The Pineapple Thief - It Leads To This (Kscope)
A new The Pineapple Thief album is always a cause for celebration in this house. It's almost always a reason for study too as over their career (beginning in 1999) the sounds this art rock act create are always a lot deeper than they first seem. Their early work was very eclectic but since 2017 they have honed in on what The Pineapple Thief is as a band, allowing main man Bruce Soord to write music that may not fit The Pineapple Thief for his solo projects.
With Gavin Harrison (drums), Jon Sykes (bass) and Steve Kitch (keys), now stalwarts of the band, all the albums since 2017 have still been ripe with intelligent, sometimes introspective, emotive progressive music but the have a similarity to them that produces a definitive "sound". Thankfully this continues on It Leads To This, the result of personal turmoil and a continuing need to understand the world. The lyrics sung with honesty and fragility, as Soord reminds you of his spine tingling delivery, the simplest part of what can be dense musical compositions, taking that rumbling last part of Every Trace Of Us.
A track such as The Frost displays how The Pineapple Thief are able to do a little with a lot. On the surface it's a jangly melodic rocker but Harrison's drumming does a lot of work in providing counterpoint rhythms and jazz fills against the synths and electronic twitches of Kitch's organs/Moogs, the guitars open and harmonious the closed and dark. It sits mid album making All That's Left's Gabriel-like fidgeting the beginning of side two, the compositions enthralling but without the need to ever be too flashy, or too long as all the tracks on It Leads To This are all around 5 minutes.
The focus allowing them to hit just right with the slow burners such as Now It's Yours while Rubicon bounces with heaviness and atmospherics. They'll always get comparisons to Porcupine Tree, especially with this foursome formation but The Pineapple Thief will always match the esoteric with the down to earth and if it leads to this then I'll happily linger here longer. 9/10
TSO – Hellcare (Self Released)
If you search for TSO on a search engine you’ll be presented with American rock opera Trans Siberian Orchestra, however type in TSO Italy and you’ll discover info about the band I’m reviewing here. Formed over a decade ago in Trieste, TSO are an alternative/90’s styled riff band that was created by brothers Marco and Andrea Abbrescia.
They wanted to pay homage to Failure, Cave In and Quicksand and since 2013 have released two full length albums with Hellcare being their third. On the last two albums they have employed guest drummers but Hellcare is the first record to just features the two brothers, written, recorded and produced by Andrea and Marco from the drum parts, to the fuzz riffs and drawling vocals, that begin the Soundgarden-esque opener Already Knew, right the way through to the dissonant Godspeed. Hellcare was their first album recorded with no external influences so it’s the distillation of what they are as a band.
Paying homage to the 90’s alt rock scene authentically but letting their own talent be exposed too. Both brothers step up to the mic here, adding a bit of variation vocally, linking to the theme of duality Hellcare deals with. It’s introspective and insistent, dissonance knitted together with melody as Dugout brings brooding. As Brodo gets gritty into sludge, Slant has Temple Of The Dog grooves, Henry meanwhile adds piano and ambience segueing into the harmonic jangling of Getting So Real, and on Dugout there's some Tin Machine/Pixies rawness.
TSO double down on those fuzzy 90's vibes on this third record. 8/10
With Gavin Harrison (drums), Jon Sykes (bass) and Steve Kitch (keys), now stalwarts of the band, all the albums since 2017 have still been ripe with intelligent, sometimes introspective, emotive progressive music but the have a similarity to them that produces a definitive "sound". Thankfully this continues on It Leads To This, the result of personal turmoil and a continuing need to understand the world. The lyrics sung with honesty and fragility, as Soord reminds you of his spine tingling delivery, the simplest part of what can be dense musical compositions, taking that rumbling last part of Every Trace Of Us.
A track such as The Frost displays how The Pineapple Thief are able to do a little with a lot. On the surface it's a jangly melodic rocker but Harrison's drumming does a lot of work in providing counterpoint rhythms and jazz fills against the synths and electronic twitches of Kitch's organs/Moogs, the guitars open and harmonious the closed and dark. It sits mid album making All That's Left's Gabriel-like fidgeting the beginning of side two, the compositions enthralling but without the need to ever be too flashy, or too long as all the tracks on It Leads To This are all around 5 minutes.
The focus allowing them to hit just right with the slow burners such as Now It's Yours while Rubicon bounces with heaviness and atmospherics. They'll always get comparisons to Porcupine Tree, especially with this foursome formation but The Pineapple Thief will always match the esoteric with the down to earth and if it leads to this then I'll happily linger here longer. 9/10
TSO – Hellcare (Self Released)
If you search for TSO on a search engine you’ll be presented with American rock opera Trans Siberian Orchestra, however type in TSO Italy and you’ll discover info about the band I’m reviewing here. Formed over a decade ago in Trieste, TSO are an alternative/90’s styled riff band that was created by brothers Marco and Andrea Abbrescia.
