The Official Album Review Thread

[mitchables]

Okay, I hate missing threads on album reviews and stuff, because they always get buried by jindrak threads about songs that make him think. So, I'm making the Official Album Review thread (Fonzy tried this at the last board, so maybe it'll work again with the addition of the "sticky" feature) so all you music lovers can come and post in the one thread and everyone can read it and it'll be easy to find and wonderful and all that good stuff.

Yeah. So, mods, can you sticky this or something? Then everyone will be able to see it and post their reviews all in the one place. Yes.

[mitchables]

Tiger Army III: Ghost Tigers Rise

Ghost Tigers Rise is Tiger Army's third full length album (as hinted by the "III" in the title) on Tim Armstrong's Hellcat Records. Drummer Fred Hell, although credited on the album, didn't actually drum on it, seeing as he got shot four times (including once in the head) and obviously didn't recuperate in time. Hence, guest drummer Mike Fasano fills in for Mr. Hell.

Wow, that makes the second Tiger Army album where they didn't actually have an official drummer playing for them. Adam Carson of AFI played on II: Power of Moonlite.

Anyway, on with the review.

Vocally, Tiger Army has come a LONG way since Power of Moonlite. Nick 13 has really polished up his voice, and sounds much cleaner than in previous attempts. The reverb has been pulled RIGHT down on this album (if any of you heard Tiger Army I, you'll note that that album pretty much defined the words "too much reverb"), which is a nice touch.

Nick 13 sounds way less like Davey Havok in this album, which is both good and bad, because while I really loved his Davey-esque sound, it's good to see he's found his own sorta individual sound.

There are still the classic call-and-response throwbacks/breakdowns, which is one of my favourite things about Tiger Army.

Instrumentally, Tiger Army hasn't really progressed all that much, but that's not a big deal because they still sound awesome. Nick 13's guitar lines are satisfyingly simple enough, but they are not crappy, like Jet. There are some nice lead riffs, but the verses are mainly just power chords.

The real meat of the verses is left to stand-up bassist Geoff Kresge. He does some really nice walking bass lines on this album. Nothing too tricky, but it's a really nice rockabilly effect nonetheless, just having the constant walking pounding bass slapping goodness.

The drum lines aren't overly complex. There are a few nice fills here and there, but overall it's pretty repetitive stuff. I think I'm making my point about psychobilly not being a necessarily difficult genre to play. However, that doesn't mean it's not difficult to make it sound good. Tiger Army do it with ease and grace, and it makes me want to throttle them for being so naturally awesome.

Overall the album has a slightly slower, more laid back feel to it than the previous albums. They've focused a little more on the rockabilly and less on the thrash punk. It seems like when they wrote this CD, Tiger Army really took the time to put a bit more effort into making it sound polished and tight, and it's really paid off. This CD is a great listen. I probably prefer Power Of Moonlite a bit more, but that's because I like the faster, more reverberated sound. Also, it had Davey Havok doing backups on it. YES.

However, all in all, this is a nice effort from the lads in Tiger Army; a nice change in direction.

7.5/10

Track listing:

1. Prelude: Death of a Tiger
2. Ghost Tigers Rise
3. Wander Alone
4. Santa Carla Twighlight
5. Ghostfire
6. Rose of the Devil's Garden
7. Atomic
8. What Happens?
9. Through the Darkness
10. The Long Road
11. Calling
12. Swift Silent Deadly
13. Sea of Fire

[Outsider]

Two short reviews I did for the Lib Dem youth and student magazine:

Rock Against Bush – Volume 1
Price: £9.99 on Amazon.co.uk
Label – Fat Wreck Chords

I like Politics, and I like pop-punk. I can assume if you can read this I share at least one of these interests with you. A political CD from a load of punk bands seems like a strange concept at first, but as put by Fat Mike in the album cover “It’s not about ‘let’s be punk rock and hate the government’; It’s about ‘let’s be punk rock and change the government” However while the CD may be funding Anti-Bush campaigns and candidates, it doesn’t mean all the songs are political….or good.

First thing you’ll notice about the track line up is that there are a large amount of bands on there that aren’t very well known (I’ve only heard of ½ the bands) but there are also some great bands on there, Alkaline Trio, The Atari’s, Less Thank Jake, NOFX to name but a few. And most of the big bands have some great tracks on this CD, but not all of them. Such as The Atari’s cover of Heaven is Falling. There are some stand out tracks on this album, however they are few and far between. But there is a nice mix of some different styles of punk and the odd political track and George Bush rant. Also a DVD of Anti-Bush stuff and 40 reasons to hate George Bush (like you need 40…)

Overall, some absolutely class tracks and the fact that it’s Anti-Bush doesn’t make up for the fact that there are some big piles of crap here.

3/5 – A good effort, but not enough great tracks by big names, but still worth buying if you’re a pop-punk fan or just want to get a CD that hates Bush!

Best Tracks – “Warbrain” by Alkaline Trio and “The Brightest Bulb has burned out” by Less than Jake and Billy Bragg

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Alkaline Trio – Good Mourning
Price: £9.99 on Amazon.co.uk
Label: Vagrant

When asked to review my favourite CD, it wasn’t much of a contest which band would be in it, but more about which CD. I decided that in the end it had to be this one – a simply superb pop-punk CD filled with emotion and the dark lyrics that typify Alkaline Trio.

It’s easy to notice how much clearer the band sound now they have better production values, although the raw sound the Trio possessed during albums like “Maybe I’ll catch fire” is something some people will miss. But after the album that brought some fans were not so keen on, which contained far fewer of the dark and brilliant lyrics and songs that Alkaline Trio were known for, and instead songs like “Stupid Kid”, the band really get back on form in this album. With lyrics like “Step one, slit my throat, step two play in my blood” and “Your coffin or mine?” you can clearly see the same kind of lyrics that were in previous albums return, if not even better.

Musically and not just lyrically, the CD contains both faster and harder songs, in the form of “All on Black” and “We’ve had enough” and also slower melodic songs like “Blue in the Face” and some incredibly catchy riffs.

The only critisim that you can really level at this album is that some of the tracks aren’t quite as good as the others. Slightly tailing off in the middle with distinctly average tracks, like “Doner Party” and “Every thug needs a lady” but these are still great tracks, just not quite as great, and there are no “Radio” style instant classics, though some tracks come close. Also it does suffer from a lack of bonus features such as video’s, but makes up for that with two of it’s best tracks – “Dead End Road” and “Old School Reasons”

This is an amazing album, and if it is not in your collection, it should be.

Verdict – 5/5 – Buy it moron!

Best tracks – “All on Black” and “This could be love”

[mitchables]

Nicely done Sider I've yet to check out Rock Against Bush. I was really hyped up about it, but then Propagandhi pulled out and suddenly I wasn't so interested (they're an awesome political band). But I might give it a look see. I love most of the bands on the CD so yeah.

I wouldn't say it's a strange concept for punk bands to be doing a political CD though

And yes. Good Mourning is the man.