Chelsea Wolfe "She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She" (2024)

She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

release date: Feb. 9, 2024

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,95]

producer: Dave Sitek

label: Loma Vista - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Whispers in the Echo Chamber" - 3. "Everything Turns Blue" - 5. "The Liminal" - 6. "Eyes Like Nightshade" - 8. "Unseen World"

7th studio album by Chelsea Wolfe following Birth of Violence (Sep. 2019) is her first album on Loma Vista and it also introduces a certain change in producer-collaboration as most of her former releases were mostle made with co-composer Ben Chisholm, who remains as one her stable collaborators (since 2012) together with drummer Jess Gowrie and mastering engineer Heba Kadry (both since 2017).

A new producer and a new label doesn't mean much new, though. And despite the fact that Wolfe has been influenced by various styles, this new collection of songs still stand with feets buried in a darkwave arena. That said, Wolfe has often sought to colour her songs from new perspectives - with twists of electronica, stronger influnced by / or with the absense of industrial rock, and in that sense her new album doesn't appear as something entirely different. Wolfe belongs to the dark - no doubt about that, and she usually makes her songs with Chisholm - here credited as co-composer, keyboardist and for drum programming. And especially the drum aspect is what basically makes this a different breed than her (brighter) 2019-album. Drums are up-front, energetic pulsating, and attract attention on an album that takes Wolfe back on an industrial, electronic path of dark colours.

The album has mostly been met by acclaim as an original output from an innovative artist, who never seem to walk on already known paths. To me, it doesn't quite invite me in, and I think my reluctant stance has to do with the incoherency I find on the album. It's both strongly electronic with synths and programming providing a new side-step to her darkwave tones, and at the same time it bonds with industrial rock - it wants to be 'hard', and then Wolfe has makes attempts pop-imagery, nicely placed hooks of sweetness, which makes it difficult to digest. It's like, she tries too hard to make her music grandiose and by that she unfortunately also loses contact with authenticity. Is it a spicy treat, or, just a light dessert? I dunno!! And the different flavours do not meet one another that well, I think. And ultimately, Wolfe has been better.

[ 😮allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Exclaim! 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,6 / 10, Uncut 3,5 / 5, 👉PopMatters 3 / 5 stars ]

Editors "EBM" (2022)

EBM

release date: Sep. 22, 2022

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC) (Deluxe)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,85]

producer: Blanck Mass, Justin Lockey, Elliott Williams

label: Play It Again Sam - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Heart Attack" (4 / 5) - 2. "Picturesque" - 3. "Karma Climb" - 4. "Kiss" - 6. "Strawberry Lemonade" - 7. "Vibe" - 8. "Educate"

7th studio album by Editors follows 4½ years after Violence (Mar. 2018), an album that lacked some of the coherency they showed on The Weight of Your Love from 2013. Since their sixth album Benjamin John Power has become a new member, and he is heard all over an album that fixates the band on an electronic path. Power is also known as Blank Mass and that's also how he's credited here. The album title thus refering to 'Editors Blanck Mass'. Powers played a vital part on the predecessor but the band didn't find the way to utilise Powers' contributions back then and instead ended up with tracks pointing here and there and with an album that seemed unfocused. One year after the release of Violence Editors released The Blanck Mass Sessions containing the initial recordings by Blanck Mass, which led to the album versions, and those early recordings contain some ideas that were ultimately lost on the final album. You could argue they were stronger electronically-founded, which only reflect how the band had to digest the input from Power before realising that he actually laid out a new musical direction for the band to follow.

With Banck Mass aboard Editors comes out as a revitalised band. They make the songs by Tom Smith work on top of an electronic base that gives room for bass and synths and the result is surprisingly good. Blanck Mass is noticeable all over the album, but together they are in positive synergy.

Undoubtedly, this new electronic style will challenge some of the old post-punk revivalists, and although I really enjoyed their initial albums, I like this new constellation!

[ allmusic.com, Record Collector 4 / 5 stars ]

Lingua Ignota "Sinner Get Ready" (2021)

Sinner Get Ready

release date: Aug. 6, 2021

format: digital (9 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]

producer: Kristin Hayter

label: Sargent House - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "I Who Bend the Tall Grasses" - 4. "Pennsylvania Furnance" (4 / 5) - 6. "The Sacres Linament of Judgement" - 7. "Perpetual Flame of Centralia" - 8. "Man Is Like a Spring Flower" - 9. "The Solitary Brethren of Ephrata"

4th studio album by Lingua Ignota (aka Kristin Hayter) following two years after Caligula (Jul. 2019) is once again with Hayter herself in multiple roles as technical staff, photographer, and producer. The album is partially made in collaboration with sound engineer and producer Seth Manchester, but otherwise it's exclusively Hayter as vocalist, instrumentalist, and composer. As Lingua Ignota she continues in the apocalyptic style with a less hard-hitting industrial tone than what characterised the predecessor, and instead there is room for a greater musical scope, which suits her expression. Additional stylistic features creep in from traditional folk, Americana, experimental music mixed with pervasive classical notes. On a first listen, it may sound a much like produced on the same thematic pot, but where she focused on Satan on her previous album, she now confronts God and blind believers. The lyrics revolve around Christian liturgy, sin, punishment, death, revenge, and to a lesser extent, the theme of forgiveness.

