Posts Tagged ‘Alice in Chains’

Watch: ‘Inferno’ by Pântano

Posted: 19 December 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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After three years of silence, Pântano return in full force with their new single, "Inferno." The band, whose name translates to “swamp,” delivers a raw, sludgy southern rock sound with a touch of classic Alice in Chains seamlessly woven into the mix.

Staying true to their dark and melancholic essence, the band unveils a new lineup and an even more refined, mature sound on this latest track.

With Nuno Rodrigues (WAKO) on vocals and Arlindo Cardoso (Low Torque) on drums, Pântano now features Aires Pereira (Moonspell) on bass and Paulo Basílio (Ex-Votos) alongside João Arroja (Low Torque) on guitars.

"Inferno," mixed and mastered by the renowned Daniel Cardoso (Anathema, Anneke…), marks the natural evolution of the band, blending a melancholic and dark atmosphere with heavy, slow riffs imbued with a strong emotional weight.

The single is accompanied by an impressive music video, directed by Beatriz Mariano, which masterfully captures the intensity and introspection of this new chapter for Pântano.

Watch the video here:

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Excel – Seeking Refuge

Posted: 5 August 2024 in Albums, Reviews
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Southern Lord – 19th July 2024

Christopher Nosnibor

Southern Lord have once again excavated a long-lost release from the California underground scene, with a particular emphasis on hardcore and metal from the late 80s and early 90s, this time with a reissue of Excel’s 1995 album Seeking Refuge.

For context, while saving myself typing some inferior paraphrased recap, here’s the summary from the bio: ‘From the dark alleys and dead ends of Los Angeles, EXCEL have been delivering maximum crossover since crossover first crossed over. Their classic albums Split Image (1987) and The Joke’s On You (1989) remain linchpins of the genre decades after their release… Originally released in 1995 while grunge dominated airwaves and MTV, Seeking Refuge offers a glimpse at an EXCEL many have never heard before. Out of print for decades, Seeking Refuge will finally get its due, complete with a guest shot from H.R. of Bad Brains (on “Take Your Part Gotta Encourage”) and a video starring Tony Alva for the anthemic single ‘Unenslaved.’’

This is clearly one for fans first and fore most, but equally, one assumes its purpose is to bring the band, and the release, to a new audience, namely the many who missed it the first time around. And there will likely be many – like me – who simply hadn’t encountered the band previously. On the basis of the above, I suspect this isn’t really the optimal point of entry, but then, that’s how it often goes. I came to The Fall by Kurious Oranj and Swans via Children of God: arguably not the most representative of releases, but then again, comparatively accessible. I figure this is a fair summary of Seeking Refuge. It’s certainly an odd fish, and one that sounds solidly rooted in the early 90s.

Opener ‘Unenslaved’ is a bit hair rock meets late 80s thrash for the most part, and reminds me why I was never really into either; there’s just something about the guitar posturing, paired with the clean vocals trying to sound a bit tough that’s kind lame to my ear and to my way of thinking. But it goes a bit acoustic Alice in Chains in the middle, and the idea that ‘crossover’ may actually be represented by a stylistic switch mid-song.

There are some monster, churning, grungy riffs across the album: ‘Take Your Part Gotta Encourage’ is exemplary, not least of all because the chuggeracious thunder is topped with some really showy and extravagant soloing which isn’t afraid of hurtling headlong into the realms of excess.

In terms of composition, the songs are tightly structured, often making sharp turns or tempo changes midway through: ‘Drowned Out’’ suddenly slams on the breaks and drops to a slow Sabbath-esque riff that’s more of a head-nodder than a headbanger, and kicks the pace up again for a big riff finish – but again, there’s some epic fretwork that just feels that bit too much like the worst of 70s rock excess.

For all the context that suggests that Seeking Refuge was lost on account of its being out of step with the zeitgeist, it seems to overlook just how much grunge stuff was quite in thrall to 70s rock and this isn’t a million miles from Soundgarden, unless people are really going to bicker over the details. Don’t get me wrong: there are some proper metal moments: ‘Riptide’ really cuts hard, but still takes cues from Sabbath’s ‘Supernaut’, while ‘Overview’ sounds for all the world like a Rage Against the Machine rip. Seeking Refuge is solid, but not incendiary, and the endless fretwanking does get tired after a time.

