The Protomen – Act II: The Father of Death

The Protomen – Act II: The Father of Death

1. Intermission

2. The Good Doctor

3. Father of Death

4. The Hounds

5. The State vs. Thomas Light

6. Give Us the Rope

7. How the World Fell Under Darkness

8. Breaking Out

9. Keep Quiet

10. Light Up the Night

11. The Fall

12. Here Comes the Arm

Bishop: So, here we have the second album from The Protomen. Some backstory – this is actually a prequel album, set before their first album (now unofficially dubbed Act I by the fans). It’s a lot more theatrical, and leans heavier on 80’s rock opera influence – again, the booklet fleshed out the plot more than the songs do. The plot essentially deals with two inventors who create a machine, but argue about how it should be used. Afterwards, one of the inventors uses the machine to kill the others girlfriend/wife, Emily, and pins the murder on him, forcing him to eventually leave the city and abandon his work. A lot more going on plot wise, a lot more musically. It sounds like an 80’s album through and through, with some Meatloaf in there I guess? The ending track is one of my favourite endings to an album ever – and it’s only made better if you’re properly involved with the plot.

Elliott: The first thing I notice is the production is better. The first album had a bad production job I didn't really like, raw but in a digital way, this one sounds good. Also, they don't do what they did on the first album which was having a nice melodic idea then go the other way with it, it's a very melodic album. The vocals are also better. Still wile I listen I can't help but think how it'd sound if Judas Priest recorded it. Not detracting from the sound, just a thought. One point I do have is that after the girl gets killed, the song after that is rather upbeat, which doesn't match the lyrics

Bishop: The album was produced by Alan Shacklock, who actually worked with Meatloaf, hence the high production values. Regarding the upbeat song - that's because it's sung by the antagonist (hence, also, vocalist change!), who is rallying the people against the good Doctor. It makes sense from his point of view.

Elliott: I guess I get it. Really not much to bitch about, not my usual cup of poison, but it is enjoyable. Very much so. It's a bit too arty sometimes, but the times when they just let it rock they have a good sound with some good riffs and solos. They should do that more and  give the fucking trumpet a rest!

Bishop: I'm assuming you're referring to the instrumentals? They tend to go off on one, but I think they work as really good interludes - especially between the different styles. The first half is quite dark and foreboding, whereas the second half goes full on 80's. Without the instrumentals I think it'd be a bit jarring (plotwise - there's something like twenty years that pass between the first and second half, hence the change in style).

Elliott: No, I just mean I think they should let the music rock more. It's not bad, I'm just not used to this kind of thing. The vocals are better though, real emotion and more voice control. I will say, the guy who plays the Doctor has a better voice than the evil one, the evil one's voice isn't strong enough. He's evil, give him a death metal voice!

Bishop: It's not really cardboard cut-out evil though - he's a manipulator. The whole point of The Hounds is him using the media and public outcry to turn the city against Dr Light. It makes sense for him to be slick and sociable. That said, he crops up so little in the album it makes little sense. He doesn't even appear in the second half anyway.

Elliott: I noticed nice, leave the bad guy out of most of the album. I don't know, I kinda like this. It must be said the drumming is pretty damn good

Bishop: Yeah, quite a few members swapped between the first album and this one. I believe there was a good five year gap between albums. Crazily, the band is about ten members strong now.

Elliott: You can tell as the two are different musically. Damn, ten members, think of the tour fights!

Bishop: They tour in a van, think it might be a mini-bus now. Still, fitting them all in must be a nightmare. The musical difference was entirely intentional too, as I believe the next album is meant to be a total shift in style again. I like a band that can reinvent themselves constantly.

Elliott: Yeah, I have to say that's a plus for this band. Sure bands that go at the same thing and make it good all the time are good, look at bands like Municipal Waste or Deicide, but innovation is refreshing. Still, they're no Coven, they changed from song to song! Haha. I don't know what else to say. I thought I would hate it, and I didn't. It's not my favourite thing ever, but I might give it another listen.