The album has generally been met by positive reviews, much like Caligula did. If you're not familiar with Lingua Ignota, it might be a bit of a frightening acquaintance at first with her obvious fascination for hard-hitting thrash metal and the death metal realm, but if you're able to stay in the intrusive brutal darkness, you may notice how other tones are present and open up. It's in the counterplay between the beauty and the ugly that Hayter moves confrontationally in and out of moods. Under the moniker of Lingua Ignota, Hayter released her debut album Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him via bandcamp.com in Feb. 2017, and already with the follow-up All Bitches Die (Jun. 2017) just five months later, she had become an international name. The album Caligula from 2019 is her first with a record company to back her up. She is trained in classical music, and stylistically, she skilfully mix elements from experimental popular music with classical music and thus has a natural kinship with Diamanda Galás. Both play with the brutal confrontation with Christian ideals in experimental classical processing. Here, you'll also find links to more recent neoclassical music such as Chelsea Wolfe and Swedish artist Anna von Hausswolff, who both experiment with a mix of popular music, and especially darkwave style, with classical compositions and furthermore exploit tensions between beauty and ugly. Hayter still sounds like no one else, because she is also an artist who seems more deeply rooted in alternative noise styles and more experimental approaches.

I can easily imagine Lingua Ignota as a highly original and fascinating artist, but focusing purely on the music product, her expression with strong bonds to a thrash metal and black metal scene then places Hayter in the periphery of what I basically understand works as good music.

However, Sinner Get Ready is Hayter's most nuanced and complex album and it's definitely worth to know.

Recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ Gaffa.dk 6 / 6, Pitchfork, The Guardian, PopMatters 4 / 5 stars ]

Blanck Mass "Animated Violence Mild" (2019)

Animated Violence Mild

release date: Aug. 16, 2019

format: digital (8 x Files, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]

producer: Blanck Mass

label: Sacred Bones - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Death Drop" - 3. "House vs. House" - 4 . "Hush Money" - 8. "Wings of Hate"

4th studio album by Blanck Mass (aka Benjamin John Power) is the follow-up to World Eater (2017), although more recently the artist has been engaged in collaborating on the 2018 album Violence by Editors, which was released in an alternative version as The Blanck Mass Sessions (Apr. 2019).

Animated Violence Mild continues where the 2017 album ended, and in many regards it's like a new chapter to that. Here and there Power introduces something that sound like melody-lines, which could reflect inspiration from his work with the alternative rock band Editors - to me, this only adds a new dimension to his predominant industrial electronica.

[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, NME 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,9 /10 stars ]

Editors "The Blanck Mass Sessions" (2019)

The Blanck Mass Sessions

release date: Apr. 13, 2019

format: digital (8 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]

producer: Blanck Mass, Editors

label: Play It Again Sam - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Barricades" - 2. "Cold" - 3. "Hallelujah (So Low)" - 4. "Violence"

Editors album is bassically the first draft recordings by Blanck Mass, which led to the album Violence (Mar. 2018). The band had wanted a stronger electronic / industrial take on their music and invited Blanck Mass (aka Benjamin John Power) to add something to their new recordings. The result is heard here, but to the band, they were slightly rearranged with less electronic and industrial dominance, and those recordings were released as Violence. However, the initial recordings had their very own strengths, so one year following the actual album release the initial sessions by Blanck Mass were released. And frankly, they are just better and more originally sounding.

Lingua Ignota "All Bitches Die" (2017)

original cover

All Bitches Die

release date: Jun 7, 2017

format: digital (4 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,98]

producer: Kristin Hayter

label: selvudgivet - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Woe to All (On the Day of My Wrath)" - 2. "All Bitches Die (Bitches All Die Here)"

2nd studio album by American Lingua Ignota [meaning 'unknown language'], as the moniker of Kristin Hayter. She debuted on bandcamp with the album Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him in Feb. 2017 and only five months later she's then ready with this album, which was also released via her bandcamp-profile, but this time to overwhelming international interest. She soon became associated with the record label Profound Lore, who re-issued this one with a new cover in 2018. The album consists of only four compositions of varying length from 5½ to 15 minutes and with a total running time of just over 42 minutes.

