Saturday, February 19, 2011

The Demon Beat-"1956" Review

The Demon Beat, a band out of West Virginia, recently released their new album "1956", based around the life of Carl Perkins. After writing the song "Blue Suede Shoes", Perkins was involved in a crash that severely injured him, rendering him unable to promote the single. As he recovered from his injuries, Elvis covered the song, essentially stealing Perkins' fame.




















This record features a completely different sound than The Demon Beat's previous album, "Shit, We're 23". Instead of fast-paced rock and roll, the band opted to try something new. The Demon Beat aren't a band that often fits inside one genre, but on "1956", you'd be hard-pressed to narrow their sound down to even three.

"1956" is composed of five tracks, named "Movement 1", "Movement 2", and so on. These songs flow in to each other seamlessly, often sounding like one big jam session. There's no way you'll hear any of these songs on the radio. But from the slow, pounding, drums of the first track to the blazing guitar of the fifth, you have forty minutes of great psychedelic rock that needs to be listened to all together; this is truly a complete album.

You can pick up "1956" by The Demon Beat here: http://bigbulletrecords.bandcamp.com/album/1956

My Rating: 8.5/10

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Sundrown-“The 8th Day Bliss” Review

Despite only forming recently, Sundrown is a band that has rocketed up my favourite bands list. Why you ask? Their psychedelic blues-rock is incredibly unique, the band members are all very talented, and best of all they release their music for free. What isn’t there to like?

“The 8th Day Bliss” is Sundrown’s third record, released on September 12th after numerous delays. The wait was clearly worth it.

The band sounds the best they ever have, production-wise and musically. The playing is tight; you can tell the members have great chemistry. While the production isn’t amazing, it definitely sounds better than their last two albums. Perhaps the biggest difference is the drum sound, which is clearly better than on any previous release.

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The album starts out with a bang, blasting right in to the main riff and pounding drums of Sucker. The heaviest song the band has ever recorded, Sucker wouldn’t feel out of place on a Soundgarden or Alice In Chains album. Definitely a great start to the record.

The next track, 7th Day Girl sounds like it’s being played by an entirely different group. Starting with a cool drum beat and a funky bass line, it becomes quite clear why the band dislikes being pegged to one genre. Soon after the funky intro, the guitar kicks in with a Jimi Hendrix like riff drenched in effects. This track perfectly displays how Sundrown puts their 60s and 70s influences to use.

Medicated Eyes kicks off with a simple, but great riff. Van Hartsell’s vocals are rough and powerful like always, but they really sound spot-on here. Heather Gainey’s backing vocals are solid too and a nice contrast to the lead vocals. Daniel Namias’ drumming and Heather’s bass are great, but it becomes clear that this is Van’s track after a blistering solo. A bold statement perhaps, but I believe this is the single greatest song the band has recorded so far.

Push And Pull (Carried Away), as the name might imply, is essentially an extended version of the one minute track Push And Pull from Sundrown’s 2008 album “Something Or Another”. A little more than halfway through the song we are treated to another great solo from Van.

What Could Have Been is an interesting track, with a riff that verges on reggae. Soon enough Sundrown’s post-grunge style kicks in. The highlight of this track is definitely Daniel Namias’ drumming; it propels the song along at a high speed while keeping things interesting with fills.

Sister Morphine is a cover of The Rolling Stones’ song, and while I’m not usually a huge fan of covers, I actually prefer this version over the original. But it stays fairly faithful, so there’s not much else to be said.

Slideways is a short track, clocking in at a little over a minute. It seems to mainly serve as an introduction to the title track.

The 8th Day Bliss starts up with a very bright, upbeat intro, but then hits the twenty second mark and speeds up. You never know what you’re going to get with this band. Van’s rough vocals kick in, and it becomes the Sundrown we’ve come to know. This is the band at their best!

River Of Remembrance, clocking in at nearly seven minutes, is easily the longest song on the record. Sundrown isn’t a particularly soft band, but they slow things down on this track before turning full intensity back on again in the last few minutes. This is definitely one of the better tracks on the album.

Of Unsound Mind closes the album. It’s not the most overwhelming track, but really just what you would expect by now; great guitar, bass, drums, and vocals.

Conclusion

  • Brilliant guitar solos and blistering drumming
  • Best production on a Sundrown album yet
  • No weak songs

After the brilliant “Something Or Another” album, Sundrown has done it again with “The 8th Day Bliss”. Make sure to head over to sundrown.net and download all of their great music for free. And if you like their material, send the band an e-mail or leave a message in their guestbook to let them know.

My Rating: 8.5/10

Friday, March 26, 2010

Airbourne-“No Guts. No Glory.” Review

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Think AC/DC… but louder, younger, and more aggressive, and you have Airbourne. But I won’t bore you with anymore comparisons to their fellow Australian rockers. The formula may be borrowed, but it’s tried and true.

The album kicks off with a screeching solo; but before you know it, the frantic guitar riff kicks in, and Born To Kill is up and running. A great opening number.

No Way But The Hard Way, the lead single, features one of the best guitar riffs I’ve heard in a while. And for good measure, tops it off with a catchy chorus and infectious groove.

The next song, Blonde, Bad And Beautiful, has another huge, incredibly catchy chorus. Three instant classics in a row!

Raise The Flag is currently the band’s choice to open their concerts, and I can see why. Loud, obnoxious guitar riff? Check. Huge chorus you can fist pump to? Of course.

A change of pace is shown in Bottom Of The Well, but you’ll sure as hell never see a ballad from Airbourne. A solid track with yet another good, sing-a-long chorus.

White Line Fever is more of what you would expect by now; a catchy chorus and great riff. Not one of the stand-out tracks, but that’s not criticism so much as complimenting the quality of the other tracks.

The fastest track on “No Guts. No Glory.” is a little ditty by the name of It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over. Nothing special, but still good, dumb fun.

Steel Town, written about Airbourne’s struggle to make it in the music business, is another great track. Killer riff, pounding drums, and a catchy chorus.

Chewin’ The Fat follows. Brilliant guitar riff and a huge stadium chorus. Enough said. It's quickly become one of my favourite Airbourne songs.

Next up is Get Busy Livin’, which really shows Airbourne at their best. Solid riff, catchy chorus, pretty much everything you need for a good rock song is here. Definitely one of the best songs on the record.

Armed And Dangerous and Overdrive are both solid songs, but there’s not a whole lot to be said here. Standard Airbourne, nothing special but still enjoyable.

Back On The Bottle is a fast paced track that perfectly closes the album.

Five bonus tracks follow on the special edition, including Devil’s Child, which kicks ass and should have actually been on the album. The rest are pretty good too.

“No Guts. No Glory.” may just be the album of the year. Not a single bad track, and quite a few really good songs. After the brilliant “Runnin’ Wild”, I didn’t think Airbourne would be able to release a worthy follow up. I was wrong.

High Points:

  • Great vocals and huge choruses
  • Brilliant guitar riffs
  • No bad songs

Low Points:

  • No low points!

My Rating: 9.5/10

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Welcome!

Welcome to World Of Swirl, a blog dedicated to reviewing rock, metal, and blues music.

On the 15th of every other month, a review of either a classic album or an overlooked album will be added. New album reviews will be posted usually within a week of an album's release.

If you'd like your band's album to be reviewed, feel free to send an e-mail to treeves9@gmail.com