Metal – Page 2 – 7th Level Music

Top 25 albums of 2023: #’s 5 – 1

Here we go with my favorite albums of 2023.

#5: Sound Cipher – All That Syncs Must Diverge

This is a cool synthwave album of cinematic sounds that often catches you off-guard. It’s the soundtrack to a movie you’ve never seen, but want to find just from hearing it. It might exist in another dimension, or on a dark web torrent stream. Either way, it’s one of the neatest records I heard all last year.

#4: Mandy, Indiana – I’ve Seen a Way

Speaking of cool synthwave, Mandy, Indiana‘s debut album was a stunner on multiple fronts, as it covers not only synthwave, but also cold wave, dance punk, goth, and general chaos. They’re quickly becoming one of those “bands everyone’s talking about,” so don’t miss this record.

#3: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – PostDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation

Only King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard could get away with naming an album something like that. It was their return to thrash metal, this time built around one of their favorite subjects – protecting our fragile planet. It was one of the best metal records of the year.

#2: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Land of Sleeper

This album held my top spot for a long while, as it’s a powerful stoner / psych / cosmic rock record that hits hard with shredding guitar, pleading vocals, and roaring drums. It’s all about dreams, death, and what-the-hell-are-you-doing-with-this-life-you-have-that’s-gone-like-a-flash-of-lightning-you-git introspections.

#1: Matthew Halsall – An Ever Changing View

Simply put, this is the most beautiful record I heard all year, and it’s a prime example of why you should always read old e-mails. This sat in my e-mail box for about four months before I finally got to it. I’m glad I didn’t delete that e-mail in a big purge, because Halsall’s album of ambient jazz, field sounds, and slight trip-hop touches is one of those albums that changes the attitude of the room wherever it’s played.

Thanks for reading and for sticking with me another year. Onto 2024!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2023: #’s 20 – 16

Here we are at the top 20 albums I heard in 2023. There’s some fun stuff here for you.

#20: Worg – Il Piano di Medea EP

This is a techno EP based on the mythological tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece. I don’t know what else to write to make you keen on hearing it than that.

#19: Noëtik – Parhelion EP

Speaking of good EDM, this EP from Noëtik is solid. You could drop any of these tracks into a DJ set and your audience will think you’re a genius.

#18: The Serfs – Half Eaten By Dogs

Weird and wild post-punk from Cincinnati. It moves back and forth between cold wave, post-punk, krautrock, and other stuff that’s hard to define.

#17: Motörhead – Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival ’07

This unearthed, previously unreleased live recording of Motörhead destroying a jazz festival is nothing short of outstanding. They were firing on all cylinders during this tour. Count yourself lucky if you saw them in 2007. If, like me, you never got to see them live, this gets you close.

#16: Rich Aucoin – Synthetic – A Synth Odyssey: Season 2

Rich Aucoin has a cool gig. He gets to collect and play with vintage synthesizers, arpeggiators, sequencers, and organs and make albums with them. This second volume of such music sounds like it was recorded yesterday with new gear. It’s full of dance tracks, ambient cuts, trance beats, disco riffs, and more.

Who makes the top 15? Stay tuned!

Keep your mind open.

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Mac Sabbath announces early 2024 western U.S. tour with The Darts.

Drive-thru metal rockers Mac Sabbath are about to launch a short western U.S. tour with psych-rockers The Darts, starting at the legendary Pappy and Harriets in Pioneertown, California and ending at the wild Area 15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Don’t miss them. Tickets are on sale now.

01/17/24 – Pioneertown, CA – MAC SABBATH – Pappy And Harriets

01/19/24 – Flagstaff, AZ – MAC SABBATH – Orpheum Theater

01/20/24 – Tucson, AZ – MAC SABBATH – Rialto Theatre

01/21/24 – Las Vegas, NV – MAC SABBATH – The Portal Inside AREA 15

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Maria at Adrenaline PR.]

Live: Mac Sabbath, Cybertronic Spree, and Playboy Manbaby – The Vogue – Indianapolis, IN – October 19, 2023

I took a friend to see three crazy bands in Indianapolis not long ago. Those bands were new wave / no wave punk rockers Playboy Manbaby, Transformer rockers The Cybertronic Spree, and “drive-thru metal” giants Mac Sabbath. He had no idea what to expect, and is pretty much a 1980s metal guy. He’d heard from another friend that Mac Sabbath were some sort of killer clown band, but that’s about it.

I hadn’t heard Playboy Manbaby either until this evening, and they were great. They came out looking like average dudes and then tore up the stage with a wild punk set and even held a mini-election in the crowd decided by a game of rock-paper-scissors.