Musically speaking, it's based on a mixture of dark - or rather: absolute black noise metal with elements from classical music and a clear inspiration from industrial rock. Hayter's own life story as a victim in a long violent relationship lays a great foundation for her musical and lyrical universe. She is a classically trained musician and is credited the entire performance alone as songwriter, composer, sound engineer, producer, photographer, instrumentalist, and vocalist. Her expression balances on the extremely brutal, and she experiments with the use of pure noise, just as the use of her vocal reflects a similar approach. She possesses an excellent singing voice, which can be soft, finely tuned and sometimes terrifyingly distorted as bestial death screams and disturbing throat singing.

There is no doubt that Hayter is an original. The queen of darkness, Diamanda Galás, is closest as an inspiration and related artist, but Hayter is not only concerned with performance and singing, as a primary instrument. The compositions have both qualities from ambient and classical compositions, which make it both neoclassical works and experimental noise rock.

All Bitches Die is a fierce acquaintance. You probably have to have a certain fondness for Galás or black metal to find this beautiful. To my ears it's more fascinating than ordinary black metal, death metal, or related styles, but it's also too extreme a musical expression for me to just think it's really cool.

Disturbing. Fascinating. And at the same time, too much brutality.

[ SputnikMusic 4 / 5 stars ]

2018 reissue on Profound Lore

Blanck Mass "World Eater" (2017)

World Eater
release date: Mar. 3, 2017
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Blanck Mass
label: Sacred Bones Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Rhesus Negative" (4 / 5) - 3. "Please" - 4. "The Rat" - 5. "Silent Treatment" - 7. "Hive Mind"

3rd full studio album release by the one-man project Blanck Mass, aka Benjamin John Power (from the duo Fuck Buttons).
Stylistically, this is instrumental progressive electronic like the music of Fuck Buttons where Power gets together with Andrew Hung, but that's still rather different from this as World Eater has a much stronger industrial style and perhaps tends to be more expansive in terms of exploring other stylistic grounds.
The album was generally met by positive reviews ending up on many album top lists of the year, and I can see why. Power blends styles and elements so originally that it's really a treat to listen to. It's like a bliss and it's right in your face - it's an experience where you never know where it'll lead you but the journey is exhilarating. Yes, it has drone elements, it has synthpop bits and pieces, like ordinary pop compositions, and it's very aggressive and dark hinting at post-rock and hard rock in its industrial outfit. So, yes, it's really a conglomerate of styles and genres and all in all a truly fine and well-composed album.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Needledrop 3,5 / 5, Sputnikmusic 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Peter Murphy "Lion" (2014)

Lion

release date: Jun. 2, 2014

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,86]

producer: Youth (aka Martin Glover)

label: Nettwerk - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Hang Up" - 3. "I'm on Your Side" - 5. "Compression" - 9. "Eliza"

9th studio album by Peter Murphy following three years after Ninth (Jun. 2011) and his second album on US label Nettwerk. To the typical procedure, Murphy has made the album with a new producer - this time by British producer and musician Youth, who is also perhaps best known for his part as bassist of post-punk and industrrial rock act Killing Joke, although, he relatively early on initiated a career as producer and basically of all genres and styles. All lyrics are as usual by Murphy, and all music is credited Murphy and Glover with the latter also filling the part as multi-instrumentalist. Some issues (CD and vinyl) include the ten track extra live material "Selections From the Mr. Moonl·)ght Tour (35 Years of Bauhaus)".

Apparently, many of the compositions are studio improvs, and as a whole the album distances itself from Ninth by being stronger influenced by industrial rock. Also, Murphy generally sings in a more restrained and higher register on a majority of the songs. The soundscape is dominated by bass, drums, and synths, and basically doesn't fall far from a style, which has strong bonds to Glover's famous band Killing Joke and their music in the late 80s and early 90s.

Lion was possibly seen as a return to form, or at least some kind of test to his legacy within certain circles, and it also made it to the Billboard 200 as his only second album after Holy Smoke. I just don't find it a particular fascinating album. Murphy's singing style here is too extravagant and as if he tries hard to convince himself about his 'god-given' qualities while going through the motions, doing what he knows the best. Where Ninth actually showed us what he's capable of, Lion appears more like a sequel to Go Away White (2008), although, it's nevertheless a quite coherent release.

Not recommended.

