Joanne Shaw Taylor – Heavy Soul (Journeyman Records) [Paul Scoble]
Joanne Shaw Taylor is a solo artist playing blues/blues rock/R&B. She was discovered as a teenager by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. She started releasing albums in 2009, her debut was called White Sugar in the intervening years she has released another 7 albums, the release of Heavy Soul is JST's ninth album. The album was produced by Kevin Shirley (Black Crows, Aerosmith), released through Joe Bonanmassa's Journeyman Records label and features lots of talented musicians including Rob McNeiley, Anton Fig and Alison Presswood. In the 15 years Joanne Shaw Taylor has been releasing albums she has had 2 top tens and a number 1 on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart and has won 2 British Blues Award for Best Female Vocalist, and once for Best Songwriter, so calling her accomplished would be an understatement.
Heavy Soul features ten songs, seven originals and 3 covers. The album kicks off with the song Sweet 'Lil Lies, a mid-paced piece of tight blues with a very distinctive guitar lick that runs through most of the song, a very memorable chorus and a great guitar solo. After this really good start comes the cover, Joan Armatrading’s All The Way To America, a song that I remember from my childhood with a lot of affection. The version that Shaw Taylor has done is very respectful of the original, it’s a fairly strait cover, but with a song as good as this messing about with it would probably have ruined it. This version has all the factors that made the original so good, and Shaw Taylor's voice fits the song perfectly, an extremely good cover!
The next song is Black Magic, a wonderful piece of mid-paced boogie blues with a bit of a Rockabilly feel to it. The song features really great backing Vocals in the chorus, which is great, handclaps, a piano solo with a bit of a ragtime sense, a guitar solo and massive amounts of fun. After Black Magic comes Drowning In A Sea Of Love a beautiful piece of soulful R&B that is driven by a great bassline, originally recorded by Joe Simon in 1971, it was written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, the chorus is really good and very memorable, and the song features some really great melodies,. Next comes A Good Goodbye, a song based around a clean guitar riff, with a very good vocal performance that is full of personality and really brings the lyrics to life. The chorus is very good and features lush backing vocals.
Then it's the title track Heavy Soul, which is a very interesting song. It starts as mid-paced blues that feels measured, minimal and muted, however, as the song progresses the performances slowly build in intensity, getting bigger and bigger. It feels as if the song is growing in confidence, initially controlled and subtle, but then becoming louder and more purposeful until by the last minute the song struts along and feels much bigger. It’s a great song that is a standout track on an album of great songs.
After this is Wild Love, a tight piece of soul pop with a clean guitar riff and keyboards. The song is mid-paced and has a really great positive energy. Next comes the song Someone Like You a blissed-out soul ballad that is full of sunshine, it's a cover of the Van Morrison original. The song is similar too and has the same feel as the song Easy by The Commodores, and just like that song, Faith No More would probably do a very good cover of this.
The brilliant blues boogie called, Devil In Me is quite similar to Black Magic, but is faster and has a great Hammond Organ riff. Those absolutely lush backing vocals are back for the chorus, which is awesome, and just like Black Magic it is massively good fun. Heavy Soul comes to an end with the song Change Of Heart, a poppy piece of soul. The verse is soft and minimal, while the chorus is bigger with backing vocals that could have come from a gospel album. The song features a very tuneful guitar solo and is a lush way to end the album.
Heavy Soul is a great album. Joanne Shaw Taylor is breaking new ground for herself with the addition of quite a lot of soul and R&B to this album, with the Blues taking a bit more of a back seat and letting the soul take the wheel. Doing this was risky, it could have been a big mistake if it hadn’t worked, however the quality of the songs on Heavy Soul makes the album work brilliantly. I’ve only had the album for 6 days and already I can sing all the choruses and the whole album seems to be stuck in my head, a sure sign of quality. The different styles also fit together very well, at no point does this sound like different artists, it all hold together and feels like one cogent whole, which is impressive.