“Oh wow…” was all my friend could say when The Cybertronic Spree came onstage in their Transformer outfits. He was even more stunned when they shredded for their entire set, playing originals from their new album, Ravage, and covers of fun tunes like AC/DC‘s “Thunderstruck” and Weird Al‘s “Dare to Be Stupid.” You have to be able to play well if you’re going to have a gimmick like this, and The Cybertronic Spree play very well. At one point, co-lead singer Arcee was hitting such high notes that my friend said he thought his eardrums were going to rupture.

“We’re the toy in your happy meal!” – Hot Rod on bass (3rd from left)

The “main course” was Mac Sabbath’s weird and wild rock / comedy show, full of heavy Black Sabbath parodies like “Sweet Beef” and “Frying Pan,” bad fast food-rock band puns (“Dokken Donuts,” “Dairy Queensryche,” “International Bauhaus of Pancakes,” etc.), water sprayed on the crowd, bizarre characters, and even a tribute to David Lynch‘s Blue Velvet and Roy Orbison.

Again, you have to be able to play well to do stuff like this, and Mac Sabbath have no problems doing so. Slayer McCheese can change riffs on a dime, The Catburglar is a sharp drummer and comedian, Ronny Osbourne never stops moving, singing, or joking when he’s onstage, and I don’t know how Grimalice plays bass in that outfit.

My friend was happy and dumbfounded by the end of the show. “I’ve never seen anything like that before,” he said. I hadn’t either, and I loved it. This was the last show of the first leg of their “More Than Meats the Eye” tour with the other bands, so don’t miss your chance to catch the second half.

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Annie at Adrenaline PR for the press passes!]

Review: Motörhead – Another Perfect Day (40th anniversary edition)

Apparently there was a bit of a ruckus when Motörhead released their Another Perfect Day album forty years ago. The band had a new lineup, as guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke had been replaced by Brian Robertson, and this caused some rumblings among the band’s fans. Robertson was no slouch, however. He formerly played for Thin Lizzy. The rest of the ruckus came from Lemmy Kilmister‘s new “musical” approach to recording and deciding to add more hooks and guitar effects on the record instead of hammering everyone with raw power all the time (which they were still doing in live performances, mind you).

What’s interesting about Another Perfect Day is that despite it being a “divisive” album among the fans, a lot of tracks from it became staples of their live shows and fan favorites. “Back at the Funny Farm” doesn’t scrimp on any of Kilmister’s fuzz-heavy bass or Phil Taylor‘s wicked double-kick drum madness. “Shine” became a hit for them, and why shouldn’t Motörhead have made radio friendly singles if they wanted?

Robertson’s solo blazes like a lit trail of gasoline on “Dancing on Your Grave.” On “Rock It,” they do exactly that for four straight minutes without taking a breath. The title track has a long solo from Robertson that borders on psychedelic rock. “Marching Off to War” covers one of Kilmister’s favorite subjects – the effects of war on those who fight it. A couple tracks later, “Tales of Glory” has Kilmister snarling at those who brag about their war experiences that were nothing like those who were on the front lines. “I Got Mine” is another track off this “controversial” album that is now considered a Motörhead classic. The closing track has one of the best titles of any Motörhead song, “Die You Bastard.”

The bonus tracks on the CD and digital download versions include live versions of “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “(Don’t Need No) Religion” and demo versions of “Shine” (one an instrumental), “Die You Bastard,” and “One Track Mind.”

If you can score the vinyl version, you’ll also get a full, previously unreleased recording of a concert at Hull City Hall in Hull, England recorded June 22, 1983. You can’t miss.

Another Perfect Day has reached a new group of fans, and (rightfully so) the ruffled fan feathers have smoothed over the course of four decades. The album deserves to be revisited and heard, and this new version is a great way to do it.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Maria at Adrenaline PR.]

Review: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation

First, I think we can all agree that only King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard could pull off naming an album (their 26th!) PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation. They also pulled off making their second excellent thrash metal album about how we’re destroying the planet (with the first being Infest the Rats’ Nest).

“Motor Spirit” is the sound of a pummeling diesel engine on an out-on-control eighteen-wheeler rushing toward you from the top of a mountain that’s been cut in half for strip mining. Lead (and I use that term lightly) singer Stu Mackenzie sounds like he chugged a can of hot motor oil before he laid down the vocal tracks. The percussion during the bridge of this is outstanding, sending the track into stoner metal territory.

They’re “raising hell” on “Supercell,” and the entire album, really. The song runs along the razor’s edge between thrash and industrial. The groove on “Converge” almost hides the amazing double kick-drum work by Michael Cavanagh. He burned a lot of calories on this album. I hope his bandmates kept him well-fed and hydrated.