They wanted to pay homage to Failure, Cave In and Quicksand and since 2013 have released two full length albums with Hellcare being their third. On the last two albums they have employed guest drummers but Hellcare is the first record to just features the two brothers, written, recorded and produced by Andrea and Marco from the drum parts, to the fuzz riffs and drawling vocals, that begin the Soundgarden-esque opener Already Knew, right the way through to the dissonant Godspeed. Hellcare was their first album recorded with no external influences so it’s the distillation of what they are as a band.
Paying homage to the 90’s alt rock scene authentically but letting their own talent be exposed too. Both brothers step up to the mic here, adding a bit of variation vocally, linking to the theme of duality Hellcare deals with. It’s introspective and insistent, dissonance knitted together with melody as Dugout brings brooding. As Brodo gets gritty into sludge, Slant has Temple Of The Dog grooves, Henry meanwhile adds piano and ambience segueing into the harmonic jangling of Getting So Real, and on Dugout there's some Tin Machine/Pixies rawness.
TSO double down on those fuzzy 90's vibes on this third record. 8/10
Distorted Reflection - Doom Rules Eternally (Iron Shield Records)
If you know anything about Greek doom/epic metal then you would have come across the name Sorrow's Path and even the name Kostas Salomidis. The epic doom band was formed in 1993 by Takis Drakopoulos, co-founder/guitarist Kostas offered him two names, Sorrow's Path and Distorted Reflection, Takis chose Sorrow's Path so as they looked set to record their fifth album as a band, Kostas found his musical sensibilities tested so he left the, deciding that his path lay with the creation of Distorted Reflection.
Doom Rules Eternally is the debut album of this studio based project (they will not tour or give interviews), Kostas cranking out the riffs as well as taking vocals for the first time. Joining him as part of the core trio are Stelios Pavlou on drums and Vangelis Yalamas on bass/synth, they contribute the majority of the music here, music that is classic heavy epic doom metal influenced by bands such as Candlemass, Cirith Ungol and contemporaries to Solitude Aeturnus and While Heaven Wept.
The cover art comes from Tomas Arfert who has drawn for Candlemass, the production is from Vangelis Yalamas (Fragile Vastness) and Kostas has called in help from some of his friends, Nicholas Leptos (Arrayan Path) first up, bringing his bold power metal pipes to opener Mr Snake. That swaying riff typical of Kostas' history in epic doom sphere, it's the one that moves the most toward power metal.
That slow doom canter comes on Ring Of Fire, this is Kostas' first vocal showing and he's got serious Candlemass vibes from the guitar and the vocals, Colours adds a gallop while Dark Mermaid has a theatrical spoken style delivery. This is almost like a compilation of the best doom bands in the world, or a capturing of Salomidis' history. Ross Friedman (Ross The Boss/ex-Manowar) adds the guitar solo to the muscular Cassandra while Giannis Drolapas gets to let some guitar solos loose on the closer The Eternal Gate.
Kostas Salomidis again shows why Doom Rules Eternally and while the band name is different, riffs are just as encompassing. 9/10
tAKiDA – The Agony Flame (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]
tAKiDA? Never ‘eard of 'er! It’s an old joke but in this case 100% true as I have never heard of veteran Swedish rockers tAKiDA. This is their debut on Napalm records but the band have been around since 1999, so will The Agony Flame be their breakthrough into the UK and beyond? Well their 2021 record Falling From Fame saw them appealing to a bigger audience though they are highly decorated in their own country with platinum albums and singles, five #1 albums and a fair few European festival shows under their belts, it seems the band aren’t just resting on their laurels even after 20 years.
Striving to bring their music to more people. Personally I’m not sure what to make of them as a band, singer Robert Pettersson has a booming vocal, rippling with emotion through a wide register, on tracks such as The Sickening I can pick up a lot of David Draiman of Disturbed, the anthemic radio rock of the American’s a major sound influences here, as is Stone Sour and even H.I.M on Isolated (Smoke & Mirrors) and The Other Side, the introspective ballads having touches of Leprous or Soen due to the strings and vocals. So there’s a lot going on much of it pop influenced to get radio play, but dark pop where it’s inward looking and emotional.
I hope signing to Napalm works for them but I'm not sure I'd listen to this record again but there will be loads that will. 6/10
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