Bitesize: Trollheart's Daily Album Mini-Reviews

Trollheart · 02-28-2015, 04:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Powerstars

Year of the discography you say? Might have to do something for that...

Yeah, I'm sure I counted at least three people who said they would do this or that discography for 2015. Only me so far, but I guess there's time...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ki

That picture in your Eagles review looks familiar :p

The graphic? Yeah, it's a follow-on from the discographies I'll be doing in my main journal, just, you know, smaller. Bitesize, as I say.

Key · 02-28-2015, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

The graphic? Yeah, it's a follow-on from the discographies I'll be doing in my main journal, just, you know, smaller. Bitesize, as I say.

I was more talking about the fact that I use the same graphic for a section in my journal (titled "Now For Something Completely Different") where I post things that aren't necessarily normal. I didn't realize you were using it as well.

Trollheart · 02-28-2015, 12:18 PM

Time to return to

and this time I’m glad to see that Ant has given me a progressive metal album to listen to. Whether I’ll like it is neither here nor there (I suspect I will) but at least it’s better than post-punk! Therefore we find at number 29 in his list

Artiste: Teramaze
Nationality: Australian
Album: Esoteric symbolism
Year: 2014
Label: Nightmare Records
Genre: Progressive Metal
Tracks:
All seeing eye
Lines of symmetry
Transhumanist
Bodies of betrayal
Parallels/Dual reality
Spawn
Punishment by design
Dust of martyrs
The divulgence act
Esoteric symbolism
Order out of chaos
Darkest symphony
In vitro

Chronological position: Fourth album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Teramaze began life as a thrash metal band called Terrormaze, but apparently after finding God (must not have hidden well enough!) they changed both their musical style and their name.
Initial impression: Black mass?
Best track(s): I’m not interested enough to choose either
Worst track(s):
Comments: It’s a pretty, er, esoteric opening, with dark stormy sounds and then what sounds like a choir chanting before the guitars punch through, allied to fine keys and I can hear the progressive now. Seems the opener is an instrumental, so we don’t get to hear what the vocalist is like until “Line of symmetry” hits, and he certainly seems to know what he’s about, with a lot of power and yearning passion in his voice. Some very expressive guitar too. Get a sort of a feeling of Threshold from this, while “Transhumanist” is faster and harder, and reminds me more of the late lamented Balance of Power. Some really smooth and beautiful guitar work in “Bodies of betrayal”, but so far I’m not hearing what Ant is apparently hearing. It’s good, there’s no doubt about that, but I don’t so far anyway see it as anything more than that.

I kind of feel the songs are struggling to find a hook they can use, and the previous track came close but fell short. They’re all good songs, in general, just nothing terribly memorable, or nothing at least that’s sticking in my mind or jumping out at me. Also, I feel the keyboards are not getting enough airtime here, with the guitars just bludgeoning them into almost submission. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you have a keyboard player in your band then I’d expect to hear him. There’s something of a change of pace for “Spawn”, but it’s still nothing I’d call remarkable. In fact, we’re now onto the tenth of thirteen tracks (it’s actually the title) and I can’t remember the ones that went before. Now I’m just bored, waiting for the end.

Okay, it kind of got better in the last few tracks but at this stage my interest is gone and I just could not be bothered.
Overall impression: Big disappointment, very flat and generic. Don’t get it.
Hum Factor: 3
Surprise Factor: -8
Intention: Wouldn’t be too bothered listening to more of their music to be honest.

Trollheart · 02-28-2015, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ki

I was more talking about the fact that I use the same graphic for a section in my journal (titled "Now For Something Completely Different") where I post things that aren't necessarily normal. I didn't realize you were using it as well.

Oh yeah. We both robbed that from Batty. I just edited it a little...

Anteater · 02-28-2015, 01:09 PM

I guess what I enjoyed so much about Esoteric Symbolism was its near singleminded dedication to putting the guitar work out and front. Some gorgeous melodies and ideas on display here. They definitely aren't keyboard-led like Threshold or as overtly technical as Dream Theater either.

That being said, it IS a dense listen without a whole lot of tonal variety. Some individual songs are exceptionally catchy ('Bodies Of Betrayal', 'Spawn', 'Transhumanist'), but the overall album experience is a long one. The energy, however, is infectious, similar in some respects to a really good alternative rock or pop-punk album.

By the way, nice review of Natalie Prass. Never heard of her before, but dug into a few other songs and I'm pretty impressed!