“Witchcraft” hits hard and, naturally, brings out the spooky atmosphere. It’s also a nice set-up for “Gila Monster” – which has become a popular track at their live shows. I mean, with an entire crowd chanting “Gila! Gila! Gila!”, how could it not become a favorite? Plus, the song is a fun song about a giant gila monster destroying everything in its path and eating people. It’s a blast. “What hath God wrought?” they ask on “Dragon,” in which they unleash hellfire through guitars and, if I hear what I think I’m hearing, Tibetan monk-style throat chants…and then there’s this weird, slow breakdown that’s like a dragon’s tail lazily swaying back and forth over a huge pile of gold…and then the dragon starts to awaken, and it’s hungry, and a bit annoyed at the noise of pesky humans trying again to break into its lair. “Flamethrower” is the sound of that dragon laying waste to everything in sight, which might include your speaker system and / or eardrums…and then it turns into a darkwave track with Mackenzie chanting “Motor spirit” again and again to link the record back to the first song (shades of Nonagon Infinity).

Depending on which version you get, the last track on the record is a spoken-word story about a dragon wreaking vengeance on the world that’s over fourteen minutes long. I’m sure it will inspire hundreds of Dungeons and Dragons campaigns.

I haven’t touched much on the environmental symbolism on this record, which is everywhere – starting with the cover depicting the dragon (Or is it a lizard wizard?) with a wry smirk standing near an industrial facility churning out fiery smoke and toxic waste to pollute everything in sight. A lot of the album’s lyrics are about how we’re slowly cooking ourselves to death in a human-generated hotbox.

It’s another good entry into King Gizz’s discography and, like Infest the Rats’ Nest, one of the best metal albums of the year.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Motörhead – Live at Montreux Jazz Festival ’07

Recorded during their “Kiss of Death” tour in 2007, Motörhead‘s previously unreleased Live at Montreux Jazz Festival ’07 is another powerful live recording of Phil Campbell (guitar and backing vocals), Mikkey Dee (drums), and Lemmy Kilmister (bass and lead vocals) firing on all cylinders.

The set list include lots of bangers and some cuts you didn’t hear often during some other sets. Opening with “Snaggletooth” for example, is a nice touch. It wasn’t a common opener for them, and they unload it with the subtlety of a flamethrower. “Stay Clean” doesn’t give you time to breathe, as you’re too busy holding onto your face to keep it from being blasted onto the wall behind you. “Be My Baby” is thick with sludge and reveals how much Motörhead influenced early Nirvana records.

“That was kind of jazzy, wasn’t it?” Kilmister jokes after “Killers.” “One Night Stand” swings and shreds. Speaking of shredding, Campbell does a lot of it on “I Got Mine” with a solo that might sear your ears. Kilmister dedicates “Sword of Glory” to soldiers “fighting in Iraq for no good reason.”

“Who likes Thin Lizzy?” Kilmister asks, and then talks about how Phil Lynott was one of his heroes, before they rip in to a cover of Thin Lizzy‘s “Rosalie.” He gives a warning before the epic version of “Sacrifice”: “If you dance to this, you won’t have children later in life.” It is brutal and unforgiving. The mosh pit during this version must’ve been like the Battle of Helm’s Gate, only stopped by everyone’s jaws hitting the floor during Dee’s drum solo. It’s hard to tell what’s moving faster, his hands on the snares, cymbals, and toms, or his feet on the double kick drums. “Just ‘Cos You Got the Power” is slower, “So Phil can show off his new guitar,” Kilmister says. He does. Quite well.

“Going to Brazil” blasts by you in a heartbeat, followed by the always-sinister, always-heavy “Killed By Death.” “Iron Fist,” appropriately, pummels you. Kilmister’s bass on it is as relentless as a belt-fed machine gun. The acoustic “Whorehouse Blues” is a refreshing bit of fun after it, and a moment to inhale, exhale, and then go nuts when they finally get to “Ace of Spades.” The closer, “Overkill,” is over eight minutes of raw power. Dee’s double-bass kick-drumming alone will make your jaw drop.

It’s another fine live album in an already impressive catalog. Don’t miss it.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Maria at Adrenaline PR.]

