Leeches of Lore – Motel of Infinity (2015) / 95%

Room service is here and it's freaking delicious

One of the oddest bands in America but also one of the most interesting and talented is back with their fourth full length after a short hiatus and I couldn't be more pleased. They once again released a masterpiece and it's a shame that this band isn't widely acclaimed. The New Mexico trio led by Steve Hammond (guitar, vocals) has always been a peculiar beast and a superbly varied affair. They're an extraterrestrial being who's not afraid of experimenting and breaking the boundaries of music's apparent limitations. From fast paced and thrashy heavy metal to noise rock, drone (their Giant Sloth extended play) and Western, these guys can play anything while never being totally confused of confusing. They could be compared to Melvins, the godfathers of weirdness in terms of vision and and for their numerous genre jumping jacks. They also really love the Washington state band, Hammond covered some of their tracks on his solo releases and they got the help of longtime Melvins producer and guest musician Toshi Kasai (who also plays additional instruments on this record) to produce and record Motel of Infinity. This dude definitely gave them their best production yet

Starting with the first thing I've noticed: the cover art, I think it's a good representation of the spirit of Leeches of Lore, an old cheap motel with a view on a clear and beautiful sky. I think it's an analogy to the humble identity of the band while explaining their grand vision. I probably like it because it reminds me of the album Motel Capri by the popular Quebecois folk/rock band Les Cowboys Fringants. Anyhow, like the epic cover of their previous record, this more down to earth artistic approach fits the festive, at times summery album.

LoL (best acronym ever?) surprised us (me, at least) with a country EP in late July. I instantly shared it to my father who's a big Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings fan and he totally liked it. This shows that they're an authentic group of musicians who are as ecclectic as much as the United States is cosmopolitan. I wasn't sure of what to expect with this new full length as Frenzy, Ecstasy was some sort of transition effort (this doesn't mean that it's not a masterpiece, I gave it a 98% three years ago and this score is still adequate) after their first two lps which were generally much heavier or more metallic (listen to “I am the Raptor” from their self titled). Their third album was heavy but in a noise way and the spaghetti western side of the band was deeply explored. I think the western side of the band has been diluted for Motel, there's some sort of surf rock feel that is now more prevalent and while there's some metal moments like “Don't Open till Doomsday”, a track that reminded me of Faith No More's Angel Dust, it doesn't seem like a totally metal album, it's instead all over the place but in a cohesive way. It's a more controlled sort of craziness than your usual Mike Patton project.

The omnipresence of Noah Wolter's keyboards (rhodes, etc.) is giving a sort of The Doors/Deep Purple vibe but played in Area 51 since it's totally bonkers. There's no bass guitars so the rhythm section consists of the proficient and interesting drums of Andy Lutz and the keys. It's almost as strong as the Manzarek/Densmore duo! Their musicianship is impressive in its ability to navigate many styles without breaking a sweat, they're excellent musicians in complete control of their direction.

I like the fact they rerecorded “White Debbie” (found on Attack the Future), it's much shorter and feels like a more joyful and softer version. There's also “The Olm” originally on Hammond's experimental album Canclo and it's the only long track on there with its six minutes length, the track has this sort of drone/doom/ambient part before exploding into their bombastic style. Most songs on Motel are short bursts of creativity (many are around the two minutes mark) but they're so rich with details that the relatively brief duration of the album is inconsequential, I'll only press the repeat button since I doubt I'll get tired of it. While the songs are shorter overall than on Frenzy, Ecstasy, it's perhaps not as instantly memorable, it takes a lot of tie to dissect all the organs but it's truly rewarding.

Leeches of Lore is a persevering band but you need to make some effort in order to decipher all the artefacts they buried underneath their inventive blend of music. They're adventurous not only because they mix genres that are rarely or even never combined together (speed metal + western, anyone?). LoL has once again wrote a masterful album and took the lead for “best album of 2015” as far as I'm concerned.

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Why? - L'Uomo Appeso (1995) / 74%

Italian penile thrashy avant garde metal

Why I am reviewing this?  Well, it deserves to be since it's underrated stuff and I hope I'll help giving them a tiny bit of exposure through my review. The Italian quartet managed to stay alive for six years releasing four demos during their existence and outside of Alexandro Naitina who's in the excellent post metal band The End of Six Thousand Years, the musicians kept quiet. It's kind of a shame since they were pretty damn interesting, they need a re-release of their material as soon as possible!

L'Uomo Appeso (the hanging man) is their fourth and latest demo and it's perhaps the one with the largest avant garde/alternative metal influences in their discography. To my knowledge, all their lyrics are in Italian but this is the only one with all the titles in this romantic languages. The singer is pretty unorthodox, maybe akin to Faith No More's Mike Patton. It's a clean & fast paced delivery with some spoken vocals influences. He's not quite my style of vocalists for thrash but he fits the Voivodian approach the band was aiming for. Combined with the poetic but weird for metal language, he's probably one of the reasons this band never made it big but eh, he's probably as good as Snake! (Snake is obviously the weakest part of the Quebecois proggers.)

