Trollheart

Superb soundscapes, gorgeous musical vistas


Artiste: Lights and Motion
Nationality: Swedish
Album: More film/TV music aka Unreleased Vol 1
Year: 2014
Label: None; Bandcamp-only release
Genre: Soundtrack/Ambient/Instrumental
Tracks:
Hope
Bravery
Discovering mathematics
Homebound
A beautiful tragedy
The fallen
Willow
The chase
Rover
Teardrop
Home, part 2
Dreamweaver
Profound
Rise
Phobia
Solaris
Compass
Sunshine
Crystalline (Piano only)
Homebound (Piano only)
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: This album was released after Light and Motion's first two, but as it is not officially a release, their next one is seen as their third...
Initial impression: Very ambient and cinematic
Best track(s): Bravery, Homebound, Hope, Melting ice (?), A beautiful tragedy, Dreamweaver, Home, Part 2; Profound, Compass
Worst track(s): Nothing
Comments: The alias of Swedish post-rock composer Christoffer Franzen, this is a special album put out between the release of his last one and the debut of his new one. It's a collection of music, themes, pieces either inspired by movies or television (hence the title) or that could accompany such. Taking his cue from people like Hans Zimmer and Thomas Newman, Franzen has put together here a large collection of short music tracks that would be at home in any movie you care to name. The sweeping, majestic grandeur of tracks like Bravery and Homebound sit alongside darker, more intense material like The chase and The Fallen or the upbeat exuberance of Home, Part 2, where his post-rock roots come through strongly. This is also the only one with any kind of vocal, even if it is indistinct, and it comes as something of a surprise.

My copy seems to have some issue on track names, with most of them out of order and some either misnamed or just not there and replaced by others, so don't put too much faith in the above tracklisting. However it really doesn't matter: if you're a fan of cinema soundtracks, ambient music or just good instrumentals you're bound to find something in the twenty compositions here that appeals to you. Phobia is manic and urgent, while gentle piano drives Profound in a totally different direction. I said before, more than once, that an instrumental album has to work to keep my attention. This one undoubtedly does; none of the tracks are overly long or outstay their welcome --- though some, like the beautiful Compass and Rover seem to just be getting going when they're over --- and each is different enough from the previous that they all remain engaging. It's like, to quote someone whom I forget, listening to the soundtrack of a movie that does not exist.
Overall impression: Excellent music and I'd be interested in seeing what else this guy can do.
Hum Factor: n/a
Intention: Check out the other albums, certainly.

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Trollheart

Losing my religion?


Artiste: Platform One
Nationality: American
Album: The last cathedral
Year: 2014
Label: Unknown; may be digital download only (fan/Kickstarter-financed)
Genre: Gothic synthpop?
Tracks:
The year is silent
Control (LED mix)
Surrender without sound
Turn the light on
Sometimes always
The heart and the world collide
Valentine
Control (Vashta Nerada mix)
Marble garden
My love remains
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Their first album seems to have been released only on CD-R, so presumably self-financed
Initial impression: Sounds like some sort of industrial machinery running; what have I let myself in for?
Best track(s): Surrender without sound, Turn the lights on, Valentine
Worst track(s): The year is silent, Marble gardens
Comments: Contrary to public opinion, I don't hate all pop music. Just the generic kind. I get the feeling Platform One have more in common with darker acts like Visage and Kraftwerk and even New Order than One Direction or Taylor Swift. They seem to follow the model pioneered by Radiohead and Marillion, in which they ask their fans to fund the new album by paying for it in advance, and according to their Kickstarter page this came in a thousand dollars over their budget, so it must work then. So far as I can see, it's their third album, discounting a few EPs and film soundtracks along the way.

It starts all dark and doomy then kicks into an uptempo groove with a Phil Oakey soundalike, so like him in fact that I expected this was his new band! Also reminds me of Eldritch from Sisters of Mercy. Bleak music whose uptempo beat belies its darkness. Interesting. But it's not my kind of thing. Seems soulless and cold, the way I find much electronic music. Surrender without sound has a nice vibe to it, but Sometimes always could be any eighties pop song performed by Spandau Ballet, ABC or a hundred others. Very generic.

