Rapid Fire: Black Stone Cherry, The Offspring, Foo Fighters

Recently, I went to visit family and had to spend five hours driving from my house to theirs. Before setting off, I grabbed three CDs from my collection that I hadn't listened to for the car journey and once I arrived, decided to write a blog post discussing each album. So yeah, that's the theme for this month's Rapid Fire post. Not genres, not decades, just three albums I listened to whilst travelling alone on the motorway.


1. Magic Mountain - Black Stone Cherry

The first album I listened to was easily the best although don't mistake that for me saying it was a great album overall. Magic Mountain has some decent Hard Rock tracks but more often than not, the songs were built on uninspired riffs and generic Black Stone Cherry material. Album opener "Holding On...To Letting Go" starts off with a great rhythm and some decent riffing but regrettably the band make their classic mistake of letting things slow down for no good reason in the middle. It's a shame too as the guitar solo's pretty good, although changing the rhythm in the middle of a song by slowing it down rarely ever works unless you're a Prog Metal band and even then, it's never worth it.
The slower sections of the album come in the form of drug themed tracks such as "Peace Pipe", "Me And Mary Jane" and "Blow My Mind". Similar to some of the material off the latest albums by The Sword, I get the impression that the chilled, Southern Groove behind each of these songs sounds better when 'blazing up' as all the hip kids say. Since I was behind the wheel at the time of listening to these tracks, I can't confirm or deny that theory but what I can confirm is that unlike other Black Stone Cherry albums I've listened to, this album has songs I would love to listen to again such as 70s throwback and title track "Magic Mountain" and emotionally charged album closer "Remember Me", even if it does go on way too long.
The stronger aspects of the record, as always, are the dynamic riffs and heavy grooves whereas I felt myself tuning out during the slower, whinier numbers ("Sometimes") and gimmicky filler tracks straight outta shit-kicker, cousin-fucker county ("Hollywood In Kentucky"). All in all though, it's a complete album that didn't feel like it was playing it too safe or recycling material (unlike another album I'll be discussing lower down). I recommend Magic Mountain to fans of Hard/Southern Rock although don't set your standards too high.

1. Holding On...To Letting Go

2. Peace Pipe

3. Bad Luck & Hard Love

4. Me And Mary Jane

5. Runaway

6. Magic Mountain

7. Never Surrender

8. Blow My Mind

9. Sometimes

10. Fiesta Del Fuego

11. Dance Girl

12. Hollywood In Kentucky

13. Remember Me

ALBUM RATING - 6/10

Next up is an album by Pop Punk champions The Offspring!

2. Americana - The Offspring

Don't let the album artwork fool you; this album isn't even the remotest bit interesting. Released in 1998 and after the band's much better albums Smash and Ixnay On The Hombre (not to mention before Conspiracy Of One, also a better album), Americana is supposed to be the band's statement on life in America from the band's youthful perspective but ends up sounding like weaker versions of material we've already heard before. Album opener "Welcome/Have You Ever" has the same rhythm, the same guitarwork and the same basic vocal structure as your typical Offspring track only it lacks that special spark. Possibly because the band try to add more progressive elements to their aggressive Pop Punk and it simply doesn't work.

Whilst there are some instances of tracks working perfectly as they are ("The Kids Aren't Alright", "Staring At The Sun"), the majority of songs on the album trip and fall over themselves. For example, lead single "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" has an amazing chorus and some fine guitar/vocal work, not to mention decent Latin influences. Unfortunately, it's ruined by the obnoxious "GIVVIT TO ME BAY-BEEEE, UH-HUH UH-HUH" throughout. If that vocal melody was played on guitar instead, this would've been an album highlight. There's also album closer "Pay The Man", a song originally intended to be on the previous album but was left off because they felt like it didn't belong. That was a smart decision, unlike the decision to make it eight-minutes long and easily forgettable. That was a dumb decision.

