The fourth out of nine singles from the “I’m With You” recording sessions of the legendary American Crossover band RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS is definitely more convincing than the two previous singles and has a more transcending and psychedelic vibe that one hasn’t heard from this band for quite a while.

The first track is called “The Sunset Sleeps” and surprises with enthusiastic high pitched vocals, retro guitar sounds and a great middle part with transcending guitar sound effects that give the whole thing a mysterious and psychedelic touch.

The second song is entitled “Hometown Gypsy” and completes the first strike in a convincing way. It’s a little bit faster and more Country music orientated. What we have here is a relaxed and quite catchy summertime song that develops a few intriguing dynamics thanks to some minimalist changes. As a highlight, I would cite the laid back psychedelic middle part of the song that only lasts a few seconds but works very efficiently.

In the end, this release is among the better ones of the sessions. Any fan of calm Rock music with a few psychedelic experiments should try the two new songs out. Any true fan of the band should by now be convinced to purchase the nine singles as they are some quite precious items.

(Online December 10, 2012)

After the short cover EP “Lots of Girls Gonna Get Hurt”, the controversial Swedish Depressive Black Metal band SHINING around front man, vocalist, keyboarder and guitar player Niklas Kvarforth is back for good with an eighth full length record in only twelve years.

I haven’t been a big follower of the band but I wanted to try them out for quite a while and I’m very positively surprised with this release that surely motivates me enough to check out further parts of their discography. The band is in fact much more epic and especially melodic than I expected. Harsher parts with unchained and fascinatingly unique vocals, sharp riffs and heavy drumming are as present as psychedelic with atmospheric keyboard sounds, chilling acoustic guitar passages and dreamy clean vocals that give the whole thing a very progressive touch. In these passages, the band is quite close to bands such as ANATHEMA, KATATONIA, or OPETH. There is only one difference: SHINING happens to be better than any of the talented other three bands. The band sounds very pure in its emotions, the song writing perfectly plays with contrasts and the tracks vary enough to never get boring.

A few years ago, I would have been discouraged by the quite brutal opener “Du, Mitt Konstverk” but as time went by, I began to understand what I would call the essence of Black Metal and find the bleak atmosphere authentic, extreme and profound. Even this beast of a song has a melodic break in its second half that calms you down, puts you in a melancholic mood and plays with contrasts. On the other side, the closing “For the God Below” is probably one of the most epic and melodic tracks the band has ever written as far as I’ve heard and should also please to fans of other genres such as Gothic or Progressive Metal. The acoustic guitar harmonies, the variable vocals and the great guitar effects and solos are simply touching and also technically very well executed. This track is by far one of the best songs of the year and any open minded metal maniac should try this out at all costs.

In the end, SHINING deliver one of the most emotional and varied releases of the year and have won a new fan in me. There have been many amazing records out this year but this album is clearly among the twenty best albums and I feel that it may still grow on me. Those who like extreme emotions and imaginative music filled with contrasts should try this band out despite its controversial image. Madness and genius are quite close and even though Niklas Kvarforth might be very eccentric, what he delivers here can be called a true little masterpiece despite its short length and a few less convincing passages in the tracks of the record’s middle part.

(Online December 1, 2012)

As the title indicates, this is already the tenth release by the Finnish Glam and Gothic Rock band THE 69 EYES that has been around since 1989 and who has risen to worldwide fame with the release of the “Devils” record eight years ago. The band has originally played a mixture of Glam Metal and Hard Rock but changed for a more commercial Gothic Rock orientated style during the years. As time went by, the band became though a little bit more polished and moved away from the Gothic genre. The vocals sound a lot smoother and variable than before and the tracks feature a more positive Rock ‘n’ Roll spirit and have mostly moved away from darker topics.

Despite all these small changes, the band somewhat fails to impress on this record and sounds far too tame to impress. The tracks are catchy but they lack of energy and edges. A good example would be “If You Love Me the Morning After,” which is a polished Gothic Pop ballad that one seems to have heard a thousand times before.

The band only gets better in the second half of the record where the second single “Borderline” is one of the most surprising songs I’ve heard from this band for quite a while. This half ballad has a dark Country touch where the vocals fit perfectly and it builds up a mysterious atmosphere. The song sounds like a great bastard of JOHNNY CASH, ELVIS PRESLEY and NICK CAVE. Another solid songs comes right after this in form of “I’m Ready” which is an energizing Retro Rock anthem with a few contemporary sound effects and a couple of decently used but very charming female vocals. The band still has another original song on the release with the very good album closer “When a Love Comes to an End” that has a transcendently dreamy atmosphere one hasn’t heard from this band before. Even though the song itself is musically rather minimalistic, it has a slight Progressive vibe and comes as an unusual but positive surprise from this band.