The Protomen (Self Titled)

The Protomen – Self Titled

1 Hope Rides Alone

2 Funeral for a Son

3. Unrest in the House of Light

4. The Will of One

5. Vengeance

6. The Stand (Man or Machine)

7. Sons of Fate

8. Due Vendetta

Bishop: This is a bit of a weird album, so I’ll try and explain it a bit for the readers before we dive in to reviewing it. This is the self-titled debut album release by American rockers The Protomen, occasionally referred to by its unofficial alternate title, Act I. The album is a rock opera that follows the events of the Megaman games. I don’t really follow the games because they do my nut in, so it’s worth pointing out that despite all the songs being about a particular franchise, familiarity with the source material is not required as they pretty much build their own story anyway. Anyway, it sort of has this 90’s metal vibe going on for me, not overly complex in terms of playing, but it’s made up for with the writing and sequencing. I remember reading that when the band formed most of the members were students in the same music class. The first song they wrote was ‘Due Vendetta’ I believe, which they wrote purposely to go against the pristine and clean recordings they were being told to do as part of the classes. After that track they ended up doing the rest of the album. Figured you’d like that point, considering they recorded it all analog rather than digital, I know you’re a sucker for bands doing that.

Elliott: Okay. Here's what I'll do: I'll rapid-fire all my complaints and you tell me where we can start. First off the singer sucks. The production is shit other than the drum sound. Every time the band does something interesting like have a melodic thing or feedback it's like they wanna go to any extreme to make up for that by putting shit parts in. The story is interesting but the songs don't flow together. The story might exist but the songs just feel randomly put on an album. Okay start dissection my bitching.

Bishop: Ha! I had a feeling I'd get this response from you. Where the hell do I start? Okay, I'll start at your first point: the singer sucks. There are two singers. One of them is, admittedly, awful. The other is pretty powerful though, especially on songs like "The Will Of One".

Elliott: They're both pretty bad. I just don't hear any sort of talent. I mean if it ain't punk or metal it better at least have good singers or maybe some melodic parts. Oh one more thing, this band doesn't know what the hell they are. Are we rock? Some sort of protometal thing? What are we? Very, very, very inconsistent. By the way, where in the states are these guys from?

Bishop: It's a rock opera, which generally tend to flitter around in a few different genres from most of the ones I've heard. Whatever is happening in the story tends to reflect in the music; although I'll give you that it's inconsistent - although I wouldn't agree with the wording. For a full album, there's very little progression story wise. It's not a fantastic example of a rock opera. Right, I'll move onto your next point: the production is shit. I'll accept this one too - it's entirely self-produced and pretty rough. I think for an independent and self-funded release it's pretty admirable though, I'd definitely heard worse from other beginner bands. At least these guys had the decency to properly record it, rather than just sticking a microphone in the middle of the garage like most beginner bands do.

Elliott: See, I know what the reader is thinking. I like grindcore and hardcore, but I base my like or dislike of the production on the type of music. For this type of music a raw production just isn't gonna cut it. For punk clean production doesn't cut it. The drum sound is pretty cool though

Bishop: To be honest I imagine that's exactly what everyone's thinking. The other point you make is about no melodic sections, which I think is unfair. The opening track is a six minute almost-instrumental, save for narration. Alright, so there's no traditional metal melodic sections, but that's fine by me, the tracks feel experimental and free flowing (not all the time, but we'll come to that later) and don't feel like someone's gone "Right, we need a chorus here, a verse here, oh, some melodic bit here!” It feels organic in terms of sequencing

Elliott: It feels like some 70’s rip-off where they try too hard to be original. I like melody, that's why I love NWOBHM and stuff. If I want non-melodic stuff I'll listen to Fear of God, but what annoys me is every time they're about to go into a melodic moment they seem to do everything possible to get away from it. Woops, sorry were we trying to be musical? I'm not really into weird arty music. I like melody and stuff. Don't know… that's just me. If you can be heavy and melodic that's awesome too. The intro is the best track on the album. Tt set me up for what I thought was gonna be an amazing album… my how let down I was.

Bishop: If you think this is "weird, arty music", I can show you some horrors. This, to me, is just rock, but not played by numbers.

Elliott: Right, slight problem, because in the 5 seconds it took for us to continue this review (5 seconds, 5 weeks, same thing - Bish) I've slightly changed my mind about this record.

Bishop: Oh Christ, I didn't expect that. Go on - what changed and, more importantly, why?

Elliott: Don't get your hopes up, I don't think this is the greatest album ever recorded, the mix is worse than many of my 80’s death metal demos, and the guy can't sing to save his life (singing to robots, I bet that's the next one), it's just… It has a weird charm to the album now, and the musicians are rather good at what they do.

Bishop: Yeah, there's nothing actually wrong here - it reminds me of when you hear a great band practice in a garage - of course it's going to sound gash. Sure, I think some of the artistic decisions are a bit weird at times, but I like the album at a whole. The second album is an incredibly polished rock album, and I think that only goes to show that this was a band trying to find its feet. And hell - I'd take this sort of thing than over a generic rock band playing the same ten songs over. Another thing to mention is that the liner notes on the album actually include additional bits between the lyrics - stage directions, etc. It's a good way of fleshing out the plot without having a narrator and it impeaching into the music itself.