Ultimately, you'll probably enjoy this album if you haven't heard their previous work, similar to how you probably think Die Hard 4.0 is awesome if you haven't seen the first or second one. Americana is surplus goods and the Pop Punk filler tracks are old news at this point. Even the singles are dull or flawed to the point that they're not enjoyable (apart from "The Kids Aren't Alright"). You don't really stand to gain anything from listening to this entire album that you couldn't get elsewhere and the fact that the band's next album moved towards more conventional Rock than their brand of Skater Punk tells you that at least one member of the band felt like Americana showed warning signs of the band going stale.

1. Welcome

2. How Are You

3. Staring At The Sun

4. Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)

5. The Kids Aren't Alright

6. Feelings

7. She's Got Issues

8. Walla Walla

9. The End Of The Line

10. No Brakes

11. Why Don't You Get A Job

12. Americana

13. Pay The Man

14. Pretty Fly (Reprise)

ALBUM RATING - 3/10

And last but certainly least, we have Dave Grohl "experimenting"!

3. There Is Nothing Left To Lose - Foo Fighters

I fucking hate this album. It's generic, depressing, repetitive and possibly worst of all, it feels like Dave Grohl knew exactly what he was doing. The first three songs are completely different to the rest of the album and unsurprisingly, those three songs are the ones that are (semi) popular Foos tracks. Album opener "Stacked Actors" sports a great riff, an explosive chorus, a decent guitar solo and some classic Grohl vocals. Following close behind is "Breakout", another proper Rock song with Dave letting loose throughout. However, once we reach "Learn To Fly", a mediocre but passable radio friendly song designed to sound as commercial as possible, everything goes downhill.

The rest of the album contains guitar riffs that sound like they were written in about 10 seconds ("Live-In Skin", "Headwires"), percussion that would nudge coma patients onto the next mortal plain of existence ("Ain't It The Life", "Aurora") and vocals with all the energy and passion of an insurance salesman humming TV ad jingles whilst waiting for a bus ("M.I.A.", "Next Year"). It's almost as if Grohl didn't have much confidence in what he was doing so decided to start the album off with his three favourite songs so that people would hear the first few tracks and mistake There's Nothing Left To Lose for a Rock album.

This is the kind of album I'd imagine pretentious, hipster douches listening to because of how sensitive and non-threatening this "Rock" music is; your Zach Braffs, your Simon Neils, etc. If you're one of them, go knock yourselves out. Literally, knock yourselves out because your taste is awful and unwanted. Do not listen to this album, there are literally hundreds of better modern Rock records that don't sound phoned in or misleading. I've criticised Queens Of The Stone Age material due to how the mix of soft vocals and aggressively fuzzy guitar/bass tones does not work but I'll take Josh Homme's audio jizzrag over Dave Grohl's, if this album's anything to go by.

1. Stacked Actors

2. Breakout

3. Learn To Fly

4. Gimme Stitches

5. Generator

6. Aurora

7. Live-In Skin

8. Next Year

9. Headwires

10. Ain't It The Life

11. M.I.A.

ALBUM RATING - 2/10

COMING SOON: Tenology posts and more NEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWS.

Rapid Fire: Pearl Jam, The Offspring, Metallica

Apologies for the lack of posts but I've been spending my time listening to a load of old albums I've been meaning to catch up on, some of which are included in this post.
Similar to the first Rapid Fire post, I'll be briefly discussing three albums (this time, all from the 90s!) and giving my verdict on each of them. I may consider doing similar posts to this where I link the three albums via genre or decade...or I'll keep on doing three random albums that I've listened to, who knows.

1. Ten - Pearl Jam

I listened to this album a while ago and wasn't hugely impressed. I'd heard it was widely regarded as their best work (even though it is their first album) and contains at least three of their signature songs along with fan favourites in the form of filler tracks. In reality, it's good but if anything it's more responsible for shaping the sound of Alternative Rock, particularly from the Seattle region. A combination of Eddie Vedder's vocals and a variety of soft and heavy riffing from Mike McCready made it easily accessible to 90s listeners and revisiting it, it still holds up today.
I can't say I'm totally down with that, as I'm a bigger fan of the Riff Based Rock of the 70s, and whilst this album features plenty of epic riffs, they're all located in the three lead singles (hence my indifference to most of the filler tracks). In my eyes, it's definitely a solid album but much like a summer blockbuster with all the impressive CGI-filled action scenes in the trailers, Ten suffers from being arguably too reliant on mainstream Alternative singles. "Even Flow", "Jeremy" and "Alive" are fantastic tracks but once you've heard them, there's not really a good reason to stick with the album unless you're a fan of more soulful Rock.
Luckily, this album doesn't make the same mistake Aerosmith made in the 90s, having the band members decide that they're actually more sensitive than the Rock N Roll rebels who sung about getting sucked off in a lift. Even the softer tracks have an abrasive side, making this a good Rock album and a great Rock debut, although it's no Boston or On Through The Night.

