It would seem that nothing of quality has been released for a long while because I have not updated this section in months, but there has been. I will make up for updates by reviewing a few more albums this time.
Muse ‘The Resistance’ – This album sounds exactly as I expected. Upon seeing the track-listing (multiple part songs, common theme), I thought of the earlier Muse back in 2004 and imagined how they would put together their first concept piece – Anthemic beginnings, pop middle, queen inspired emotional ending. This is exactly what it is, except for the surprising use of 80s electronic beats throughout. Fans of the whole Black Hole era Muse may be put off by the switch in style. Gone are songs like Starlight and Knights of Cydonia, and in its place a thrashing of Take A Bow and Hoodoo. Definitely a great album for fans of their older and less accessible material. Still great stuff.
Editors ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ – This was a big surprise. The last release from Editors, An End Has A Start, took the band from the studio to stage with their more poppy guitar laden collection of singles packed into an album that did not succeed too well. This was a disappointment because their first album, The Back Room, had a more personal and unique sound. In This Light And On This Evening is a bit of a combination of The Back Room, Peter Gabriel Security era disquieting beauty, and late 70s (Ultravox anybody?) electronica. One listen to their latest single, Papillon, will remind you of that era. Because of my love for Ultravox, I found this enjoyable and easy to get into, and again for the Peter Gabriel-like songs. The album may not be for you if you absolutely hate that era, but some songs are a must listen for Editors fans.
Matthew Good ‘Vancouver’ – Remember Avalanche? No? If you enjoy good emotional rock (not emo by the way), you need to check it out, as it is a masterpiece. Since Avalanche, Matthew Good had written two somewhat experimental albums and now we have a proper followup to Avalanche. This is not to say his last two albums are not good, White Light Rock and Roll Review and Hospital Music are fantastic, but they just were not quite up there with the flawless Avalanche album. What makes this album so different from his last few is the lack of quiet acoustic or atmospheric pieces – every track ends up rocking at some point. This was a disappointment upon first listen, knowing how good he is at writing atmospheric pieces, but the tracks are all such a high quality I was surprised to enjoy it so much. Also, the orchestrations from Avalanche are back as well, if you like that kind of thing.
Alice In Chains ‘Black Gives Way To Blue’ – I had this feeling all along that Alice In Chains would get back together and come out with something, and here it is. There are some quality songs here, and some fantastic acoustic pieces, but it feels so quickly tossed together and a bit too long. This seems to be related to the song types and track-listing. To many lows than highs, acoustic interlude here and there, complete chaos. The final track was worth the wait though, too bad it took so many beers to get there.
Antimatter ‘Live @ An Club’ – For those who do not know what or who Antimatter is, Duncan Patterson, formerly of Anathema (a progressive rock/metal band) and Mick Moss formed the band in the late 90s. They write atmospheric rock with mostly guest vocals. After Duncan left the band lately, Mick Moss has continued on with the band with the release of a fantastic progessive album, Leaving Eden, released in 2007. This live album captures a performance from Athens, Greece, in late 2007, with Danny Cavanagh (also from Anathema) guesting on guitar. Some people have described Antimatter as the most depressing music they have ever heard, and a co-worker compared it to Leonard Cohen, which I find quite humorous. It really depends on how you take quiet atmospheric and emotional music, do you take it as a downer or do you feel uplifted by it? I am of the latter and I found this album to be quite beautiful and relaxing, even with beer. The quality of the recording is very good, and the crowd is quiet all throughout except between songs, probably hypnotized by the beauty. This is Sunday afternoon acoustic music at its best.
Hey Rosetta! ‘Into Your Lungs’ – I picked this up because it was produced by Hawksley Workman, I am a big fan of his work. After listening to the album completely it felt like a more folkish Hawksley combined with 54-40 (without the love!) and some atmospheric prog shoved in for modern sake. The problem with this kind of album is how the tracks do not stand out from each other, but they are decent rock songs. This band could very much be on their way to full on progressive rock.
Next update, METAL, as this has been one fucking crazy month.