Elliott: I'll have to look at the liner notes (because of the unique way political trendy is funded I had to listen to this on YouTube), but that's very cool. One of the pluses about this album is it's actually a consistent story. One of the flaws I found with Green Day's ‘American Idiot’ or My Chemical Romance's ‘The Black Parade’ (other than I just didn't like them) is that while they may have had some sort of subplot, I found that they didn't really tell a story. It was just sort of we'll link the songs together somehow. Oh we'll mention the Jesus of suburbia in 3 songs. Boom, story album. Gwar is about the only band who I think can really make an album with a story in it, but this comes pretty damn close.

Bishop: I think the thing you need to be aware of there is there's a difference between a concept album and a rock opera. Concept albums generally deal with the same themes strongly, whereas rock operas have it as a proper story. Personally, as far as plot goes, I prefer The Protomen's second album, "Act II: The Father of Death." There's just too little happening here for an album, it's more an EP - the short story of the music world, if you like. That said and plot aside, the music keeps me entertained. I've got this on vinyl, where the last track stretches on and in turns into a bit tune Phil Collins rendition, for some reason. The vinyl is split blue and red, very funky to look at. Also, this album got a chiptune remix by Vanity and Makeup Set - and I really like it. But I'm digressing now - I like this album, I like this band, but I prefer their follow up effort.

Elliott: Add King Diamond to the list of great story tellers through music. I agree, nothing really happens in this album story wise, but really it's not the worst thing I've heard. I still hate the singer but other than that I don't dislike this album. And you thought I'd hate it! I listen to 60’s psychedelic rock now so…

Bishop: Hey, I never said that - I was unsure though. Glad you came around in the end.

Elliott: Yeah, nothing more to say on this. Overall an enjoyable listen with a few minor problems.

power of the spoken word language of a dying breed lp

i've had this record for years, and put off doing a review of it for one simple reason. how the fuck do i describe this? this has got to be the weirdest sounding record i've ever heard. forget br00talizer's od grind with battery amps and horrible microphones, forget coven's awesome genrehopping, forget braille party's going from hardcore punk to melodic pop on the same record, this one is just weird. it's hardcore, that's for sure, but to describe it as simply hc would be misleeding. minor threat this is not. a better description would be pagan drugged out metallic hardcore with a doce of weirdness (because that combination isn't weird enough, it needs extra weirdness) the vocals sound really grough. i'd say they sound a bit metallic but that'd not really describing them well. if an nwobhm singer lost all melody and did hardcore that'd be closer. not that that's a bad thing, the vocals do a lot for the band. musicly we're all over the fucking place. from fast rippers like decide or die (probably one of the fastest songs recorded at that time, 1984, sounds like powerviolence almost) to slow weird numbers with great lyrics such as language of a dying breed. the most normal song on this would be the band's theme song, which is a great hc song. other songs are just weird, go all over the place and are fantastic as well. this is not a record you listen too all the time. this record is something you save for those random moments where you feel like playing something truly weird. ps this band came from nebrasca, which makes me wonder what the hell is going on in the midwest? coven, potsw, manilla road, negative approach, i thought the midwest was boring. oh and in case you're wondering, i have no fucking clue where to get this. good bad music (rip) had the album but its links went dead, and sadly this has never been reissued. pps, 2 of the members died. i believ the singer died, and another member became a lawier and o.ded, they have a park named after him in nebrasca. the drummer i believ became a drum teacher, and another member wants nothing to do with the band or so someone said. if any of the members have different info feel free to correct my stupidity. anyway get this and weird out! oh and this predates pagan metal by some time, pagan hardcore!

Dissection – Reinkaos (2006)

Bishnote: Iya! I've been pretty absent from this blog for a while now, but I've been hoarding all these reviews ready for my return. I'm still here, watching. Honest. Blame Elliott.

1. Nexion 218
2. Beyond the Horizon
3. Starless Aeon
4. Black Dragon
5. Dark Mother Divine
6. Xeper-i-Set
7. Chaosophia
8. God of Forbidden Light
9. Reinkaos
10. Internal Fire
11. Maha Kali

Elliott: …

Bishop: So are you going to say something?

Elliott: It’s a great melodic death metal.