Trollheart · 03-03-2015, 05:16 AM

Go on ya good thing ya!

Artiste: Shattered Skies
Nationality: Irish (Yay! …?)
Album: The world we used to know
Year: 2015
Label: None; digital release
Genre: Progressive/ Djent Metal
Tracks:
Collapse of man
The end and the rebirth
Haunted
15 minutes
Elegance and grace
Show’s over
As the sea divides
Flipside
Aesthetics
Saviours
The world we used to know
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: These guys are from Wicklow, and my ancestors used to be kings there, so technically they are my subjects…
Initial impression: Oh man I hate … um … love this.
Best track(s): Elegance and grace, As the sea divides, Aesthetics, The world we used to know
Worst track(s): There’s nothing bad here.
Comments: Oddly, I had no idea these guys were Irish when I bought the album, which I did just because I happened to like the name, and the few samples I heard. I didn’t even know they were prog metal, so that’s two bonuses. Unless this turns out to be crap. Well I thought I would hate the short intro piece, being just static really but then it broke into an emotional piano piece and I really like it. It’s less than two minutes long though and slides into “The end and the rebirth”, and for a moment I think I’m hearing an electronica album until the guitar bites through, and now we’re rocking!

The vocalist puts me in mind of Damian Wilson or Sean Filkins, and in fact his name is Sean, Murphy, while the guitars could maybe be pulled back a little in the mix; at times they almost drown him out. Very powerful, energetic stuff though. “Haunted” has a lovely jangly guitar intro before it just explodes all over the place in a really good way, but again the vocals are a little swamped. I am a little disappointed to see on their Bandcamp page they describe themselves as “London-based”. Well, sure, but why not Irish? You know, you can take the boy out of Ireland but … something something. Anyhoo, they do admit to being from Wicklow and Dublin, so I guess that’s okay. Great banging piano intro to “15 minutes”, whose running time does not reflect its title. Excellent vocal harmonies, when you can make them out, somewhat in the mould of Arena, and I love it when the guitars cut back to allow the piano to take centre stage for a moment.

“Elegance and grace” presents itself as one of the best tracks so far, but I must admit the guitarist is getting on my nerves a little. It’s like he thinks he has to hammer out the chords all the time and doesn’t know how and when to dial it back. I guess this is what they call djent, from what I read. The track sounds like it should be a ballad, but the man on the frets has other ideas. Still a great song though. The keys, when they’re allowed to poke through the guitar assault, really add a layer of grandeur to the music, such as in the opening to “As the sea divides”, before the axes grind all over it with, quite frankly, unnecessary violence. You can hear the piano still going in the background but it’s almost completely drowned out till the guitar fades back out and lets it have its head.

We also get to hear vocalist Sean Murphy strut his stuff properly before he’s swamped again, which is a real pity, as it’s kind of ruining the song. If this is djent metal, I’m not so sure I like it. The piano-driven “Aesthetics” is a lovely song, closest they come to a ballad, and the guitarist mostly holds himself back here, which is nice. Is there a choir in there? Could be. Title, and closing track, is pretty brilliant too.
Overall impression: While the guitar may be a little too punchy for me, a bit in-your-face, this is still a fantastic debut, and the fact that the boys are Irish, well sure I have to support them don’t I?
Hum Factor: 7
Surprise Factor: 9
Intention: Follow these guys!

Trollheart · 03-03-2015, 01:50 PM

Artiste: Kim Wilde
Nationality: British
Album: Another step
Year: 1986
Label: MCA
Genre: Rock/pop
Tracks:
You keep me hangin' on
Hit him
Another step (closer to you)
The thrill of it
I've got so much love
Victim
Schoolgirl
Say you really want me
She hasn't got time for you
Brothers
Missing
How do you want my love?
Don't say nothing's changed

Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: “Close” plus most of her singles
Interesting factoid: Well you probably all already know (or don’t care) but Kim is the daughter of sixties pop sensation Marty Wilde. Yeah, I thought you wouldn’t care...
Initial impression: n/a
Best track(s): Another step, The thrill of it, Brothers, Missing, Don’t say nothing’s changed
Worst track(s): Hit him, She hasn’t got time for you, Say you really want me
Comments: I’m pretty sure I bought this after having been impressed by “Close”, her next album, even though this preceded that. If you see what I mean. But whereas I don’t think this album comes, er, close to that opus, it’s still a very good album, and a lot of other people must have thought so too, as it’s her biggest selling album in the US and gave her a number one hit single. Sadly, that single is a cover of the old Supremes number You keep me hangin’ on, though she does give it an eighties makeover and turns it into the kickass dance tune it was always meant to be. Still, I’m not one for covers, especially when they give an artist a hit. And I could certainly do without the funk pop of Hit him, but then we get to the meat of the matter.

