Sheep skull
appropriators and venue rockers Sanguine have just released a video
for Breathe, a song from their album Black Sheep.
Photo credit: Dan Sturgess
When
I reviewed Black Sheep
last year, I noted the split between the rawkish heavier tracks and
the quieter, calmer offerings. Breathe falls into the latter
category, and certainly showcases frontwoman Tarin Kerrey’s vocal
abilities. The video shows Tarin walking abandoned sun-kissed
streets, shedding both mental and physical attachments as she goes.
The music itself sees Sanguine teaming up with Ex in Flames guitarist
Jesper Strömblad to create a delicate and spacious backing to
Tarin’s vocals, a bit like laying a clean, crisp table cloth
underneath a nice meal.
I
saw Sanguine when they came to Norwich as support for Mushroom Head,
but since then they’ve landed (deservedly too) more great spots
alongside the likes of Fear Factory, Skindred and HellYeah. On a
personal note, I do prefer Sanguine’s heavier numbers, particularly
because Tarin has a tortured screech that would unnerve even the
calmest of vicars, but I certainly appreciated their more tranquil
numbers when I reviewed Black Sheep.
I guess it’s a bit like being beaten up by someone, but instead of
them running away, your attacker hangs around and insists on holding
ice to your bruises afterwards.
Below
is their new video, but click the Watch on YouTube button so that you
can give it a decent look. If you haven’t checked out Sanguine yet,
you can find more about them on their website at this link. You can also find my review of Black Sheep at this link.
My first experience of
The Qemist’s mix of electronic rock, breakbeats and ear-worming
vocals was at a gig where they were supporting Crossfaith, a
fantastic pairing of two bands that share a love of pumped up
electronic melodies draped over a thumping heavy metal skeleton.
Think Frankenstein’s monster, but with a DJ deck and a guitar
instead of a bolt through the neck and a strange walk. Suffice to say
that after hearing The Qemists at that gig, I made sure to buy their
3rd studio album Warrior Sound at the next possible
opportunity.
Warrior Sound is
a 12 track album that opens with an intro track that puts me a little
in mind of the start of Kick-Ass, like the backing track to the
amateur superhero before they fly off into the night (or crash onto
the roof of a car). Once we are through that, we are onto the meat of
the album, which features songs that contain a heady mix of rock, electronica and drum
and bass. If you are a fan of The
Prodigy, Chase and Status, or similar bands, you will likely
find something to enjoy here. As an example, Push The Line is a track
that I clicked with well because it put me strongly in mind of No
More Idols era Chase and Status, the only album I successfully
got into of C&S. I think the “They won’t bring me down!”
hook and the way the music builds and swells just appeals to me in a
way that not all electronic and d&b stuff can.
A photo taken by myself showing Kenta Koie on stage with The Qemists for Anger.
The Qemists are masters
of ear-worming lyrics that also manage to mean something and pump up
the listener. A fine example is Anger featuring Crossfaith’s Kenta
Koie. This is a rumbling roiling track that bubbles under the chorus,
which includes the line “See we're two wolves inside, my anger
salivates”, which I particularly like. Certainly a song about
empowering yourself and holding to your own course, not being swayed
by the haters and the weak. This is an element that runs through much
of Warrior Sound, the us against them mentality and
intolerance towards the inequalities in our society. A perfect
example of this is Jungle, featuring Hactivist, an expansive track
with vocals that punch and spit before the main pounding chorus takes
over. Run You is another hyping up track, an anthem that says: “don’t
let them run you” and to do what you want to do, interspersed with
textured electronic sounds and a fast-paced beat. This track is a
good one to head-bang to as well.
Warrior Sound is a fine
album and one that could likely appeal to metal heads just as surely
as fans of drum and bass. If your music taste lies in one of these
areas, check it out and see if it’s your thing. If it is, you might
like to check out Crossfaith too, although in my opinion, they inject
a bit more metal into their music. I give Warrior Sound4.5/5.
Visit The Qemists at
this link for tour info etc., and take a watch of their video for Run
You from their official YouTube channel below:
Dark Music Review – I
Put A Time Bomb In Your Submarine
Written by Casey Douglass
It’s always nice when
I get pointed in the direction of a style of music that is unfamiliar
to me. I don’t like my music tastes to stagnate, but on the other
hand, it makes putting my feelings into words that much harder, not
to mention stretching my music knowledge as I try to identify how
something was done. Bearsuit Records’ I Put A Time Bomb In Your
Submarine is an album that falls firmly into this category, my
only known point of entry my previous experience of one of the
artist’s previous work (Utu Lautturi’s excellent album Nielu).
I Put A Time Bomb In
Your Submarine is a compilation of remixes from various artists
that could easily fall into any number of genre labels, from
experimental and electronic to pop and rock. There are commonalities
though. Many of the tracks feature airy vocals and short, sharp sound
samples that give the sensation of listening to sound snippets
masterfully stitched together to give the tracks a certain feeling of
rhythm and flow (Circus Juice is one track that comes to mind for
this). Many tracks make great use of ambient sound samples too, which
adds another pleasing layer to things. The tracks that do feature
vocals do so in a pop-like, hook-laden way that finds the words
worming their way into your mind.
This will be another
album review in which I don’t analyse each track, partly due to 22
being too many to make this feasible. There were a couple of
stand-out tracks that I really liked though.
The first is Doll, and
is track one on the album (or Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai -
Doll (Senji Niban Remix) to give it it’s full label). The
distorted, radio-like vocals and la-la-la-la-la-la mixed with the
infectious beat make this an ear-worming track if ever I’ve heard
one.
The next one that I
really liked the feel of was A Shout Away (Harold Nono/Hidekazu
Wakabayashi - A Shout Away (Stricknice Remix)). I think the mixture
of relaxed piano, variety of vocals and the sound samples used all
make this a pleasing track to listen to, with plenty for the mind to
focus on amongst the many layers. The beat is good too!
The other track I wanted to mention by name is
Circus Juice (Whizz Kid - Circus Juice (0Point1 Remix)), which I
already mentioned above. The sound snatches and instrument variety
just make it a lovely and eccentric track to listen to and I really
appreciate that in a track.
The tracks that I haven’t mentioned all have
things to like about them too of course, but these three caught my
ear.
As a whole, I Put A Time Bomb In Your Submarine
is a great value proposition, and gives the listener a great range of
music to listen to and enjoy. I’m not wholly sure it is quite my
thing, so I am not going to award it a review score, but I enjoyed my
time with it and think it is well worth checking out for any fan of
the electronic remix type genres of music.
You can visit the I Put A Time Bomb In Your
Submarine page on Bandcamp here.