Never quite understand the need for mix after mix on these kind of albums. After all, there are only ten tracks: did we really need two mixes of Control? Yeah, it's well played and all, and if you're into this sort of music you'll probably enjoy it, but it's not for me.
Overall impression: Meh
Hum Factor: 2
Intention: Won't be listening to any more of this.
(No YouTubes available, sorry)

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Trollheart

Come to the Sabbath. Please?


Artiste: Opeth
Nationality: Swedish
Album: Pale Communion
Year: 2014
Label: Roadrunner
Genre: Progressive, er, Rock?
Tracks:
Eternal rains will come
Cusp of eternity
Moon above, sun below
Elysian woes
Goblin
River
Voice of treason
Faith in others
Chronological position: Eleventh album
Familiarity: “Damnation”
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Where has the death metal gone? Oh yeah. Right.
Best track(s): Moon above, sun below; Elysian woes, Faith in others
Worst track(s): Goblin, River, Voice of treason
Comments: I remember when I wouldn't listen to an Opeth album, when they utilised death vocals almost exclusively, or so it seemed to me. Over the last few years they seem to have mellowed out their sound and ditched the growls, so that the last few albums have seen them transition from progressive metal to almost pure progressive rock. At the outset, this album is certainly characterised more by keyboards than by guitars, although the latter are still there. The vocal harmonies are quite stunning, but the whole thing evokes a past era, almost as if we're going back in time to the seventies, and yet this is Opeth's latest album.

Credit (or blame) must be attributed to bandleader and creative force Mikael Akerfeldt, who has steered the band through a truly evolving process, one which has left die-hard fans of the “old” Opeth fuming at their “wimping out”, and others, like me, who could not get into them giving them another chance. The opener here is like something out of a seventies Yes catalogue, definitely driven by banks of keyboards and harmony vocals, while Cusp of eternity gives more freedom to the guitars and is a heavier song. Mind you, I must admit I'm experiencing a little of that Dream Theater wandering-around-but-getting-nowhere until we hit the third track, when I'm reminded of early Rush as we head into the longest track, over ten minutes long and broken into suites. Some very nice acoustic guitar in Moon above, sun below and some nice piano too. Perhaps the tide has turned?

Track goes pretty fast really, always a good sign, then the Rush feel continues with a shot of Shadow Gallery in Elysian woes, while Goblin's an odd little instrumental, steeped in seventies synthesiser and organ. Don't like it much actually. There's a real sound of very early Genesis to River, slow and pastoral, also evoking the likes of Big Big Train, nice acoustic guitar and again good vocal harmonies. Ah but then it breaks into something of a prog-out (prog freak-out) and gets more like taking us back into aimless DT territory again. Hmm. Akerfeldt could be poking fun at himself via his fans with the last two tracks, Voice of treason and the more concillatory Faith in others, which is a tremendous, beautiful and powerful closing track. Either way, he's set the feet of Opeth on a totally new path and doesn't seem to be a man who's used to retracing his steps, so I guess deal with it.

He's certainly lost the band some fans with this new direction, but perhaps in the process he's attracted others who found his music too inaccessible before. Of course, there are bound to be tons of people who stuck with him right through the changes; after all, that's generally what true fans of a band do, right?
Overall impression: Not as impressed as I had somehow expected to be. Interesting that they've lost all the death metal influences, but their music still doesn't speak to me as I had hoped it would. In places, yes, but not every time.
Hum Factor: 3
Intention: May check out their last album or two, and keep an eye on developments over Opeth way.

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Trollheart

Tuck in! They're good for you!


Artiste: Kerrs Pink
Nationality: Norwegian
Album: Mystic spirit
Year: 2014
Label: Musea
Genre: Progressive Rock
Tracks:
Final curtain
Mysterious wood
Until I know
The storm
Choose your path
In Immortality
Creepy you crawl
Unwanted
Secluded
Slaves of the west
Earth to Earth
The last journey

