ISIS

Holy Tears

To my knowledge this is the first single released by ISIS in their 11 year long career so I was somewhat excited when I heard news of it but a question that came into my head after the immediate excitement was "why?". I appreciate that it may have been used as a way to release the video for "Holy Tears" in a formal way but it still seems like an unnecessary excursion for ISIS. Anyway, out of curiosity I bought the single so onto the content.

The musical element of the CD is fairly weak, it contains the album version of "Holy Tears", the Melvins/Lustmord remix of "Not in Rivers, But in Drops" and a live version of Holy Tears featuring Justin Chancellor from Tool on bass. The remix of "Not in Rivers, But in Drops" is fairly boring and is lacking the emotion of the original track; in my opinion it's not even worth the 5 and a half minutes I spent listening to it. This CD is very nearly saved from being a flop by the live version of Holy Tears but still it isn't quite good enough to counteract the dirge of the previous track. It's at this point that I watched the video for "Holy Tears" and I really didn't know what to think. I loved the video up until the final sequence which I found repulsive; it depicts a man's face coming into contact with a pavement after jumping off a sky-scraper, in slow motion. I fail to see the appeal of this and couldn't watch the video at points.



Even though I'm a big ISIS fan I fail to see the point of this CD single and if the single for "Not in Rivers, But in Drops" is released then I hope it is slightly better and more innovative than this. [5]

Portishead

Third

Portishead haven't released any studio material for over a decade. That alone sets the bar very high, the fact that both their previous full length-studio releases are among the best albums of the 1990's means that it would be very difficult for Portishead to create something which, for me, lives up to the quality and legend their previous releases.

After listening to Third lots I'm still not sure whether or not they've achieved that almost unattainable goal but that doesn't seem to matter any more. Beth Gibbons, Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow have branched out drastically from their previous trip-hop orientated sound into much edgier territory. Tracks such as We Carry On and Machine Gun bear surprising similarities to The Fragile-era Nine Inch Nails songs, with eerie but minimal tracking, droning bass lines, dissonant guitar and a prevailing sense of suspense, whereas The Rip and Deep Water expose a more folk orientated, guitar-centric side to Portishead that I wasn't aware even existed. Plastic sounds like it could have been taken straight from the sessions for 1997's self-titled album and is seamlessly executed. Not one element of the sound on the album feels at all out of place, everything blends perfectly into the lo-fi production of the album.

Portishead have managed to mature significantly during their almost decade long hiatus and have created an album that seems a natural development from Dummy and Portishead. Despite the departure from their previous sound, it is unmistakably Portishead and for that I am glad. [8]

Meshuggah

obZen

Despite the crap album artwork, the latest effort of Swedish metal titans Meshuggah is a masterpiece. Followers of the band will know that the last the last 3 trips into the studio for Meshuggah (I, Catch 33 and Re-Nothing) have been experiments in harnessing the intensity that captivates their music, and is so evident on earlier albums such as Chaosphere, into a new, often more progressive, style. obZen feels like a summary of almost everything that Meshuggah have ever set to record (with the welcome exception of Contradictions Collapse) and there is no better summary they could provide than this.

Soul permeates through the initially mechanical production and execution of obZen and this helps to make it the easiest Meshuggah album to listen to. Catch 33 was mechanical and impersonal in it's very nature and it's a warming experience to hear a bit of the personality of Meshuggah creeping through the songs, the tongue in cheek hi-hat count-ins that litter opening track Combustion are a prime example of this. Pineal Gland Optics is Meshuggah at their most groove-ridden and it's difficult to suppress the feeling that everything is falling to pieces around you through the duration of the track. It's nearing the epic closer, Dancers to a Discordant System, and I need to concentrate on it so I'll finish this review now.

The presence of Meshuggah's trademark polyrhythmic groove is not lacking from the 9 tracks that make up obZen but it's mixed in with the slowly picked, clean, dissonant guitar playing that found it's medium in Mind's Mirrors on Catch 33. The furious, robotic vocals of Jens compliment the precise and technical nature of obZen to make it one of the best Meshuggah albums to date. [9]

Buy it here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Obzen-Meshuggah/dp/B0012E6R3M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1204889491&sr=1-1

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!!!

When I heard that Nick Cave described the new Bad Seeds album would "sound like Grinderman" my heart sank somewhat. I've been an avid Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds fan since I was introduced to No More Shall We Part and when I hear news of anything new by Nick Cave I long for it to have the same melancholy atmosphere that is present on No More Shall We Part.

Whenever I actually hear any new Nick Cave material I realise that my wish for homogeneity is naive and I proceed to devour whatever he releases with enthusiasm. Anyway, to the music, there's a tongue in cheek lyrical (and musical) theme present throughout the entirety of DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!!! that is somewhat akin to the mood of excitement that is the lifeblood of The Abattoir Blues (Cave's previous release with The Bad Seeds). Despite the absence of Blixa Bargeld, the guitar playing is typical driven by it's use of dissonance, noise and feedback but tasteful in the quieter, more melancholy, tracks such as Hold on to Yourself.


















Cave's erratic vocal style perfectly fits the frustration and confusion expressed by the main character (affectionately dubbed "Larry" by Cave) after his impromptu resurrection from the dead. Lazarus, fresh with delirium, commences a debauched tour of the USA while Cave documents his antics and moral dilemmas. One has the feeling that through this record Nick Cave is exorcising his self confessed trauma in relation to the story of Lazarus of Bethany and this is particularly evident in the title track as Cave wails "he never asked to be raised from the tomb, nobody actually asked him to forsake his dream". Whatever Cave's motives for creating this album he's certainly created a piece of music that is light-hearted, complex in the issues it tackles and brilliant. In the run up to the Bad Seeds album (whenever that may be) I'll be sure not to expect another No More Shall We Part and then maybe, if there is one, it'll be a pleasant surprise. [8]

Buy it here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dig-Lazarus-Nick-Cave-Seeds/dp/B000ZN258M/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1204887869&sr=8-2