1. Once

2. Even Flow

3. Alive

4. Why Go

5. Black

6. Jeremy

7. Oceans

8. Porch

9. Garden

10. Deep

11. Release

ALBUM RATING - 6/10

2. Smash - The Offspring

Another notable album from the 90s in the form of Pop Punk outfit, The Offspring. Say what you want about this particular genre of music but The Offspring know how to make a fun album, unlike some of their peers. Sure, most of the tracks sound the same apart from the token Ska Punk track ("What Happened To You?") and sometimes Dexter Holland's vocals grate a little bit ("Bad Habit") but much like Disturbed and Motorhead, if you like their general sound then you'd be wise to give their albums a proper listen.

Much like the previous album on this post, singles released from Smash stray from that sound into more chart friendly territory ("Come Out And Play" and "Self Esteem") but these songs are still great in their own way. As for the filler tracks, they've got more energy than a toddler on Red Bull and speed, boasting frenzied guitar work and frantic drumming perfect for as many fisheye lens Jackass montages and Tony Hawks Pro Skater soundtracks as you could ever dream of.

This album will probably lose its appeal quickly if you like the kind of variety Prog Rock or Indie/Alternative bands tend to offer but if you're prone to the occasional bout of Pop Punk, this is a good album to dig into. I would argue that it's as good as Ixnay On The Hombre, their less successful follow up album that's more or less the same release only without the chart friendly mainstream Rock tracks.

1. Time To Relax

2. Nitro (Youth Energy)

3. Bad Habit

4. Gotta Get Away

5. Genocide

6. Something To Believe In

7. Come Out And Play

8. Self Esteem

9. It'll Be A Long Time

10. Killboy Powerhead

11. What Happened To You?

12. So Alone

13. Not The One

14. Smash

ALBUM RATING - 7/10

3. Metallica - Metallica

I'd been putting off listening to this album for so long due to the negative reaction in the Metal community. Now I've finally listened to it start to finish, I have one question to ask: why the fuck do people hate this album? It may not be as Thrash as Ride The Lightning or ...And Justice For All but it's a decent Metal album! This is a good example of a band trying something new and creating something that doesn't suck, unlike every band that "experiments" and always ends up creating something that everyone fucking hates because it's half arsing two genres.

Keeping in line with the mainstream Rock theme, this album saw Metallica bringing Metal to MTV with "Enter Sandman", a song with an epic riff that everyone shits on even though it's probably the heaviest and most awesome song about sleep you'll ever hear. It also gave us a power ballad in the form of "Nothing Else Matters", a song that sounds a shitload better if you speed it up 25% (as first proven in this handy blog post here!), and a bunch of Heavy Metal singles inspired by Westerns ("The Unforgiven") and even some of their old material ("Sad But True" essentially being the "Blaze Of Glory" to "Harvester Of Sorrow"'s "Wanted Dead Or Alive"...you still with me?).

However, if you judge the album entirely on those tracks, you'll probably think it's fairly mediocre. Nobody ever seems to talk about the filler tracks though, as those are easily the album highlights. "Holier Than Thou" and "The Struggle Within" could easily belong on previous albums but I guess it's easy to ignore them when you're too busy getting pissed off about a band not releasing Master Of Puppets 2. Bottom line is you should give this a fair try before dismissing it, as I feel like all the naysayers are responsible for me holding out on The Black Album for so long. Not only is it a solid collection of great tracks but the tracklist has been arranged in the optimal way, making each track flow well into the next...again, another point that's never mentioned in the "LARS SUCKS!!!!!" forum threads.