Chronological position: Sixth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Kerrs Pink are a variety of potato. And yes, the band knew that when they took the name.
Initial impression: Superb prog record; if it's all as good as this then we're in for a real treat!
Best track(s): Final curtain, Until I know, The storm, Unwanted, Secluded, Earth to Earth, Slaves of the west,
Worst track(s): Nothing on this could be described as bad. The tracks shown above were just better than the ones not included.
Comments: When I first heard of these guys I assumed they were a new act. Colour me bloody surprised when I found out they had been going since 1972! Mind you, in all that time they seem to only have released six albums, of which this is the latest, and their first appears to only have hit in 1990. So why the delay? Don't ask me, but from the very beginning you know it's been worth the wait. With pizzicato strings and a sweet vocal harmony, joined by guitars and sonorous organ, Kerrs Pink put me in mind of Millenium, the Polish prog outfit whose “Ego” I featured as part of the now-defunct “Top 100 prog albums of 2013”. There are also definitel Marillion influences as the very inappropriately-named (or placed, at any rate) Final curtain opens the album, and if this is a taste of what's to come I'm salivating already!

Of course, you would expect that, having been together for over forty years now Kerrs Pink would have their act finely honed, and so it seems they do. After a powerful tour-de-force opens the album in fine style, there's sort of folky/French-style music to introduce the second track, Mysterious wood, which has a lot of early Magnum and some Blind Guardian in it, while Until I know is a beautiful acoustic pastoral little song with fantastic vocal harmonies and then a killer guitar solo. Man, this is fucking excellent! These guys also do the “suites”, with parts of The storm, while being mostly an uptempo song, sliding into truly gorgeous slow guitar passages attended by some lovely piano. There's a great sense of drama and majesty about In immortality and the ten-minute epic Earth to earth really has to be heard to be believed. It's actually becoming a little hard to describe how good I find this album. I feel the same as I did the first time I heard “Ego” or “Cold reading”. Basically, if you like good prog, well written and played with style and sophistication, grab this now.
Overall impression: Stupendous. Another band I need to check into seriously.
Intention: Another band, like I said, I need to check into. Seriously. After I listen to this one more time. Or maybe two.

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Trollheart

Old time rock and roller shows the young guns how it's done


Artiste: Bob Seger
Nationality: American
Album: Ride out
Year: 2014
Label: Capitol
Genre: Rock/Americana
Tracks:
Detroit made
Hey Gypsy
The Devil's right hand
Ride out
Adam and Eve
California stars
It's your world
All of the roads
You take me in
Gates of Eden
Chronological position: Seventeenth album (including all those recorded under the name “Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band”)
Familiarity: Absolutely everything. Well, not absolutely. “Night moves, “Stranger in town”, “Against the wind”, “It's a mystery”, “The fire inside”, “Like a rock”, “The distance”, “Nine tonight”
Interesting factoid: The most cover songs I've ever seen on a Seger album
Initial impression: Ah Bob my man! Where have you been? Tell us your stories.
Best track(s):Hey gypsy, Ride out, Adam and Eve, California stars, It's your world, All of the roads, You take me in, Gates of Eden
Worst track(s): Not a one
Comments: Holy good God it's been a long time since I heard some new Seger! If there's a man who's honest to a fault it's Detroit's finest son, and the album kicks off with the appropriately titled Detroit made as Seger, through John Hiatt, pays tribute to the Motor City with a sense of pride and enthusiasm that is often sadly lacking in these days of the global financial crisis, war on terror and basic worldwide bum-out, but Bob still knows how to rock and how to bring a smile to the most jaded face. There's a shot across the bows of those who don't buy American, but it's hard to take offence when the music is this good. There's a real Texas swing tribute to Stevie Ray then with Hey gypsy, some fine organ, followed by a decent cover of Steve Earle's The Devil's right hand, though it's missing the growl and frustration on the original.

Two real standouts are Adam and Eve, a duet with .... um, I don't know: not credited, but there are three female backing vocalists, so maybe one of them, and California stars, though it is perhaps sobering that again these are not Seger-penned tunes, the last seemingly a Woodie Guthrie song, made famous by Wilco I believe. But Seger can write great songs and has done all through his career, and It's your world showcases him in fine form as he takes on the woes of modern living with a certain gospel tint to the chorus and a feel of Springsteen's “Wrecking ball”. Also kind of reminds me of Tightrope from “Like a rock”, while All of the roads is a typical Seger troubadour's tale with some sweet organ and some great fiddle work.

