Hey folks, here's another installment of what I've tried--and so far failed--to make a weekly thing: a quick look at some of the many recent releases stacking up in my promo pile. I solemnly swear that we'll be running this column weekly from here on in--after all, these albums aren't going to review themselves. Enough of my babbling--here we go!
Cradle Of Filth - The Manticore And Other Horrors (Nuclear Blast)
A long time ago, I was really into Cradle Of Filth. This was back in the mid-90s when they had only released a couple of albums. Along with Dimmu Borgir, they represented the more easily accessible side of black metal--the bands who didn't record on four-tracks or endorse sketchy right-wing political mindsets or get regularly arrested for destruction of religious property (or worse). Like many of those bands, their use of keyboards, choral backing vocals, and symphonic touches was steadily eroding their original heavy sound, and as they got more commercially successful, their music appealed to me less and less. After their third album, 1998's Cruelty And The Beast, I pretty much quit paying attention to them. The Manticore And Other Horrors, their tenth album and second on Nuclear Blast, is the first record I've heard by them in over a decade. Imagine my surprise when it turns out to be a heavy, guitar-oriented record with hardly any evidence of keyboards anywhere on it. I figured that Cradle Of Filth just got more gothic, more symphonic, and less heavy after I quit listening to them--apparently that was quite wrong. With singer/only constant member Dani Filth, original guitarist Paul Allender (who left Cradle Of Filth after their 1994 debut album, The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, but apparently returned to the fold for 2000's Midian), and drummer Martin "Marthus" Skaroupka the only full-time members of the band for the recording of this album, perhaps that explains the fact that The Manticore And Other Horrors is a straight-ahead thrash ripper with none of the cheesier aspects that originally led me away from Cradle Of Filth. Even the female backing vocals, which were present (and enjoyable) on even the earliest Cradle Of Filth albums, are seldom in evidence here.
Another vocal change is that Dani Filth's vocals have moved from constant high-pitched screams to a far more recognizably human midrange sound that would be right at home on an 80s thrash metal album. So would Paul Allender's riffs, which are high in the mix, almost drowning out the keyboards that are present on the album, and show a punk/hardcore influence in their solid, power-chord-heavy construction (Allender admitted as much in a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar). Overall, I am very pleasantly surprised by what I've heard on The Manticore And Other Horrors. This is a thoroughly excellent black metal album with no hint of cheesy or watered-down commercial touches. And to think I'd written off Cradle Of Filth nearly fifteen years ago! Clearly I need to go back and listen to all of their albums that I've ignored over the past decade. But even if The Manticore And Other Horrors really does amount to an out-of-nowhere career resurgence for a band that really was as bad as I thought they were over the past 12 years, it still should be recognized as the excellent work that it is. Even if you're as wary of symphonic cheese as I am, you really should get yourself a copy of this album.
Sylver Tongue - Something Big (Dancing Coins)
This is a brand new EP from Charlotte Hatherley, who first attained fame during her nine-year stint as lead guitarist for UK band Ash, as well as from the three solo albums she released under her own name between 2004 and 2009. More narrow-minded fans who got used to her earlier work may be turned off by Sylver Tongue's dark drum machine synth-pop, which seems likely to have been influenced by Hatherley's recent stint as a touring guitarist for Bat For Lashes. If so, though, they'll be missing out, as her songwriting sensibilities have not changed, and her gift for a minor-key melody is still intact. As with Bat For Lashes, the music here is comparable to the work of Kate Bush, or maybe a mix of Siouxsie And The Banshees and the Cocteau Twins. It's certainly an excellent debut release by the Sylver Tongue nom de plume, which differentiates it from Hatherley's earlier work. Hopefully this brief statement of purpose will soon be followed by a full-length on which she indicates the full extent of her capabilities within this new project. I'm expecting good things, for sure.
