular; because they want to listen to interesting sounds. There are so many things you can do with electronics but there aren't many things you can do with guitars... They're on the right track but is there a way we can nudge them in the right direction.

6.5/10

By the way, week's up. Someone should nominate a new album.

05-31-2015, 04:34 AM	#11 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Think you probably have enough people interested now to start up. Can we get the first album, as otherwise this could drag on and people will lose interest. I know what it's like running an album club: you need to keep people invested in it and they lose interest really quickly if it stalls, so that would be my suggestion. Either today or maybe tomorrow if you want to give a week/two weeks/whatever to review. Have you thought about what, if any, format you want to use? Are you looking for structured comments or just basic throw-ideas-into-the-pot, brainstorm kind of thing? I'd be interested to see this get going, as it will be the latest album club and one of the only ones to possibly have a chance of surviving. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

06-08-2015, 05:16 PM	#14 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	I don't know if anyone has remembered this, or if everyone is working away on their reviews, but I'm having my last few listens and will hopefully post my thoughts on the album by tomorrow. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

06-08-2015, 08:06 PM	#16 (permalink)
Machine moon lake inc. Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Detroit Posts: 2,125	Honestly I took a listen and I really didn't have much to say about it. It was pretty good, but not so good that I'll be returning to it a lot something just seemed a little meh about it all the way through. It's a shame because they had some killer ideas I just don't think they were executed with enough care. __________________ boost my ego listen to me stroke my delay pedal ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

06-09-2015, 08:46 AM	#19 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Since Goofle is well known here for his wide and varied music taste, I had no idea at all what to expect when he proposed this album. It could have been anything from jazz to synthpop or hip-hop to death metal. As it turns out, it's metal of some degree, and when it started I knew I was going to hate it. And I did. The first time. But strangely, as the last song played out I found myself getting into it, and the second time I ran it I was much more impressed. I've now listened to it four times and am ready to give my opinion on it. I see others have said there's nothing special about it, and to be fair, yeah it is pretty generic. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. Not every band can be pushing the boundaries, testing the envelope and creating masterworks. For what it is, this is very competent, and I think we need to bear in mind that these Bandcamp releases are all (am I right?) self-produced and most likely self-financed, so for a band with no label behind them this is pretty professional sounding. The singer reminds me of a slower Lemmy, though my experience of this sort of stoner/Doom is quite limited. Later he sounds like Ozzy. The guitar playing appears to be very technically proficient, and the drumming competent, though I can never distinguish a good drummer from a band one, apart from the greats like Powell, Peart, Palmer et al. Yes I see the alliteration; wasn't intentional. I also am only now seeing for the first time that Shepherd are from India, which is not something you would realise straight away, as to my mind they sound quite American. They're obviously very popular, if the sale of their t-shirts is anything to go by. So, down to cases then. 1. Spite pit is a good introduction to the band, crushingly heavy but with a lot of melody 2. Turdspeak (what a hilarious name!) is just crunching, crushing, rumbling Doom at its sludgy, trudging best, and it's here that I begin to note the Ozzy sound to the vocalist's voice. It soon picks up on some fast shredding and there's a kind of Deep Purple feel there for me. 3. Crook goes for the throat right away, big pounding, grinding riffs that seem to well up from the very bowels of the earth itself. I like the hook in the melody. 4. Black cock of Armageddon (another great title!) is where the singer does his best Ozzy impression, but you can definitely see a sameness coming through here; there's not too much variety in the tracks, and many of them sound very similar. They're not bad, just often very alike. This one speeds up nicely at the end, with some fine shredding taking it out. 5. Stereolithic riffalocalypse goes back to snail's pace, dragging your feet along in chains while staring ahead at the miles of desert before you and the sun burns your back pitilessly, no idea where you're being taken. Some good vocal harmonies, very bleak and morose with no real shaft of hope peeking through and nothing but misery and suffering to look forward to at the end of this long road, maybe death if you're very lucky. The song speeds up near the end, but again this is becoming something of a pattern now and does not surprise me. It does give the track a burst of needed energy though. 6. Bog slime is back to crushing us with heavy, neutron-star-grade riffs and returns to the plodding, crawling pace of which this band appear to be most fond. Certainly some very good fretwork within the song, but again it's very close to other tracks on the album, notably Turdspeak and Crook. They do add in some effects, which is different at least. Now we're halfway through and on a cry of “One-two-three-four!” the tempo is kicked up again; you could almost predict what's going to happen at this point. Talk about metal by the numbers! 7. Wretch salad (Is this not almost Sabbath's “Rat salad”?) and we're back to super-slow, draggy drony riffs with another Ozzy vocal. 8. Stalebait: at least the titles are imaginative. I'm afraid I can't say the same about the music. Very formulaic, very basic, very generic. Which is not to say it's not good, just not particularly original. I do love the riff at the end of this though, which is I think where I got the idea this was going to be something worth looking into more, at the time. I'm not sure if we're instigating/using a voting system, but I'd say I'd award this about 6/10 if pushed. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