Of course, if you know the man then you know he also writes some heartbreaking ballads, and this time around it's the mostly acoustic You take me in, while there's more than a touch of Leader of the pack and a hint of Springsteen's Jungleland in the closer, Gates of Heaven, a slow crunching brooder with some powerful backing vocals.
Overall impression: I would have preferred less covers and more Seger original material, but still a damn fine album and well worth waiting nine years for.
Hum Factor: 7
Intention: Well I love Bob so I'll always listen to his music.

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Trollheart

Mankind's last hope?


Artiste: Lost Radiance
Nationality: Russian I think
Album: Upon us
Year: 2014
Label: United Studios Corporation
Genre: Electronic/Ambient
Tracks:
In the beginning
Radiant
On the planet far away part 1
Spatium incongnitum
Colony
On the planet far away part 2
Astronaut and the sky
Lost and found
Look around
Chronological position: ? album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: I don't know if this is meant to be a one-off project or what, but the information I can gain on it seems to make it out to be some sort of collaborative effort. Here's the link if you want to check it out https://archive.org/details/lost-radiance-upon-us: I'm really not sure what to make of it.
Initial impression: Spacey. synthy, electronic ... what do you want from me?
Best track(s):In the beginning, On the planet far away part 1, Colony
Worst track(s):Lost and found
Comments: As I say above, I'm quite confused as to what this is, a band, a project, a co-operative enterprise, but it seems to envision the first extrastellar voyage, that to our nearest neighbour, Alpha Centauri, or actually Proxima Centauri, in some sort of starship sent to either colonise or find a planet suitable for colonisation to alleviate Earth's growing population crisis. Not entirely sure what “snapping pictures of our nearest star” means for that, or that it should provoke “celebrations across the globe” --- did they find a colonisable planet?

Anyway, that's by the by. What's the music like? Well, it's pretty electronic/spacey, and though I keep bringing up JMJ and I'm sorry, he's one of the few electro artists I know, so yeah, this is pretty Jarre in style, to me anyway. Lots of thick synthesisers, deep bassy buzzy ones, wind sounds and little in the way of percussion. Do I like it? Yeah, pretty much, though a lot of it is kind of hard to distinguish one track from another, though that could be down to my inexperience with this genre of music. Colony is quite a trancy piece that really ramps up the electronic drum machines, and the tempo, but it's way way too long at almost eleven minutes, and I hear an awful lot of blatant ripping off of “Oxygene” in On the planet far away part 2, both in the sweeping synths and the bubbling ones.

Lost and found seems to be something of an exercise in minimalist music, unless that's what they call drone? Anyway it's very sparse, and also quite long, at just over nine and a half minutes. Kind of losing interest now, though not completely it has to be said. There are some good evocations of an interstellar journey here, and I'm sure it would be good music to take another sort of “trip” to...
Overall impression: Decent but a bit derivative. Good music to fall asleep to I would think.
Hum Factor: n/a
Intention: n/a

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Unknown Soldier

Where do you dig some of these albums out from, as in how do you select what to review as it's all so random?

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

You'll have noticed they're all from last year. That's because I have a separate subfolder on my PC for albums from 2014 which I have bought but not yet listened to. I try to mix up the alphabetical order --- band beginning with E followed by band beginning with T, then maybe M, etc --- and also try to mix the genres or subgenres as much as I can, so that I don't have prog albums following progs, or folk following folk, or AOR ... you get the idea.

Remember, these are all albums I have yet to hear, so sometimes something will catch my eye as it travels down the list and I'll want to listen to it. If I listen, I'm sure as hell going to review. And so it goes...

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Trollheart

Jaysus Mick! Wake the fuck up!


Artiste: Mick Flannery
Nationality: Irish (yay!)
Album: By the rule
Year: 2014
Label: Universal
Genre: Folk/Singer-Songwriter
Tracks:
Get what you give
The watcher
The small fire
By the rule
Even now
I'm on your side
Bluebird
Galfond
Own it
Pride
The blame
Live in hope
Out to sea
Chronological position: Fourth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: His idol is Tom Waits. Go on there ya good thing! Fair play te ya!
Initial impression: Soft and soothing with acoustic guitar, reminds me of Cohen maybe
Best track(s): Get what you give, The Watcher, I'm on your side
Worst track(s): Everything else. What a snorefest!
Comments: From the “rebel county” (Cork), Mick Flannery has made something of a splash in Irish music circles, with three albums released between 2007 and 2012, this being his latest. Although Get what you give, the opener, starts slow and laidback it soon kicks up, but The watcher shows that he can dial it back when he wants to as well. He has that sort of laconic vocal style practiced and made famous by the likes of Cohen, Dylan and of course Waits.