There's a huge funk influence in their sound, quite apparent in the song “La Giostra”, there's these groovy keys intertwined with the heavy bass presence but sadly the low production (still their best) wasn't truly able to transpose their vision as much as they wanted to. Their sound also has some post punk elements thrown in the mix making the avant garde tag warranted since even if it's fairly technical, it's not spastic thrash but rather weird, fucked up and fun stuff. This is almost not metal in some places, the guitars are often buried by the bass and the vocal declarations and the fact there's only one guitarist left in the lineup compared to their other demos probably influenced the metallic amount of this one.

The structure of the demo is quite strong, it's starting and ending with nice instrumental songs, the compositions are mostly on the short side and the rhythm is fast paced. I'm not quite sure I would be able to withstand a long release of these guys, thirty minutes is even perhaps too much for me, it's a bit grating at times due to the vocals and it's not easy to get into.

Nonetheless, Why? is a very fun band, perhaps underwhelming in some places but that's probably due to the release being a demo, getting a do it yourself production wasn't as easy twenty years ago. Out of old school thrash, avant garde meta or Voivod albums to check out? Listen to these Italians.

I have three of their demos that you can guys can download here: On my Dropbox

Jesters of Destiny – Fun at the Funeral (1986) / 95%

NWOFHM #7: SPECIAL ISSUE – Will Ferrell

Tony's notes: This review concerns the remastered reissue that includes seven excellent bonus songs that would had been on the next album and a cool cover of Black Sabbath's Electric Funeral. It's the mandatory version, I would say.

The year: 1986. Many metal bands were releasing their magnum opuses and the genre really started to diversify and started to explore many different horizons, sometimes extreme, sometimes estranged ones. Jesters of Destiny were a beast that was way too adventurous for its time or at least were not commercial enough for a label like Metal Blade that dropped the band after its debut album. Due to today's genre specialization, they could perhaps find their crowd, albeit a limited one. I can live with this marginalization, not everyone is destined to like everything. This band is definitely something else. Something great!

This album was reissued by Ektro Records, hence catching my attention since I follow the deeds of this label very closely. Jussi Lehtisalo, the man behind Ektro must be a huge fan of this defunct band since Bruce Duff (bass, vocals) contributed to some of his projects like Pharaoh Overlord's Out of Darkness and the excellent Circle album Hollywood. Both men surely share a liking for intricate, unorthodox music and it's undeniable that Lehtisalo was influenced by the album's vision.

Many sources say that the band invented the so called “alternative metal” genre and while you can feel a similarity with bands like Primus or even Faith No More, I feel it's a bit misguided to use such tag. Their sound, even if I do fancy classification and I'm sometimes compulsive about it, is truly hard to pinpoint. There's many distinct stuff on here, there's instrumental tracks like the superb “Love Theme From Jesters on Parade” or the sample heavy closer “Ray's Theme”. The old school punk approach of “Incubus” is immediately followed by a poppy song called “Happy Times” that is as good as any of The Cure's strongest material and also reminds me of Dire Straits! That's certainly not for the young man who can't get enough of Masters of Puppets' apparent subtlety back in the day.

The diversity of the album has a rock solid direction, it's a true monument to songwriting. It has the efficacy of Tom Waits' greatest albums, an album like Rain Dogs  shines throughout its overture to musicality. Bruce Duff and Ray Violet (guitars, keyboards), the only two members that survived during the short existence of the band truly knew how to mix things up. Some glam here, some post punk/alternative rock there, some psychedelic kraut up your ass, some AOR and finally, the reason we're here: the heavy metal riffs and leads. All the components are all brothers and sisters on “Fun at the Funeral” and they all live in harmony.

Simply with the keyboard overture of the first track “Diggin' That Grave” and the heavy riff that follows, you immediately know how a psychedelic heavy metal band would sound. It's approaching a mix of the catchier side of NWOBHM mixed with psychedelia, it's almost as if The Flaming Lips decided to get drunk as fuck, stop their funny shenanigans and write metal songs.
 
The main element that makes this band so enjoyable is Bruce Duff's vocals. His delivery is pretty damn awesome and it has a wide appeal. He can play with his high voice like a theatre actor and he's interesting. He has a sort of classic rock flair and his choruses, sometimes idioyncratic like the self loathing “I Hate Bruce” or the genius “Crimson Umbrella”, are very catchy. Even though he's a clean vocalist with no roughness in his voice, it's not always quite accessible since he's using some weird vocal patterns mixed with the pop choruses.

Musically, it's pretty unique, they don't sound like anyone else. Nonetheless, you can spot some influences like Sabbath or Deep Purple but with the weirdness meter pushed to the maximum. They have a rich sound that is out of time and soft piano melodies are intertwined with hard rockin' heavy riffs. Loud bass, subtle riffs that don't always rely on their heavyness to mark the imagination, it's often about energy and fun. A sort of dark brooding attraction. It's not quite fast, not slow either, favoring a mid paced groovy approach. Judging by the bonus tracks like “House on the Hill”, they were going in a heavier direction.