The title track is a glorious slice of pop/rock, the first really guitar-driven track, very uptempo as indeed were the two tracks preceding it, but this is the best so far. Nice big dirty guitar and peppy piano in The thrill of it, while I’ve got so much love leans a lot more in an AOR direction, with Victims keeping the tempo high and with a nice rock vibe about it. Odd thing about this album is that it seems to be intentionally laid out in two halves, with all the fast tracks on one side and all the ballads on the other. I would have preferred more of a mix to be honest. You have to of course like a song that goes by the title of Schoolgirl, but it's a bit dancey and poppy for my tastes. As is Say you really want me, which has very funky guitar and brass but annoys me. Mind you, it brings us right on to the ballads, of which there are five in all.

Odd that none of them were ever released as singles, as there are some fine songs here, and where a song like Schoolgirl or You keep me hangin’ on made it into the charts, I feel something like Brothers, Missing or the closer would have done very well, but it was not to be. There’s a lot of seventies Motown soul in She hasn’t got time for you, which reminds me in places of Judie Tzuke, and a sax riff right out of Glenn Frey’s You belong to the city, and to be honest it’s a bit dreary. Brothers has much more punch about it, while there’s a great Spanish guitar intro to one of the standouts, Missing, on which Wilde gives one of the most passionate vocal performances of her career. There’s a certain bleak feel to How do you want my love and then the album closes strongly on another standout.

One of the few songs written by her solo, and indeed produced by her, Don’t say nothing’s changed is a world away from most of the songs on this album, a deep, thoughtful, tender ballad with beautiful backing and a hook that many of the other songs fail to land in your heart. Listening back over to this now for the first time in years, I realise it’s actually not as good, track-for-track, as I had remembered it, and “Close” is a far better album. Still, for someone written off by most people as the girl who had that “Kids in America” song, she’s done a very decent job here. Another step, indeed.
Overall impression: A worthy album that has rather more flaws than I originally remembered
Hum Factor: 8
Surprise Factor: n/a
Intention: n/a

Bulldog · 03-04-2015, 03:43 AM

One of these days I've really gotta just put the kettle on, put my feet on the desk and take an afternoon to have a good read through this thread in detail. The sheer determination and effort you've clearly put into this is absolutely mindblowing.

Trollheart · 03-04-2015, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bulldog

One of these days I've really gotta just put the kettle on, put my feet on the desk and take an afternoon to have a good read through this thread in detail. The sheer determination and effort you've clearly put into this is absolutely mindblowing.

Thank man! That really means a lot. I've been trying to keep it going, as it slipped for a while, but with Star Trek Month taking place in the Couch Potato I haven't had that much time to devote to it recently. I keep trying to make sure it's kept updated though when I can.

Bulldog · 03-05-2015, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Thank man! That really means a lot. I've been trying to keep it going, as it slipped for a while, but with Star Trek Month taking place in the Couch Potato I haven't had that much time to devote to it recently. I keep trying to make sure it's kept updated though when I can.

Trust me, I'm no stranger to putting everything else on the back burner because of all things Star Trek (RIP Leonard...the world feels like a slightly odder place without you).

I'm quite liking that Gerry Rafferty track you posted a page back by the way...I'll be checking out some more of his stuff yet