These three songs are not very representative for the band but they prove that these guys are in fact more variable than they seem to be and that they still have a couple of fresh ideas. That’s why it’s rather sad that most of this album is quite exchangeable and only wants to play a save game by pleasing to the regular fan basis. THE 69 EYES have a lot of potential but they must definitely break free from their successful past and break with the usual expectations to be still relevant as artists in the future. I really hope that their next strike may include a couple of more original songs than this one. Regular fans of the band should nevertheless get this album and won’t be too disappointed. It’s neither the band’s best nor the band’s worst record after all.

(Online November 24, 2012)

Even fifteen years after their foundation, LES TROIS ACCORDS are still one of the most famous Rock bands in Quebec thanks to their very humorous lyrics. Topics such as madness in society, romantic relationships to old people and suffering hobby athletes that are jealous of weighty young children that don’t do sports can be found on their new disc that is humorously entitled “J’aime ta grand-mère”. The problem is that a couple of jokes get a little bit inoffensive, old and used and don’t work as well as one the last records. The only songs that really made me laugh are the ridiculous and catchy “Exercice” and “Je me touche dans le parc”. As great tracks, I might also cite the few up tempo tracks such as the addicting single “Bamboula” as well as the musically a little bit more courageous “C’était magique (Nuit de la poésie II)” which is a follow-up of a song from the diversified predecessor “Dans mon corps”. On the other side, at least half of the songs on the record vary somewhere in the no man’s land between sad mediocrity and a solid average quality.

Musically, the band adds a strong touch of the sixties and seventies rock music to their sound without ignoring their usual influences. The final result sounds like a mixture of JOHNNY CASH, THE BEATLES, LUDWIG VON 88, WEEZER and FRANZ FERDINAND. From tracks with little danceable brass sections over laid back Folk Pop sounds to energizing Post-Punk moments, the band probably varies more than ever before but clearly gets more and more away from its Alternative Rock and Fun Punk roots. Even the obvious Country influences that have been very present on the first three records have almost completely vanished apart of the duet with the province’s Country Queen RENÉE MARTEL. The only thing that relates this new release to the first steps of the band is the humorous lyrics after all but this should be enough for the fans to appreciate this record.

On the other side, the albums of the band seem to get shorter and shorter. It’s incredible that it took them three years to record and release an album with only ten tracks and a running time of only thirty-three minutes. This here is definitely not value for money and I would therefore only recommend this album to faithful fans that have somewhat grown up with these guys and known them for quite a while as in my case. It’s definitely an entertaining half hour of music and another solid piece of Quebec’s contemporary musical culture but far from being convincing.  

(Online November 19, 2012)

The province of Quebec has always been known for its Experimental and Progressive Metal bands around VOIVOD, OBLIVEON, MARTYR, QUO VADIS, UNEXPECT, AUGURY and more. I’ve always been impressed by the high amount of technically impressive bands coming from that small province and now I even have to add SPACEMAK3R to that list. I guess it’s needless to say that they have once again a very unique artistic approach that makes it hard to compare them to other bands.

The band is in fact some sort of project elaborated by band leader and compositor Michael Gagnon. He created his project with close friends and family members over the years before the release of this first record back in the end of 2010 that definitely didn’t get enough media attention despite the creation of many intriguing video clips that can be found on the band’s website. The project is build up around six musicians and four actors that appear in the colourful video clips and also during the few visually stunning concerts this band has given over the years. That’s why one can talk about a theatrical creation where the visual and lyrical factor is almost as important as the music itself.

The conceptual story around this project is also quite interesting. It tells tales about the schizophrenic mind of a child called Alex. The isolated boy is followed by weird imaginary creatures everywhere he goes: in his sleeping room at night, at a lost playground or even at school. The twelve tracks tell about the unique everyday life of this outsider and the tracks vary from hysteric Metalcore parts up to calm and eerie Gothic Rock soundtrack moments.

Musically, we don’t only get the traditional instruments and some very emotional vocals that perfectly fit to the story. We also get keyboard and string sounds. One musician is even some sort of disc jockey who adds a few weird scratches to the sound which give the record a more modern touch that I would describe as an intriguing mixture of Metalcore, Nu Metal and Industrial Metal moments that are combined with a strong Gothic Rock or Metal feeling plus many atmospheric and progressive parts. The mixture between all these elements is just well balanced and this record will still grip you emotionally, impress you artistically and surprise you musically after many spins.

This record will definitely leave a deep impression on you. If you’re open-minded for all these influences, the impression will be great but some people might find this kind of music too hard to digest. Personally, this release is a true little treasure for me that I happen to enjoy every now and then when I feel like it. Anybody who calls her- or himself open-minded and interested in musical innovation far from established genres should immediately try this release out.

(Online November 5, 2012)