With secondhand prices for the original vinyl sitting at around £35, and for the CD around a fiver, I do wonder just how badly the world is itching for this, but then, perhaps this reissue will spark renewed interest more broadly.

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Solcura – I Am Weak

Posted: 8 April 2023 in Singles and EPs
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24th March 2023

James Wells

One thing the Internet has definitely changed is the single format. Historically, songs were edited for radio play, and to fit on a 45rpm 7” single: for both, three to four minutes was optimal. Now, podcasts and lack of format-based restrictions mean that, at least outside of the mainstream, anything goes and has pretty much the same chance of getting aired at least by someone who digs it.

And so, with ‘I Am Weak’, Solcura may well draw on some retro references – the obvious ones being Soundgarden and Tool, as they mine a hefty grunge / proto-nu-metal sound with some thick, heavyweight riffing – but clocking in at an epic six minutes, it’s very much a contemporary single.

There’s certainly nothing weak about it: the guitars are strong, as are the vocal melodies, and it’s one of those songs that starts gently – simply voice and bass guitar – and then the guitar starts up and the riff slams in and it really gets going, with everything meshing together, interweaving to create a richly-textured sonic cloth where grunge meets prog-metal with a delivery that’s hard to fault. For all its tunefulness, it’s a song brimming with anguish in the grunge tradition, but there’s something eternally affecting about that kind of introspective emotional rawness tinged with self-loathing.

They’ve already played Bloodstock and supported Pulled Apart by Horses, and with a new EP in the offing, 2023 is looking promising for these guys.

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Solcura – Keep It Close

Posted: 14 December 2022 in Singles and EPs
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2nd December 2022

Christopher Nosnibor

Bournemouth-based four-piece alt-rock unit Solcura pack a lot into three and a half minutes on ‘Keep It Close’, which is their first new music since their debut album, Serotonin released in August 2021.

It begins with some soft, hazy, warm-toned, vaguely psychedelic backwards guitar stuff and some airy vocals before slamming in with a grungy riff and some hard minor key power chords.

They’re open in their drawing on 90s grunge as their primary influence, and I’ll be the last person to criticise for that. As much as these bleak times draw comparisons to the conditions of the late 70s and early 80s that spawned post-punk, we’re also living in conditions that are giving rise to another ‘lost’ generation, struggling to find their place and their identity. Grunge emerged as the voice of a generation for a very good reason about thirty years ago, and while bands have drawn clear influence from that spell in the early 90s when big crunching guitars were all the rage, it feels more than ever like the time is right for a proper grunge revival

If it initially comes on like a cross between Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Bivouac in its melodic, accessible grunge stylings, there’s a sudden switch that takes a turn for the metal and things get heavier – but without going for the guttural vocal move that’s been persistently popular since the advent of nu-metal.

‘Keep It Close’ sounds and feels like three or four songs in one, and yet they meld the different segments together so seamlessly that it absolutely works – it’s a proper gut-pulling kick in the ribs that’s got a rare energy, intelligent songwriting and raw power, and it kicks some serious ass.

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The Beatflux – Fading With The Morning

Posted: 10 July 2021 in Singles and EPs
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The Secret Warehouse of Sound Recordings – 29th June 2021

Christopher Nosnibor

The thing that fades with the morning is the night, the hours of darkness in which so many of us find ourselves, if not sleeping, in contemplation or otherwise tormented with thoughts, while others find the memories of the night before receding with the sunrise. And what is so often vivid in those dark hours becomes hazy, intangible, and moved further out of reach with every hour that passes. And it’s that sense of loss, of the passing, of an absence that permeates ‘Fading with the Morning’ with a palpable ache.

Over the course of five finely-crafted minutes, The Beatflux build from a delicate, twinkling guitar intro that’s almost post-rock in its persuasion, into a colossal country-tinged grunger and Enrico Minelli’s gritty vocal has a grainy timbre that’s thick with emotion and a tone that says ‘drunk it, smoked it, lived it’.