02-28-2015, 12:18 PM	#233 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Time to return to and this time I’m glad to see that Ant has given me a progressive metal album to listen to. Whether I’ll like it is neither here nor there (I suspect I will) but at least it’s better than post-punk! Therefore we find at number 29 in his list Artiste: Teramaze Nationality: Australian Album: Esoteric symbolism Year: 2014 Label: Nightmare Records Genre: Progressive Metal Tracks: All seeing eye Lines of symmetry Transhumanist Bodies of betrayal Parallels/Dual reality Spawn Punishment by design Dust of martyrs The divulgence act Esoteric symbolism Order out of chaos Darkest symphony In vitro Chronological position: Fourth album Familiarity: Zero Interesting factoid: Teramaze began life as a thrash metal band called Terrormaze, but apparently after finding God (must not have hidden well enough!) they changed both their musical style and their name. Initial impression: Black mass? Best track(s): I’m not interested enough to choose either Worst track(s): Comments: It’s a pretty, er, esoteric opening, with dark stormy sounds and then what sounds like a choir chanting before the guitars punch through, allied to fine keys and I can hear the progressive now. Seems the opener is an instrumental, so we don’t get to hear what the vocalist is like until “Line of symmetry” hits, and he certainly seems to know what he’s about, with a lot of power and yearning passion in his voice. Some very expressive guitar too. Get a sort of a feeling of Threshold from this, while “Transhumanist” is faster and harder, and reminds me more of the late lamented Balance of Power. Some really smooth and beautiful guitar work in “Bodies of betrayal”, but so far I’m not hearing what Ant is apparently hearing. It’s good, there’s no doubt about that, but I don’t so far anyway see it as anything more than that. I kind of feel the songs are struggling to find a hook they can use, and the previous track came close but fell short. They’re all good songs, in general, just nothing terribly memorable, or nothing at least that’s sticking in my mind or jumping out at me. Also, I feel the keyboards are not getting enough airtime here, with the guitars just bludgeoning them into almost submission. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you have a keyboard player in your band then I’d expect to hear him. There’s something of a change of pace for “Spawn”, but it’s still nothing I’d call remarkable. In fact, we’re now onto the tenth of thirteen tracks (it’s actually the title) and I can’t remember the ones that went before. Now I’m just bored, waiting for the end. Okay, it kind of got better in the last few tracks but at this stage my interest is gone and I just could not be bothered. Overall impression: Big disappointment, very flat and generic. Don’t get it. Hum Factor: 3 Surprise Factor: -8 Intention: Wouldn’t be too bothered listening to more of their music to be honest. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 02-28-2015 at 02:41 PM.

03-03-2015, 05:16 AM	#236 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Go on ya good thing ya! Artiste: Shattered Skies Nationality: Irish (Yay! …?) Album: The world we used to know Year: 2015 Label: None; digital release Genre: Progressive/ Djent Metal Tracks: Collapse of man The end and the rebirth Haunted 15 minutes Elegance and grace Show’s over As the sea divides Flipside Aesthetics Saviours The world we used to know Chronological position: Debut album Familiarity: Zero Interesting factoid: These guys are from Wicklow, and my ancestors used to be kings there, so technically they are my subjects… Initial impression: Oh man I hate … um … love this. Best track(s): Elegance and grace, As the sea divides, Aesthetics, The world we used to know Worst track(s): There’s nothing bad here. Comments: Oddly, I had no idea these guys were Irish when I bought the album, which I did just because I happened to like the name, and the few samples I heard. I didn’t even know they were prog metal, so that’s two bonuses. Unless this turns out to be crap. Well I thought I would hate the short intro piece, being just static really but then it broke into an emotional piano piece and I really like it. It’s less than two minutes long though and slides into “The end and the rebirth”, and for a moment I think I’m hearing an electronica album until the guitar bites through, and now we’re rocking! The vocalist puts me in mind of Damian Wilson or Sean Filkins, and in fact his name is Sean, Murphy, while the guitars could maybe be pulled back a little in the mix; at times they almost drown him out. Very powerful, energetic stuff though. “Haunted” has a lovely jangly guitar intro before it just explodes all over the place in a really good way, but again the vocals are a little swamped. I am a little disappointed to see on their Bandcamp page they describe themselves as “London-based”. Well, sure, but why not Irish? You know, you can take the boy out of Ireland but … something something. Anyhoo, they do admit to being from Wicklow and Dublin, so I guess that’s okay. Great banging piano intro to “15 minutes”, whose running time does not reflect its title. Excellent vocal harmonies, when you can make them out, somewhat in the mould of Arena, and I love it when the guitars cut back to allow the piano to take centre stage for a moment. “Elegance and grace” presents itself as one of the best tracks so far, but I must admit the guitarist is getting on my nerves a little. It’s like he thinks he has to hammer out the chords all the time and doesn’t know how and when to dial it back. I guess this is what they call djent, from what I read. The track sounds like it should be a ballad, but the man on the frets has other ideas. Still a great song though. The keys, when they’re allowed to poke through the guitar assault, really add a layer of grandeur to the music, such as in the opening to “As the sea divides”, before the axes grind all over it with, quite frankly, unnecessary violence. You can hear the piano still going in the background but it’s almost completely drowned out till the guitar fades back out and lets it have its head. We also get to hear vocalist Sean Murphy strut his stuff properly before he’s swamped again, which is a real pity, as it’s kind of ruining the song. If this is djent metal, I’m not so sure I like it. The piano-driven “Aesthetics” is a lovely song, closest they come to a ballad, and the guitarist mostly holds himself back here, which is nice. Is there a choir in there? Could be. Title, and closing track, is pretty brilliant too. Overall impression: While the guitar may be a little too punchy for me, a bit in-your-face, this is still a fantastic debut, and the fact that the boys are Irish, well sure I have to support them don’t I? Hum Factor: 7 Surprise Factor: 9 Intention: Follow these guys! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