1. Enter Sandman

2. Sad But True

3. Holier Than Thou

4. The Unforgiven

5. Wherever I May Roam

6. Don't Tread On Me

7. Through The Never

8. Nothing Else Matters

9. Of Wolf And Man

10. The God That Failed

11. My Friend Of Misery

12. The Struggle Within

ALBUM RATING - 7/10

I may get a second post up this week but if not, I'll get one up next week. Also, check out the Showdown post before this as I've been updating that with even more tracks recently.

Taster Session #1

After last week's trilogy of video game posts, I decided to go back to album reviews but after checking online to see if there were any albums that caught my eye, I couldn't find any worth reviewing or listening to. What I did discover was a series of upcoming albums from bands I like listening to.
Now I understand this flies in the face of being open minded and I wouldn't recommend avoiding bands just because you've never heard them before (otherwise nobody would have a career) but the simple truth is no new albums or bands have made me think I should listen to their material.
When I hear a single on the radio and like it, I'll give the album a try. If I hear good things about a band, I'm more likely to try them out than if I hear nothing about them. Either way, I was left in a bit of a situation as I didn't want to go back to another opinion post or Tenology. So here's ANOTHER NEW IDEA!

As there are several upcoming albums from bands I'm aware of hitting the shelves in a few months, there are also quite a few singles from these albums online already. I'll be talking about some of those singles in this post and will discuss my experience with the band in the past as well as giving my expectations for the respective album, just in case I end up reviewing them.
Right then, let's get started!

"High Country" - The Sword         (listen here)
From the album High Country (21/8/15)

I should start off by saying that I love The Sword. They're like everything awesome about Black Sabbath mixed with everything awesome about Slayer. Heavy riffs and explosive drums all combined to make a musical score suitable for Ragnarok. Their first album starts off OK with some great standalone tracks and their second album packs a necessarily hefty punch, as any good Metal follow-up album should. The third album was perhaps a bit prematurely experimental but luckily the fourth album returned to apocalyptic riffing.
This song kind of makes me wonder where the 5th album will go. It's heavy, sure, but it also sounds very different to The Sword that sung about "Fire Lances Of The Ancient Hyperzephyrians" or "The Black River". In fact, it sounds a bit like "Believe" - The Bravery spiced up with some reworked riffs from "Gasoline" - Audioslave (this song definitely has a bit of cheeky riff pinching from "Gasoline"). However, I highly doubt this means The Sword have gone uber-commercial and morphed from Heavy Metal to Hard Rock like Megadeth did with Super Collider.
What it probably means is The Sword want to release a well received album and maybe get a bit of radio play with this single. I could be dead wrong as I haven't heard as much buzz about it as, say, Last Of Our Kind - The Darkness when the first singles were being released for that. I'm a little worried that this is the title track as it lacks the same wallop that title tracks are supposed to provide. Either way, it's made me excited to listen to High Country as I really enjoyed the song and I trust The Sword will give Rock and Metal fans an excellent album.


"The Vengeful One" - Disturbed          (listen here)
From the album Immortalized (21/8/15)

I'm familiar with Disturbed and some of their more popular hits ("Down With The Sickness", "Inside The Fire", etc) but I wouldn't call myself a massive fan. I like their sound to a passable degree although unlike some of the other Metal bands I generally favour, Disturbed tend to rely on that sound a little too much. I'm not saying they can only play one song with different lyrics over and over again (like another band we'll be looking at shortly) but whenever a new Disturbed single is released, it always has the same staples of their music.
This track is no different and sounds just like their "best" material so if you were a fan of Disturbed during the Indestructible period and are hoping they haven't lost their way, fear not! If this single is anything to go by, you're probably in for another album of similar material. I tend to be OK with this if the material is good and yeah, in Disturbed's case it often is. I might check this album out as Disturbed have surprised me with a couple of awesome songs ("The Infection" springs straight to mind) but I don't know if I'll review it here.