Apparently Jesters of Destiny will release a new album soon, it will be quite interesting to see what they can do almost thirty years after this one. This is a classic album that everyone who's interested in unconventional music should check out.

Buy their stuff on Ektro Records.

Volbeat - Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady ladies (2013) | 42%

Ultrameh Volbeatdown

You know the feeling when you try the new restaurant in town for the first time ? You order the steak, probably even the T-bone and its plate is nice, the side dish is decent, a green salad or some something healthy like that (if you're on a date, if not, it's of course the fries, you fat slob). The steak looks nice, the exterior has a nice color and its smell is OK but the taste, man, it's way too fat and the inside is way too bloody. There's also an unnecessary amount of melted cheese on it for some unfathomable reason. The cook is experimenting and failing at it. Not everything you decide to mix together can be glorious.

Volbeat is that steak, they're indeed a very original band and I need to give them some credit for their inventive formula. Their artistic approach is not without merits and their intent is noble, well I do think so. Unfortunately, as one of Denmark's most well known bands, they totally missed the opportunity to follow Mercyful Fate into the depths of metal hell (Denner, Shermann and King Diamond are all guests on the record, this reminds me of Metallica Orion's festival, they seem totally disconnected of what metal is in 2013). But why is Volbeat missed their boat? Because they fucking suck, that's why.

On their fifth album, the band expands its more than catchy side. They always had these soft songs but I feel it's a bit more prevalent here. It's not necessarily a bad thing since they're not better at being heavy or soft, they're pretty mediocre at both. Volbeat is mixing the alternative era of Metallica with a fair mix of rockabilly, country, blues, pop rock, punk and folk with their usual heavy/groove sound. The amalgamation of genres is simply too much to handle. It doesn't even sound good on paper and it's an awful novelty in its execution.

From sugary FM ballads like “Cape of our Hero” (hell, Chad Kroeger wrote a better song on the Spiderman soundtrack) to lead infused groove (Rob Caggiano, an ex member of Anthrax, he's pretty decent). There's acoustic and clean guitars and all the stuff that can make a good song. I probably wouldn't change the radio channel if I were to find it, but hey I don't listen to the radio because, frankly, it blows. Volbeat is easy, simple and they don't try hard enough. Not as heavier as their early stuff, the band still thinks it's metal enough with tracks like “Room 24” with King Diamond or “Dead But Rising”. The metal ruler of Denmark really destroys Michael Poulsen on this track, well it wasn't quite hard since I think he's a terrible vocalist and the main flaw of their sound.

His pitiful deep southern approach is really grating on my nerves. He kills the band for me since their formula is very vocally focused. His mix of modern day “Yeaaaaah!” James Hetfield and cock charmer Elvis Presley impersonator is like a slap of bad taste on my face. Even though his voice is powerful, his delivery and the sound of his voice annoys me deeply. Nonetheless, he's charismatic and it fits their Americana approach but I wonder how a David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower & Wovenhand) would sound in a metal band. At least he can write decent noir and pulp inspired lyrics but after five albums, the theme is getting a bit redundant. I get it, you like leather jackets, fedoras and you love milkshakes and you go to conventions dressed as James Dean.

While I reckon the band successfully played their cards during their whole career, their flaws are just too important for me to thoroughly enjoy them. Believe me, I tried and I enjoyed Guitar Guitars & Cadillacs Blood back in the day. Quite catchy (well, it's needed since their songwriting is hardly a subtle affair). They seem honest and hardworking but their approach is simply something I can't get behind. Both the form (14 songs, that's just way too much) and the mix of styles that makes the band undeniably cheesy and predictable.

Most of the songs have good parts but they're rarely good all the way through except perhaps the two last tracks, both excellent. I enjoy the beginnings of most tracks like “Black Bart” with its punky overture but the aforementioned vocals ruined the track once again. Many tracks have this western approach like “Lonesome Rider” with a female guest vocalist. It probably would be a hit on CMT if it was advertised enough and honestly, it's not bad. What is bad though is the fact all their sound are not completely combined with each others. You can hear an acoustic intro, some harmonica but then, it changes and they forget their western influences for the rest of the song. Sometimes they remember and play a ten seconds of clean country guitars just to be cool. I'd like to hear a good mix of metal and country since Volbeat can't hardly mix them. I don't quite remember the amount of different influences in their early albums but I have better things to than to go back and listen to them like eating BBQed shrimp and trashing Pabst Blue Ribbon cans.

Some good moments here and there but the vocals are simply too obnoxious to deal with. The band has good solos, sometimes even hints of Megadeth's melodic thrash leads. I just don't care for their music even though it's emotional and catchy. If you already liked Volbeat before, you'll certainly like their latest album even if it's wimpier than their previous releases. They're certainly still terrible and not worth your time. Have you ever met a Volbeat fan? They're as rare as Foo Fighters but for some reasons they're both popular and their albums are gonna be good picks in low price bins.

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