Sunday Driver - Across The Sunshine State (Limited Fanfare)
Sunday Driver were a post-hardcore emo/indie quartet from Florida who released two EPs on Doghouse in the early part of the last decade. I can remember seeing their name on bills and in distro catalogs, but I never actually heard them when they were around. Now, almost a decade after their breakup, an additional EP worth of material has surfaced on the same label that's planning to release a new EP by Sunday Driver singer/guitarist Alex Martinez's new band, Sound Sleeper. Perhaps this EP is finally seeing the light of day to connect any fanbase Sunday Driver had earned back in the day to Martinez's new band, but I'm not really sure how record labels make that sort of decision. Regardless, what we have here on this EP is a four-song collection of serviceable guitar-driven power pop that is a pleasant enough listen but in no way offers any merit-based explanation for releasing it after a ten-year wait. Is there some small, devoted cult following for this band clustered in some other part of the country that clamors year after year for unreleased material? If so, it almost certainly is based in Florida, which would make sense as that state is kind of like its own country in a lot of ways. For those of us in the rest of the country who only vaguely remember (or, more likely, have completely forgotten) Sunday Driver, though, this EP mainly seems unnecessary. Don't get me wrong, if you're a fan of post-hardcore emo-style rock n' roll of a 2001-era vintage, you will enjoy this EP if you come across it. But in a world full of great new releases from bands that are still around, I can't offer any compelling reason to hunt this record down.
Dragged Into Sunlight - Widowmaker (Prosthetic)
This UK metal band caught my attention with their debut LP, Hatred For Mankind, which was originally issued by a tiny British label in 2010 but came across my desk when Prosthetic reissued it last year. The dark, raw, hate-filled black metal on display on that album knocked me out, and I was really excited to have the opportunity to see them perform live at Strange Matter's Memorial Day Mash, an all-day metal extravaganza held earlier this year. Their spooky, fog-drenched performance was a highlight of the evening, and raised anticipation for a new album even higher, so I was really stoked to hear about the release of Widowmaker. However, the band immediately attempted to temper expectations with a "this is not the real new Dragged Into Sunlight album"-themed PR campaign, letting everyone know that they couldn't expect a true follow-up to Hatred For Mankind from Widowmaker. It's true--this three-track, 40 minute album, on which all of the songs are between 12 and 15 minutes long, is absolutely nothing like their previous work. In fact, the first and longest song, known only as "Part I," features neither drums or vocals, and could be looked at by some as merely a very long intro for the second and third parts of the album--especially in light of the fact that all of the tracks bleed together into what really just sounds like one long piece of music. I don't want to minimize "Part I" by describing it that way, though. The drawn-out, ambient instrumental, played mainly on guitar with occasional accompaniment by bass, piano, and violin, has a thick, foreboding atmosphere all its own, giving it a real 70s-Italian-horror-film-score vibe that makes it an essential listen every time you put this album on.
"Part II" and "Part III" are more of a piece with each other, dealing out heavy, brutal grooves that are much slower than you'd expect from Dragged Into Sunlight's previous work. Don't look for blastbeats here--you won't find them. What you will find is plenty of heavy, sludgy riffing that makes me think of bands like EyeHateGod and Sleep, though without the swampy Southern-fried blues feel those bands sometimes generate. If there's a blues feel here, it comes from the album's overall atmosphere, which continues to be ominous and enshrouded in metaphorical fog. The only aspect of DIS's sound that is totally unchanged here is the vocal style; their singer still brings the high, harsh, throat-shredding screams, to excellent effect. In fact, even despite the drawn-out length of each song, and the cumulative effect of hearing one long piece of music split into a few different movements, Widowmaker is every bit as powerful a listening experience as Hatred For Mankind. It's a challenging listen in a completely different way than their previous album was, and I understand why we were all given the advance warnings not to expect Hatred For Mankind Part II. Nonetheless, if anything has been proven here, it's that Dragged Into Sunlight have sufficient talent to create good music regardless of what genre they're working in. Narrow-minded black metal elitists who turn up their noses at the lack of blastbeats here are missing out. This album is essential listening.