LP Review: "Failure To Thrive" by Cazador

Failure To Thrive

After forming in 2015, Bostonian Sludge Doom Gloom Metal trio, Cazador, have released a single, and EP, and now they're preparing their full length debut.

Even though it's been a big topic, the season is over now and we're moving on.

On their EP, they have a song called Seppuku.

That alone is enough to get me to check out your newest and every subsequent record. Especially if you end up with a track called Fallen Diamyo....

Their latest release, Failure To Thrive is one of those releases that makes the most sense in context.

Were it available as such, this would be a perfect record to buy on vinyl because it's best heard front to back. In a world where many bands don't make albums anymore, this is a nice change of pace.

But it's not as much of an album as it is one giant song. The cover captures its essence ever so well. Imagine being bent over on a park bench because you just can't fight the injustice in the world anymore.

Failure To Thrive would be your soundtrack.

It's gloomy, thick, and angry. Cazador's debut LP doesn't fit neatly into any metal subgenre...which is how those terms came to exist anyway. Turn it on and prepare to take a ride.

RELEASE 7/12/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

LP Review: "God Has No Name" by Hex

God Has No Name

This record has been kicking around in my head for about a month now. I listened to it and thought, wow this is good.

Unfortunately it's getting harder for me to actually write reviews rather than my standard columns. So, it was finished and really, there was nothing I could say about this album apart from wow, it rocked.

There's just so much here. This is a big ol'fat record that's just crushing doom metal that wanders into the death metal pool from time to time.

God Has No Name is kind of like eating surf and turf...if you were eating the steak and lobster at the same time.

The vocals are always slow(ish). The rhythm section is always moving along at a fast clip. The drag created by the guitars and the vocals make for a satisfying feel. Then of course, when Hex just flat out goes straight doom, it's like trying to suck down a White Castle Milk Shake before you've let it melt a little bit.

God Has No Name isn't a technical metal masterpiece. There's no pretentious prog involved. It's not even as extreme as High On Fire.

It's just a sold album start to finish. By solid, I mean rock solid like, if it fell on your toes, you wouldn't be going skating for awhile, because in terms of quality, this is an excellent record.

RELEASE 7/5/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Pizza Pie Do or Die with Forever Autumn

Forever Autumn

In case you didn't know, doom metal doesn't require an SG.

You can get it done with acoustic instruments. There's been how many different bands in the world that've made metal or doomed out songs without distortion. Honestly, consider The Fur Elise.

That thing is creepy and doomy innit? There's nary a Peavy 5150 Amp head near it.

While you're thinking about all that kind of great stuff in the world, set your mind to Massachusetts. Also I have no idea how to spell that state, so I did have to work hard to get that little red squiggly sent away.

Acoustic doom act Forever Autumn is riding the post release euphoria from Howls In The Forest At Dusk.

You should do yourself a solid and stream that over at BANDCAMP while you're reading about their pizza preferences.

DLP Review: "Devoured" by Amarok

Devoured

Last year I finally read Shogun by James Clavell.

Folks who are about my age may recall the mini-series TV event, but won't remember it terribly well without having revisited it.

It's hard to believe, as a card carrying otaku, that I hadn't read this novel or seen the mini-series, but here we are.

The novel is based around a Englishman who sailed from the Netherlands to South America and then on to, as they called them, The Japans.

It's hard to conceptualize their voyage in our highly connected age. These men climbed aboard sailing vessels armed only with incomplete maps and sextants. In those days, sea travel was perilous. Most of the men who set off on that voyage died.

LP Review: "Troll" by Troll

Troll

It's easy to judge a book by its cover and look deeply into the dark pits of the soul and other hippy stuff right?

Well, consider if nothing else, just the word troll.

Yesterday my family took sick days and I worked from home in order to care for them.

During that time, my daughter subjected me to no less than two hours of Trolls cartoons.

The kiddo has also inherited a fandom of Harry Potter, but would she consider the troll in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to be the same thing as Branch or Poppy?

We haven't even gotten to the trolls in The Hobbit. So, really if you think about just those three parts of popular culture, the word troll evokes three very different connotations.

LP Review: "II" by Endless Floods

II

Having recently seen Steve Vai in concert, at the time of this writing anyway, I'm reminded that vocals do not make the song.

Growing up when I did, being in bands when I was, taught me that singers can often times be temperamental, cheap, and unreliable.

The singer in my longest band never bought any equipment save a guitar practice amp and a computer microphone that was plugged into said practice amp.

Many times during practice, said singer plugged his computer microphone into my amp, effectively taking away over half of my stack so he could be heard.

But, my experiences aside, it's important to remember that music is music with lots of vocals, with little vocals, or without any vocals at all. Consider the symphony, how many times have you heard someone complain about the lack of vocals in Beethoven's Fifth?