Bishop: I'm spinning this record for the first time. The intro's gay as fuck, but the first song's making up for it - albeit it being somewhat repetitive. Does it get better? The word "great" definitely isn't the first one I'd reach for.

Elliott: I love the intro. Rad the lyrics and let yourself be transported to the anti-cosmic satanic church. Such a great record. The mix is really nice if a little too clean

Bishop: Yeah, the mix is nice, but you can’t polish a turd. I listened to the whole album without actually “listening” to it - it just washed over me. It’s not awful, but there’s nothing that reaches out and demands me to listen to it.

Elliott: At least we finally disagree on an album! Yes! I've done my job.
Actually, I can kind of understand where you're coming from. If you
don't like melodic death metal it probably won't do much for you.

Bishop: So go on then, what sets it out from other death metal albums?

Elliott: Maybe it’s just the feeling I get when listening to it, like I’m in some evil satanic place with a satanic priest, or whatever they’re called, preaching over music. Beer is a wonderful thing. Okay, I haven’t listened to it when sober. Seriously, I like the melodic parts. I’ve always enjoyed melodic death metal. Heavy, but melodic without it being whiny metalcore.

Bishop: Maybe I need to neck a few to appreciate the album? Even then I think I'd end up doing something else whilst listening to it - it doesn't feel like it demands my attention.

Elliott: Listen back to it. Take in the music. Listen with headphones. Do it at night.

Bishop: Even though I didn't believe you one bit, I did just that. And you know what? It's grown on me. Sure, I wouldn't get excited to sit down and listen to it, but I think it could happily find a place on my playlist. I just think as an album it's still a bit repetitive - but as individual songs, I quite like it.

Elliott: I was a bit disappointed to find the band had departed from its black metal roots after Jon got out from prison (long story), but when I put it on... It's got a weird quality to it, very melodic, very uplifting, plus some of the best satanic lyrics you'll ever find. Anyone who thinks Satanism is just "kill this, burn that" needs to read these lyrics. Personally 'God of Forbidden Light' is my favorite track. I do agree, as an album it gets to be a bit long and repetitive, but by themselves the songs work very nicely. Should we start with production?

Bishop: Production is surprisingly clean, but not sickeningly so. I think it's well suited, really gives off this sonic vibrance some death metal albums lack - you can really feel like you're getting swallowed up by this record.

Elliott: Dissection have always had good production, much cleaner than most black metal bands - even in the 90s - but it was never a metalcore production, I think you know what I mean by that. The production on this is clean, but like you said it's not ultra clean. Most modern day death metal, excluding some ultra kvlt bands, have this modern deathcoreish production that I can't stand. This has a good production, the only thing I would have done is turned up the bass.

Bishop: So, as a verdict, I assume I'm in standing the in good camp, and you're in the very good camp?

Elliott: Well, a few more points we can talk about, one of the great things about this album is the vocals, Jon's voice is such that you can actually understand the words, even non-fans of death metal can understand what he's saying. And like I said, his lyrics are a trip, all about anti-cosmic luciferianism, which is a very interesting view on the world (read more here). The drums though I find are overly simple, it would have been nice to have a bit more fills and double bass.

Bishop: Yeah, actually. I really liked the vocals, some good range. Normally with death metal I get a little bored of the monotone screaming, but this is good. I never noticed the drums - but maybe that's because they are unremarkable. I'll have to spin it again to properly listen.

Elliott: And you can tell Jon felt what he was saying. Sadly, he committed suicide shortly after this release. He wrote some damn good riffs for this. Yeah the drums are meh. They're goodm but it's like Metallica. If someone didn't point them out I'd forget they existed. Special mention has to go out to the song Mahi Kali which, along with God of Forbidden Light, takes you on this weird trip if you listen right. Great mellow vocals too. The solos are pretty nonexistent but they add some melodic touches. A lot of previous fans were pissed that this record wasn't fast (no blast beats), but if you ask me it wouldn't work if it was amazingly fast.

Bishop: No, it'd be a total mess if it was any faster, but that's fanbases for you. Saying that, it's easier for me to say that with this being my first exposure to the band.

Elliott: I've heard the other records, they're very good but this was a completely different beast, much less black metal in it. Overall I think we both like it. We agree!

still not fucking dead

hi. this is i, elliott. i'm not dead, aliens haven't abducted me, and i haven't converted to a fundimentalist religion (praze jebus!) i've just been busy as fuck. but i'm back, this blog isn't dead, and we'll have more reviews, more rants, and more stupid shit. also we have a few coreviews we did that'll be uploaded whenever bishop remembers..so look forward to those i guesse