It’s a really great album to add to an already impressive discography. A great blues/soul/R&B album, highly recommended. 9/10
Candy - Its Inside You (Relapse Records) [GC]
When it comes to descriptions of what I am reviewing I get a bit nervous when the word experimental is used, so when I got the latest release from ‘’experimental hardcore noise ‘’ band Candy, I was excited, cos hardcore but also apprehensive cos, experimental, noise! But, judging a band merely by its description is not going to help anyone so onwards with the review.Opener eXistenz is a bit of an odd blend, it’s got some ferocious metallic hardcore mixed with danceable electronics in and its all very stop start and jagged and does fit into the noisecore style as there is no real focus on one thing, its all just thrown at you and you just have to fend for yourself, Short Circuit is a bit more my thing as its got a stomping NYHC vibe running throughout even when mixing in some electronic chaos it never strays too far and the groove it has is infectious, this feels a bit more like it for me.
Its Inside You has some killer stuff on it when they focus on the heavy side of things the furious anger demonstrated is something special but when they get a little experimental its feels like they lose focus and it affects the whole feel of the album, the dance influenced songs at the end were a really weird way to end this album as well! Still, despite my whining I would recommend this album If you wanted an album that challenges the way you think about heavy music. 8/10
Holycide – Towards Idiocracy (Xtreem Music) [Paul Hutchings]
One glance at the fantastically over the top cover on the Madrid Thrashers third album will leave you in no doubt about what you will hear. It screams THRASSSSHHHHH!! But a quick examination of the cover shows humans staring blindly at phone screens as they fall like lemmings off the cliffs into the boiling blood red waters of the seas below them. And an underlying message that is one I fully endorse. The charge of humanity towards its AI controlled conclusion.
Towards Idiocracy is a stark observation on the state of the planet, rolled up in a raging ball of visceral thrash metal that ticks all the boxes. A mirror on the world, all caught up in the virtual existence whilst the world burns and is destroyed around us, pollutants and toxins damage, wildlife is destroyed, and we protest about being offended by the trivial and unimportant.
That message is caught up in ten songs of razor-sharp thrash which opens with A.I. Supremacy, a fast-paced track that needs no explanation. From here it’s high tempo all the way, superbly played, viciously delivered and vocally perfect. Dave Rotten’s snarling roars are ideal for the message the Spaniards are delivering.
Four years since the less than subtle Fist To Face, it’s time for Holycide to remind the world of their existence and to demonstrate their quality. It’s a combination of Slayer, Exodus, and Sepultura with a crossover edge that gives it just a little change in style. It’s this approach that makes Towards Idiocracy something both familiar and yet new to listen to.
The tracks tumble over each other; Remote Control, Power Corrupts and Technophobia are all quality old school sounding thrash, whilst the groove of Angry For Nothing blends a more contemporary sound into the mix. Sava Esteban and Ankor Ramierz bring a dual guitar attack that slices with no remorse, whilst the tight rhythm work of bassist Vincente J. Payá and drummer Santi ‘GoG’ Arroyo keep everything moving. There’s even a cover of Atrophy’s Chemical Dependency thrown in, and it’s treated with the respect it deserves.
Holycide are unashamedly thrash in the way that many older fans want it to be. Towards Idiocracy is pleasingly retro yet refreshingly contemporary. And any band that ends their album with a song called Flamethrower ‘Em All deserves plaudits in my book. 8/10
Amen Corner - Written By The Devil (Hammerheart Records) [James Jackson]
*This not the South Wales pop band founded by Andy Fairweather Low* - Ed
There’s a list of marketing points that comes with the press release for Amen Corner’s upcoming album Written By The Devil, that plays heavily upon the fact that the band has stuck to its Underground Black Metal roots for over thirty years.
The opening track to any album is the band’s first opportunity to draw the listener in and offer a glimpse of things to come, in this case it’s a collection of unrelated samples that offer no indication or any feasible direction to what comes next, in some cases the “intro” builds, offering a hint of what is to come, this one is called Intro and bares no obvious connection to the album, whose theme is Death.
When I think of Black Metal, I instantly think of the likes of Darkthrone, Emperor, Dark Funeral, early Dimmu Borgir and Cradle Of Filth; the screeching vocals, blast beats and frenzied riffs, this has far more in common with the extreme metal of genre defying/genre defining Venom.
Where the band may well be a national treasure in the underground of Brazilian extreme music, I’m finding little that would garner such prestige. Vocally it feels as though the Sucoth Benoth is phoning it in, there’s nothing new or interesting about what he’s doing here. The same could be said for the album as a whole, there are a few occasions where a riff, or drum pattern stands out in the sea of mediocre tracks but these instances are few and far between.
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