Musing on how the ‘Sunlight cuts our eyes, changing hue’ may not be a startlingly poetic or vivid image, but it’s all in the delivery as the band conjure something far more evocative in the moment than on paper. ‘Fading With The Morning’ very much harks back to the sound of Alice in Chains, with a keen sense of melody and a layered subtlety in the arrangement that means it gains momentum as it progresses to truly anthemic scale.

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Watch: ‘Neon Christ’ by Neon Christ

Posted: 20 May 2021 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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On 12th June, Southern Lord and DVL Recordings co-release a deluxe edition of Neon Christ’s 1984 sessions for Record Store Day. Digital format will also be available via Bandcamp only, and non-Record Store formats will follow at a later date via Southern Lord Europe.

Neon Christ, the cult hardcore luminaries featuring William DuVall (BL’AST!, Comes With The Fall, Alice In Chains), Jimmy Demer (Gardens of.., Accidents), Danny Lankford (Gardens of.., GoDevils, Accidents) and Randy DuTeau (Gardens of) share the entertaining new video for "Neon Christ" which features the band’s children, and gleefully conveys the appreciation of this music across generations. The band comments, "We all had a lot of fun making this video with the kids. They did a fantastic job. It was a wonderful full-circle moment. And much hilarity ensued on set."

Watch the video here:

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Embr – Idolatry

Posted: 4 December 2020 in Singles and EPs
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4th December 2020

Christopher Nosnibor

Bandcamp Fridays have been providing a rare and unique lifeline for struggling artists, and while times are still ridiculously tight in what continue to be utterly bewildering times which have hit the music industry where it really hurts – namely grass-roots venues and the artist who depend on them – the opportunity for artists to actually make a proper revenue from sales or downloads and physical releases is a big deal.

And if one thing’s become apparent, its that artists are going all-out to create releases that offer something different for their fans, and the unexpected arrival of an EP of 90s grunge covers from U.S doom quartet Embr.

Recorded in August of this year – in an actual studio, no less – with Matt Washburn (Mastodon, Royal Thunder, Artimus Pyledriver) the EP finds the band bringing a full-blooded sludge tone and a doomy, old-school, Sabbath-esque twist to four songs by leading exponents of the grunge era – with each member of the band selecting a song for inclusion.

Confession time: I absolutely fucking loved Nirvana, and still do. Alive in Chains, I dug, but never really found any enthusiasm for Stone Temple Pilots or Soundgarden, preferring Mudhoney, and the greasy heft of Tad. Nevetheless, what’s clearly apparent from listening to these four cuts is the degree of sincere affection for the songs and the sound that’s on display here. Moreover, they’ve done a great job of selecting songs that suit their own sound, showcasing the strengths of the original songs while sounding like Embr. It’s also something of a revelation hearing songs originally sung by men delivered by a female vocalist, and again, that they’ve pitched them in Crystal Bigalow’s range is a major factor in their success.

If the half-tempo trudge of their take on ‘Heart Shaped Box’ (Crystal’s choice) takes some getting used to, its impact – as the immense power chords drive down hard and heavy – is strong. The ultra-low bass that rumbles at a crawl through the stripped-back second verse is worth the money alone, but ‘Junkhead’ is probably the heaviest track here – which is no real surprise, given that AIC were always at the most overtly metal end of the spectrum in the grunge canon.

Then again, despite the rather poppy middling rock chorus, the repetitive chord sequence of ‘Mailman’ is well suited to a sludgy trudge-along, and ultimately, Embr have done a good job, making Idolatry well worth a punt.

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Khemmis – Down in a Hole

Posted: 8 August 2020 in Singles and EPs
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Magnetic Eye

Christopher Nosnibor

While reviewing Hymn’s new album, Breach Us for Whisperin’ and Hollerin’, I found myself undertaking a massive detour: having decided that for a few brief bars, Ole Rokseth’s vocals bore some resemblance to Layne Staley’s, and unsure of the spelling of Staley, fatally turned to Google, after which I squandered little short of three hours reading biographical details of the late singer.