03-03-2015, 01:50 PM	#237 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Artiste: Kim Wilde Nationality: British Album: Another step Year: 1986 Label: MCA Genre: Rock/pop Tracks: You keep me hangin' on Hit him Another step (closer to you) The thrill of it I've got so much love Victim Schoolgirl Say you really want me She hasn't got time for you Brothers Missing How do you want my love? Don't say nothing's changed Chronological position: Fifth album Familiarity: “Close” plus most of her singles Interesting factoid: Well you probably all already know (or don’t care) but Kim is the daughter of sixties pop sensation Marty Wilde. Yeah, I thought you wouldn’t care... Initial impression: n/a Best track(s): Another step, The thrill of it, Brothers, Missing, Don’t say nothing’s changed Worst track(s): Hit him, She hasn’t got time for you, Say you really want me Comments: I’m pretty sure I bought this after having been impressed by “Close”, her next album, even though this preceded that. If you see what I mean. But whereas I don’t think this album comes, er, close to that opus, it’s still a very good album, and a lot of other people must have thought so too, as it’s her biggest selling album in the US and gave her a number one hit single. Sadly, that single is a cover of the old Supremes number You keep me hangin’ on, though she does give it an eighties makeover and turns it into the kickass dance tune it was always meant to be. Still, I’m not one for covers, especially when they give an artist a hit. And I could certainly do without the funk pop of Hit him, but then we get to the meat of the matter. The title track is a glorious slice of pop/rock, the first really guitar-driven track, very uptempo as indeed were the two tracks preceding it, but this is the best so far. Nice big dirty guitar and peppy piano in The thrill of it, while I’ve got so much love leans a lot more in an AOR direction, with Victims keeping the tempo high and with a nice rock vibe about it. Odd thing about this album is that it seems to be intentionally laid out in two halves, with all the fast tracks on one side and all the ballads on the other. I would have preferred more of a mix to be honest. You have to of course like a song that goes by the title of Schoolgirl, but it's a bit dancey and poppy for my tastes. As is Say you really want me, which has very funky guitar and brass but annoys me. Mind you, it brings us right on to the ballads, of which there are five in all. Odd that none of them were ever released as singles, as there are some fine songs here, and where a song like Schoolgirl or You keep me hangin’ on made it into the charts, I feel something like Brothers, Missing or the closer would have done very well, but it was not to be. There’s a lot of seventies Motown soul in She hasn’t got time for you, which reminds me in places of Judie Tzuke, and a sax riff right out of Glenn Frey’s You belong to the city, and to be honest it’s a bit dreary. Brothers has much more punch about it, while there’s a great Spanish guitar intro to one of the standouts, Missing, on which Wilde gives one of the most passionate vocal performances of her career. There’s a certain bleak feel to How do you want my love and then the album closes strongly on another standout. One of the few songs written by her solo, and indeed produced by her, Don’t say nothing’s changed is a world away from most of the songs on this album, a deep, thoughtful, tender ballad with beautiful backing and a hook that many of the other songs fail to land in your heart. Listening back over to this now for the first time in years, I realise it’s actually not as good, track-for-track, as I had remembered it, and “Close” is a far better album. Still, for someone written off by most people as the girl who had that “Kids in America” song, she’s done a very decent job here. Another step, indeed. Overall impression: A worthy album that has rather more flaws than I originally remembered Hum Factor: 8 Surprise Factor: n/a Intention: n/a __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

03-04-2015, 03:43 AM	#238 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	One of these days I've really gotta just put the kettle on, put my feet on the desk and take an afternoon to have a good read through this thread in detail. The sheer determination and effort you've clearly put into this is absolutely mindblowing.