05-31-2015, 08:33 AM	#13 (permalink)
ZRFTS Groupie Join Date: May 2015 Posts: 39	Nah. We're going to use this existing thread. WEEK 1 - SHEPARD: STEREOLITHIC RIFFALOCALYPSE link to the album Well that's it I suppose; no self-nomination and yeah, you have a week.

06-08-2015, 07:39 PM	#15 (permalink)
DeadChannel Music Addict Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Canada Posts: 1,259	Oh yeah, this. I enjoyed the album for what it was worth, and I certainly dig stoner/doom metal. I don't really know if this is doing anything spectacularly new, and some of the production felt a bit off, but it's solid. Might do a longer review later.

06-10-2015, 12:14 PM	#20 (permalink)
ZRFTS Groupie Join Date: May 2015 Posts: 39	Stereolithic Riffalocalypse At this point in time, music has become a form of entertainment. Innovation is rare and few in this genre so when a hard rock band comes out from India (which is rare and unexpected), you definately expect them to innovate and well... Put up a chair it's going to be hard to explain. For the first few tracks, Shepherd displays a mix of hard rock/metal/melodic songs that for the first 3 tracks, actually sounds good. These people have actual talent and professionalism that is rare for a self-distributed release; they know how to do effects, they know how to make it sound a certain way and well... it's melodic. I can remember for three tracks a certain melody that you can find from India; they do a great job in that they sound hard while accessible at the same time. Out of the three, I think "Turdspeak" has to be the best song because it has that distinctiveness to it. One has to imagine if there was an album of melodic metal hard rock... This could of revitalized the genre and given life to it. After Track 3; it becomes... uninteresting. It's not tough to listen to nor is it exciting, it's just by the numbers. You've heard this before in bands before and due to my limited band knowledge I can't list the bands but I will say they sound like Def Leppard. I felt uninterested during songs with super creative titles like "Black Cock of Armageddon" and "Wretch Salad" mainly because they are too confident in themselves and don't feel the need to innovate. It's like we're on their 20th album or something. I will give them credit, it sounds amazingly professional and polished. There are literally no flaws to it. They went to a studio, they got a producer and they did everything well; in fact they're one of the go to bands to study if you want to know how the process works. They're just a couple of people from India so to see them do Hard Rock in contrast from the rest of the musical scene in India. These people have serious talent which I give props to. However, talent does not excuse the by-the-numbersness of this album. Should you pay $10 for this album. I don't know... That's really up to you and whatever you want to do to support hard-rock. I think by listening to this album, I found out why other genres have gotten so popular; because they want to listen to interesting sounds. There are so many things you can do with electronics but there aren't many things you can do with guitars... They're on the right track but is there a way we can nudge them in the right direction. 6.5/10 By the way, week's up. Someone should nominate a new album.