And lo, lurking in my inbox was Khemmis’ cover of Alice in Chains’ ‘Down in a Hole’, the first track to be aired from the Dirt (Redux) album forthcoming on Magnetic Eye Records via their ‘Redux’ series (which has previously reimaged albums by Pink Floyd, Hendrix, and Helmet -although the title is a little misleading. There’s no real restoration involved here: this is a covers album, where a different band tackles each track to reconstruct the album not through remixes, but rerecordings.

I’m shamefully ignorant of most of the artists on here, although Thou are clearly a strong opening act, covering ‘Them Bones’, and label regulars These Beasts and Forming the Void also appear.

Anyway: Khemmis express that they were keen to ‘stay true to parts of the song, particularly the chorus, but that we also needed to make it our own.’ Sidestepping the TV karaoke cliché where every week the judges commend the contestants for making a well-known song their ‘own’, Khemmis have actually fulfilled their ambition by bringing layers of atmosphere and expansive guitar harmonics to the verses while retaining the integrity of the choruses. And while there are guitar flourishes aplenty, it’s apparent that this cover is born out of a genuine appreciation of the original.

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Henry Blacker – The Making of Junior Bonner

Posted: 20 July 2018 in Albums
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16th April 2018 – Riot Season Records

Christopher Nosnibor

For the love, not the money, Every time. I fell out of the loop, and missed out on the promo and wasn’t even aware that one of my favourite active bands had a new album out. And that’s reason to write about it. I feel I somehow owe the band for all of the killer music so far, and owe it to myself for posterity. So, I’m playing catch-up here with the Hey Colossus offshoot, and immediately, what strikes is the grit of the guitar and the murky production that renders The Making of Junio Bonner possibly their grimiest effort to date.

It’s the combination of spindly lead guitar lines that loop over the bowel-bothering bass frequencies before dissolving into overdriven sludge, coupled with the cool-as-fuck drawling vocals that does it. And yes, it’s pure 90s grunge, with big nods to Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, but with the dingy, greasy, rough-hewn raggedness of Tad. Do I like Henry Blacker for being an allusive throwback? Inevitably, grunge is in my DNA having immersed myself in all the bands of the day in my mid-late teens in the mid-late 90s. But no: Henry Blacker don’t evoke nostalgia. However much their template may be of an era, their music is timeless. Because good music is.

Initial spins don’t reveal any instant grabs like ‘Pullin’ Like a Dray’, ‘Cold Laking’, or ‘The Grain’, but then again, it’s time spent with Henry Blacker that allows the growers to emerge: over time, their previous two albums have proved themselves to be solid gold, albeit caked in mud and shit. And perhaps the lack of standouts is an indicator of its absolute consistency: all the songs are equal, and all are equally solid. And solid is the word. The back-to-back dispatching of songs centred around cyclical grooves and relentless riffery places it in the same space occupied by Nirvana’s debut. It grafts and grinds, hawks and chisels away, snarling, spitting, raging.

‘Shingles to the Floor’ is almost an accessible rock tune when you wipe it down. The classic rock intro on ‘Cellmate’ gives way to a panelling, thick, grungy riff that hits that sweet spot of optimum density, where the guitars fill the speakers with a distortion that threatens to overload them with a fuzz that sounds like tearing cardboard while the bass isn’t something you hear but feel. The mangled vocals, half buried, are the perfect addition.

‘Keep it Out of Your Heart’ locks into a thick, stoner groove that Queens of the Stone Age would likely kill to replicate these days. It has a certain overloaded smoothness and a swagger that chugs and chunks as it drives onwards. And maybe it’s one of those tracks that grows as a standout after just a few plays after all…

The density of sound, the way the riffs churn in on themselves and repeat as they snarl and grate, all combine to build a claustrophobic intensity. There’s no room to breathe here, and there’s no slow-tempo lighter-waving anthem at the end of side one: it’s truly end-to-end in conception and delivery.

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