Okay, now it's sort of descended into something of a borefest with two slow tracks which are nice but a little dreary. Hope he kicks it back up again soon. Well, I'm on your side has a little bit of a boogie feel to it, but it's not that much faster. I do like it though; he seems to have woken up. But then he falls back asleep as we hit Bluebird. Trouble I see is that, with his vocal style, when he slows it down it just sounds like he's not really that interested. I'm sure he is, but I'm not sure I am. Liking his less than I expected. Yeah, by the time Pride kicks in I've just gone glass-eyed, or whatever the hearing equivalent is and I'm working on a logo for my new section “Trollheart's Music Library Presents...” Ye-awn!
Overall impression: A big disappointment. It constantly amazes me how the Irish music press latch onto generic acoustic boredom like this and salivate all over it. It's nothing special.
Hum Factor: 0
Intention: Never to listen to Mick Flannery again

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Trollheart

As soon as albums were available for 2015 I was off downloading them, so I now have a sizeable stack, most of which are from artistes I have never heard before, some of which I have never even heard of. Over the next few months then, this journal will be where I will post my thoughts on them as I listen to them. As most are, as I say, brand new, I am instigating a new category, the Surprise Factor, which is self-explanatory.
A Terrible Beauty


Artiste: Funeris
Nationality: Argentinian
Album: Funereal symphonies
Year: 2015
Label: Silent Time Noise
Genre: Funeral Doom Metal
Tracks:
Funereal skies
Tearing the astral seas
Desolado despertar
Honda sed de la carne
Mournful procession
Madre Demencia
Dusk of melancholy
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Funeris only got together last year but already have two albums
Initial impression: Piano on a Doom Metal album?
Best track(s): Pretty much everything, though if I had to pick out a favourite it would be … um, pretty much everything.
Worst track(s): Not a one
Comments: I don’t think I’ve listened to a Funeral Doom album before, and what I hear here surprises me. It’s more almost like a much heavier progressive metal sound with ambient music thrown in. Wiki tells me that this subgenre is meant to evoke an atmosphere of emptiness and despair, but the opener --- admittedly an instrumental, so I have yet to be assaulted by the no doubt harsh vocals --- brings forth images of stark beauty to me, with its piano line and moaning violins, thunder and rain in the distance, and then I’m even more surprised to find this is a one-man show, everything played, written and sung by Alejandro Sabransky. Five of the seven tracks on this album are over ten minutes long, with three over eleven, so perhaps I’m speaking too soon about “stark beauty”?

Well even when what I assume to be singing begins, it seems to be very low and muted in the mix, with the main melody carried on hard, powerful guitar so I’m not too shocked or even repulsed by the change. In fact, this may as well be an instrumental too for all the impression vocals are making, which is fine by me. The slow, echoey guitar that replaces the hard, crushing riffs for a short while is really nice, but even when the axe assault resumes I’m still digging it. It’s sort of like listening to the theme for a march of demons or something, an army from Hell. Really effective. The three eleven-minute tracks come one after the other, and they’re so good they don’t seem that long, or perhaps not long enough.

I’m sort of reminded in a way of Panopticon, though this is much slower and as I say the vocals are so low in the mix that they are barely discernible. I certainly couldn’t tell you what our man Alejandro is singing, not if you put a gun to my head. But I don’t think it really matters, because the music is so entrancing. It is, admittedly, a little hard to distinguish one track from another, but for once I don’t really see that as a minus, especially if you take this as one, as the album title suggests, dark continuous symphony.
Overall impression: Just blown away by this. Did not expect anything close to this.
Hum Factor: Uh, zero
Surprise Factor 9
Intention: I have now to think seriously about checking out other Funeral Doom artistes

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