ALBUM REVIEW: Helmet – Left


 

Helmet are a legacy band, who at over 30 years into their career– albeit with an early 2000’s hiatus– are still very much thought of as a specific, early mid-nineties era band when alternative rock was king. And for good reason, as they are a band who certainly had a huge influence with early Interscope Records such as Meantime (1992) and Betty (1994), providing a sludgy down-tuned version of the more commercial alternative styles of the time.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Dreamwell – In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You


 

With their debut album, Modern Grotesque, Dreamwell certainly hit the ground running, full of cathartic, screamo energy that most bands several years into their career wish they could muster. It was enough that the band even got picked up by Prosthetic Records, looking at Dreamwell to capture lightning in a bottle twice with their sophomore effort, In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Narrow Head – Moments Of Clarity


 

With their third outing Texas-based Narrow Head have created a body of music that if you were there, will well and truly spin you back in time to the mid-nineties. And if you weren’t there but nonetheless love the alternative rock sound of the time, then you’ll also find yourself intriguingly transported back to the era when baggy clothes and dirty scuzzy guitar riffs were the sign of the times. And on top of that Moments Of Clarity (Church Road Records) may well be considered a classic today, was it released some 25-30 years ago amongst the influences that it clearly wears on its sleeve.

 

And the record stands out today, as it lulls you into a sense of security before changing style and introducing heavier elements where the band sounds on their peak for me, before then throwing in a highly experimental closer. So the album opens with ‘The Real’ and a fuzzy grunge riff, with the vocal of Jacob Duarte sounding somewhere between an early Foo Fighters Dave Grohl, and an early Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan. There is a lighter nineties indie alternative rock style to the sound, which continues into ‘Moments Of Clarity’ invoking memories from the likes of Weezer, Placebo, and The Lemonheads. It’s clear from the first couple of tracks that Narrow Head can write one hell of a catchy riff with highly engaging vocal hooks, and then on ‘Sunday’ they introduce a Deftones-esq riff which more than hints at what’s to come.

 

‘Trepnation’ kicks like a mule with dirtier down-tuned guitars and a heavy chugging bass, and my attention has well and truly been captured by the change in tone. ‘Breakup Song’ is melancholic with a lovely entwine between the main riff and a rolling bass, while ‘Fine Day’ is another sweet heavy cut with crunching guitars.

 

On ‘Carline’ Narrow Head reverts back to the more melodic feel of the album’s first quarter, but from here it changes tact once again with the darker muddy sounding ‘The World Sunday’ and the explosive ‘Gearhead’, which slams into a late-nineties era Deftones style, with Duarte channeling a shoe-gaze Chino Moreno vocal. And with the first screams on the album laid down before a furious outro of impressive drumming and heavy distortion … More of this, please!

 

 

And the band delivers on ‘Flesh & Solitude’ with the further subtle use of screams in amongst the heavy intoxicating music with a beautiful outro of avant-garde percussive cacophony. The aptly titled ‘The Comedown’ follows with lush strumming and kind of a Pearl Jam flavour, which gradually builds to the climax of ‘Soft To Touch’ where a mischievous guitar line perfectly plays over electronic beats. I love the way this album twists and turns from the indie rock style into a heavier alternative beast, before turning full circle and then going completely leftfield with the use of electronica. And these changes in tone create a real album experience which should definitely be absorbed as one. This is where rock music needs to be, for me, in 2023.

 

Buy the album here:

https://www.runforcoverrecords.com/artists/narrow-head/products

 

8 / 10

ABSTRAKT_SOUL_

 


Korn, Metallica, Mastodon, Billy Corgan to Pay Tribute to Alice In Chains at MoPop Awards Ceremony


Alice In Chains is being honored by Seattle’s MoPop Museum of Pop Culture on December 1st, and the band will be celebrated by a cadre of their peers, as well as hold their first performance of 2020. Korn, Metallica, Mastodon, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction, and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana are among the artists who will take part in virtual tribute performances when AIC is presented with this year’s Museum Of Pop Culture (MoPOP) Founders Award. The full list of presenters (virtually) is listed below. Continue reading


Smashing Pumpkins to Open Select Shows for Guns N Roses in 2020


Smashing Pumpkins will open for Guns N Roses at select shows for their highly anticipated 2020 North American tour. All dates are listed below and tickets go on sale to the general public for North American dates starting Friday, February 7 at 12 p.m. local time at the link below. The Pumpkins are at present recording their new album in Nashville for a late 2020 release. The new disc will be the follow-up to 2018’s Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun., which was their first in over eighteen years to feature founding members Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, and James Iha, along with longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Corgan released his latest solo album, Cotillions, in November via his own Martha’s Music label. Like 2017’s Ogilala, the disc was issued under his full name, William Patrick Corgan.Continue reading


NEW MUSIC FRIDAY: January 31st New Music Releases


 

Purchase And Stream All The New Music Released Today!

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Watch Rush Perform “Distant Early Warning” From Their Upcoming Concert Movie


Rush has released a new live performance video of them performing their hit ‘Distant Early Warning’ from their upcoming concert film, Cinema Strangiato: An Annual Exercise In Fan Indulgence, which will get a one-night-only cinematic screening on August 21. Watch it now!Continue reading


Smashing Pumpkins – Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1: No Past. No Future. No Sun.


To fans of a certain age, this is the album they have been waiting all year long for. If you were in Smashing Pumpkins’ camp over say Nirvana, or Pearl Jam, congrats you were a “grunge kid”. Not to describe the music in such banal terms, but pop culture is gonna pop, you know? In the mold of alt-rock giants like Sonic Youth, Billy Corgan’s brainchild never wanted to set limitations on the music, only that it reflects the entire kaleidoscope of sounds and emotions. Sure, band reunions are a dime a dozen today, but there is an undoubted mythos of Billy making a new album with both James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlain. With Corgan on bass over exiled D’arcy Wretsky (boo) and Jeff Schroeder contributing on guitar, it was unclear what kind of results to expect. Yet, this new era, the old-school band definitely had some tricks up their sleeves for Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1: No Past. No Future. No Sun. (Martha’s Music/Napalm Records). Continue reading


Watch The Billy Corgan Directed New Video For The Smashing Pumpkins New Single


After a series of special anniversary shows and a tour of the US, The Smashing Pumpkins previously announced their new album. Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. is due out on November 16 on Corgan’s own Martha’s Music under exclusive license to Napalm Records via a strategic worldwide partnership. Watch the new video for ‘Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)’, directed by Corgan and his longtime visual collaborator Linda Strawberry, the clip is a beautifully crafted riff on cult horror movie conventions. The video sees Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin and Jeff Schroeder challenged to spend the night in a haunted house by smarmy radio host Jackie Cherry, played by Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath. Continue reading


The Smashing Pumpkins Book Additional 30th Anniversary Tour Dates


On the heels of a summer tour that saw a star-studded 30th-anniversary show in New Jersey, and the announcement of a new album, Smashing Pumpkins have booked additional tour dates this fall. All tickets for the shows will be available at 10:00 a.m. local time this Friday, October 5th. This is on top of shows in London, Italy and Chicago already announced. Their new album Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun releases on November 16 on Billy Corgan’s own Martha’s Music under exclusive license to Napalm Records via a strategic worldwide partnership. Recorded at Shangri La Studios with legendary producer Rick Rubin, the LP is the band’s first in over 18 years to feature founding members Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin with longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder.Continue reading