WSND set list: Deep Dive of AC/DC

Thanks to all who blew out their eardrums with me for the Deep Dive of AC/DC last night. Here’s the set list:

AC/DC – Back in Black
Rabbit – Too Much Rock ‘n’ Roll
Masters Apprentices – Living in a Child’s Dream
Sherbet – Summer Love
AC/DC – Can I Sit Next to You, Girl?
Fraternity – Seasons of Change
Little Richard – Rip It Up
AC/DC – Baby, Please Don’t Go (live)
AC/DC – It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)
Anthrax – TNT
AC/DC – The Jack
AC/DC – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (requested)
AC/DC – Ride On
AC/DC – Whole Lotta Rosie (requested)
The Brian Setzer Orchestra – Let There Be Rock (live)
AC/DC – Riff Raff (live)
Rick Astley – Highway to Hell (live)
AC/DC – Girls Got Rhythm
Ike and Tina Turner – Nutbush City Limits
AC/DC – Givin’ the Dog a Bone
AC/DC – Rock ‘n’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution (requested)
AC/DC – Let’s Get It Up
AC/DC – Thunderstruck (requested)

Next week is a Deep Dive of Betty Davis. I won’t be responsible for any babies conceived during that show.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: The Well, Firebreather, Blunt, and Unto the Earth – Reggie’s – Chicago, IL – April 05, 2023

I made the chilly trip to Chicago once again, but this time to see a full night of doom metal at one of the best punk and metal clubs in town – Reggie’s. Four bands playing doom and stoner rock? I’m there.

First up were two local bands, the first being Unto the Earth, who played a solid doom and sludge set set with serious shredding (on one of the most metal-looking guitars I’ve seen in a while). They were clearly having a great time.

Unto the Earth

Next, from nearby DeKalb, Illinois, came Blunt, who set up their gear, tuned a bit, and then said, “Hello. We are Blunt.” and then proceeded to unload a thundering set of sludge metal.

Blunt

I admit, I was a little sleepy after Blunt’s set. This was not from their set. It had been a long day and a two-hour drive to Reggie’s from my house, so I was a little drowsy during the downtime after they were taking their gear from the stage. That ended when, all the way from Sweden, Firebreather came out and practically set the place on fire with their blast furnace-like set.

Firebreather

Closing out the night were The Well, from Austin, Texas, who are one of my favorite doom-psych bands out there. I’d last seen them at Levitation Austin last year, and they sounded even better here. Praise must be given to whomever was mixing the sound at Reggie’s that night, because he or she helped pull every note from The Well’s set to help melt our faces and minds. One of the highlights for me was hearing a new song they’re working on (tentatively called “Christmas” or “Christmas Lights”) after hearing it for the first time at Levitation. I could tell they’d been working the song for a while because it was tighter, creepier, and stronger. The whole set roared.

The Well

The Well and Firebreather are still touring together, so get to see this heavy double-bill while you can.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and The Tomblands – Sleeping Village – Chicago, IL – March 28, 2023

I almost didn’t come to this show. The venue, Sleeping Village, was over two hours’ driving time from my house. It was on a Tuesday night, and it started late – 9pm Central time, which is 10pm in the Eastern time zone where I live. I worked an eight-hour shift that day and had to work another the following morning. I guessed I wouldn’t get home until 2:30am if I was lucky.

Then I learned that this would not only be the first time Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs would be in Chicago, but it was their first U.S. tour ever. That’s when I knew I had to be at this show, and they’d already announced tickets were running low. I snagged one of the few remaining tickets and got in a disco nap before making the drive.

This was also the first show I’d seen at Sleeping Village, which is a nice, small venue. The stage and viewing area are in a space smaller than some convenience stores. As soon as I walked in and saw the size of the space, and knew how powerful a Pigs x 7 show could be, I thought, “They’re going to destroy this place.”

First to start the demolition were local noise-psych rockers The Tomblands. They brought a wall of guitars, two drummers, and a ton of energy to the stage. They also encouraged all the locals to get out and vote in the upcoming Chicago mayoral election.

The lads from Newcastle Upon Tyne came out at 10pm (Central) sharp and kicked things off with the raucous “Mr. Medicine” off their new album, Land of Sleeper. The power they unleashed felt like someone threw open the door of a blast furnace.

(L-R: Adam Ian Sykes, John-Micheal Joseph Hedley, Matthew Baty, Sam Grant)

They tore through “Rubbernecker” and “Halloween Bolson,” with lead singer Baty bouncing, stomping, and prowling around the stage like a kabuki performer, bassist Hedley played like his guitar he was holding an electric eel, and Sykes and Grant kept trading shredding solos.

Some of us finally got a mosh pit started by the time they got to “Ultimate Hammer” and continued to floor the audience with their combination of metal, doom, and punk. “Big Rig” was especially wild, and “GNT” and closer “A66” were downright fierce.

I got to shake hands and chat a bit with the porcine quintet after the show and asked Baty how the tour had been so far, especially after it was so long coming after 2020 shut it down the first time.

“It’s been…fucking amazing,” Baty said. “We thought we’d be playing shows to, like, fifty people, and they’ve all been like this. It’s incredible.”

It was.

Keep your mind open.

Thanks to the nice young lady who let me snap this photo of the set list she scored.

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[Thanks to Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs for the show, autographs, and chats!]