"Thunder & Lightning" - Motorhead          (listen here)
From the album Bad Magic (28/8/15)

Another band who are overly-reliant on the sound of one song. Motorhead have the same problem as AC/DC, something I refer to as 'The Simpsons Syndrome'. They've been consistently making music for such a long time that it's hard to imagine a world where there isn't a Motorhead release every other year. I think the main reason people still listen to this band is because Lemmy IS the band and you can't dislike Lemmy. He's like a pirate that quantum leapt into the Rock and Metal scene.
Anyway, "Thunder & Lightning" is not a Thin Lizzy cover (although there is a cover of "Sympathy For The Devil" on the upcoming album, which I'm keen to hear). It's a typical Motorhead track with thrashing drums, thunderous bass and gravelly vocals. I've often found that Motorhead are capable of putting together a really cohesive album that works from start to finish. You may not like all the songs but they belong on the album, if that makes sense.
Plus, contrary to popular belief, a Motorhead album isn't just the same track recycled ten times. There are bound to be slower songs on Bad Magic that still hit hard and it'll probably be another decent effort. Unlike AC/DC, Motorhead have yet to show signs of aging or creative rot. Their music is still fast, furious and full of energy and for that reason, I have no problem with them still producing albums.


"Complexity" - Eagles Of Death Metal          (listen here)
From the album Zipper Down (2/10/15)

There are two things I need to lay out in the open before I talk about this song. Firstly, these guys aren't Metal. Their name is based around someone comparing their music to the equivalent of the band The Eagles but of the Death Metal genre. Anyone who hasn't heard their music should kill that expectation immediately. Secondly, they're not Mock Rock like Tenacious D or Steel Panther. They're a Hard Rock side-project from Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age) who have decided to change their name to EODM for some stupid reason.
Whilst I like quite a few of their songs ("Wannabe In L.A.", "Miss Alissa", "Speaking In Tongues"...), I don't really have any fondness towards these guys in the same way I care about The Answer or maybe some older bands. I wouldn't have lost any sleep if these guys never went back into the studio but I'll definitely listen to the album when it comes out. For an album opener heralding the return of this wacky outfit after seven years of absence, "Complexity" is pretty generic. I doubt this band are smart enough to ironically write a bland track called "Complexity" but it sounds like it could easily be a filler track from any of their previous albums.
There's bound to be great material on Zipper Down but I'm in no hurry for October to roll around, nor am I desperate to listen to this song again any time soon. However, if you're a fan of these guys then do check the single out. As I said, it sounds like it could easily blend in with their previous works so I guess that's a good sign for EODM purists.


"Coming For You" - The Offspring          (listen here)
From the album ????????? (??/??/??)

I vaguely remember listening to The Offspring's latest album from 2012 (Days Go By) and the only track that stuck in my mind was some piece of shit called "Bumping In My Trunk" or something dumb. Thing is I didn't actually hate the album, it was just that track that stuck in my mind because of how crap it was. I can remember the album being more mature than Ixnay On The Hombre, which was just pure 90's Pop Punk but done in a great way.
Based on this single, it's almost as if the band were going through musical regression but got stuck halfway. It sounds like Oasis trying to cover Green Day or a bunch of thirtysomething adults trying to recapture their youthful rage and passion from twenty years ago. I could be completely wrong but based on this single, I'm guessing fans of The Offspring's earlier material might not be into this. However, fans of Alternative Rock with a tiny bit of a Punk bite will love it.
Despite my earlier criticisms, it strips away the worst elements of Oasis/Green Day whilst blending the best together. Since this track was released as a single without an album, we'll have to wait for more information to come out before forming any solid conclusions on whether that's the direction this band are heading in but as far as speculation goes, they have me intrigued. That is all.

There are more albums coming out this year that I'm bound to check out but at this current point in time, no singles have been released. Perhaps when Megadeth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Black Sabbath, The Smashing Pumpkins and Iron Maiden give us a sample of their material, I'll come back with Taster Session #2. Also, if there's a single, band or album you think I should listen to, feel free to recommend it/them in the comments. I'm always happy to listen to new Rock/Metal music if you think it's good enough!