[ Pitchfork 7,5 / 10, allmusic.com, PopMatters, Exclaim! 3,5 / 5, Q Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]

Thåström "Centralmassivet" (2017)

Centralmassivet

release date: Sep. 29, 2017

format: vinyl (gatefold 'green') / cd

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: Niklas Hellberg, Thåström

label: Razzia Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Bluesen i Malmö" - 2. "Körkarlen" - 3. "Centralmassivet" (4 / 5) (live) - 5. "Låt det goda" - 6. "Aldrig av med varandra" - 8. "Karaokebaren"

9th studio album by Thåström following two years after Den morronen (2015), which again followed Beväpna dig med vingar (2012). Like all his albums since the 2012-release, then also Centralmassivet is released on the Swedish label Razzia Records. Thåström also produced the 2015-album in collaboration with Hellberg and Ulf Ivarsson, and Thåström made up the Swedish trio Sällskapet together with Pelle Ossler and Hellberg from 2007 to 2015 after which Thåström left the two to continue the project as a duo.

On this, Niklas Hellberg is not only credited as music composer of all tracks together with Thåström - he also plays piano, keyboards, synths, is credited all programming and as recording technician. In that respect, Hellberg's role is more or less adapted from how he contributed to the music in Sällskapet. And it doesn't stop with that 'cause what characterises the style and sound on this, Thåström's ninth album, is a delicate combination of styles that both echoes his last two solo albums but also cary an underlying connection with electronic music, which again bonds to the two previous albums by Sällskapet without being as grey as they appeared. Centralmassivet is first and foremost unmistakably a Thåström album with the alt. rock and singer / songwriter mix he has come to be recognised for over the last decade, but it's not just a simple strategy where he makes use of a particular formula. Den morronen was dark and somewhat laidback - and you may argue also a bit of a narrower experience, but here Thåström succeeds in relaunching himself as a pure rock artist with electrifying and punchy tunes. The album is full of modern blues rock and it comes out as a very strong effort with an intelligent and remarkable production that opens up for stylistic inputs from industrial rock and the electronic genre without compromising the overall sensation of something extremely coherent and at the same time exposes a collection of songs with apparent diversity.

Centralmassivet is undoubtedly Thåström's best solo album since his highly remarkable Skebokvarnsv. 209 (2005) and it stands as one of his finest releases.

Highly recommended.

[ Gaffa.dk 5 / 6 stars ]

The The "Naked Self" (2000)

Naked Self
release date: Feb. 29, 2000
format: cd (LTD.)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Matt Johnson & Bruce Lampcov
label: Nothing Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Boiling Point" - 2. "Shrunken Man" - 3. "The Whisperers" (live) - 5. "Global Eyes" (live) - 6. "December Sunlight" - 7. "Swine Fever" - 9. "Weather Belle" - 10. "Voidy Numbness" - 11. "Phantom Walls"

6th studio album release by The The stylised as NakedSelf follows five full years after Hanky Panky, which for many stands as a bit of the odd one out by being entirely dedicated to Hank Williams covers for which Matt Johnson selected a handful of session musicians instead of working with the established backing band.
NakedSelf is quite naturally a much awaited album and he's back with the old formula working alone, handpicking people to work with, and he's back with twelve new compositions. I purchased the album without giving it a single listen, and I must admit that I'm not certain to have made the same decision having given it an ear test first. I never played this one that many times - for many years I tried, though, but it just never caught me. Also, I've always been a bit bewildered about how to label it in terms of style and genre, which of course isn't important at all. Undoubtedly, it will go as experimental, and art rock, but pop / rock? Most evidently, no! Out of 12 tracks only 2-3 felt like worth the lot, and I soon regreted my purchase. Now, that was my thoughts back in 2000 and for the first decade or so, but after having returned to it in recent years, I really don't find it all that bad after all. My initial verdict would most likely have been 2,5 / 5, max, but nowadays, I'm sure it's 3,5 / 5, and even above that, a rather solid album. Some of the tracks have a Radiohead tone whereas others seem to belong to a different dimension, where Johnson explores his own influences but perhaps most apparently: expands his own soundscape by revisiting some of the sources to his first solo album Burning Blue Soul (1981) with its will to experiment and to explore what should become known as neo-psychedelic.
NakedSelf isn't a bad album, it may not provide us with great pop songs of the like one will find on his previous releases, although, three to four come close. At bottom line, it's much more introspective and basically an album for the keen listener.
Following this, Matt Johnson appears to have withdrawn from the public eye. People may think he left the business but he has continued to compose and write music, only more exclusively as soundtrack composer, and primarily for younger brother Gerard Johnson films, the first being the short Mug (2004), followed by full-length films: Tony (2009) and Hyena (2014) - also for the documentary Moonbug (2010) by Nichola Bruce, all of which have been released as soundtracks via the Matt Johnson founded label and podcast host Radio Cinéola. And speaking of brothers, in 2016 Matt's brother Andrew, known as Andy Dog, the artist behind several covers by The The, died from a brain tumor. Allegedly, the loss of brother Eugene in '99 was one of the reasons to why Matt Johnson felt trapped and ultimately stepped out of the music business - now it appears another brother's untimely death could be one of the reasons to why Johnson may be getting a band back together to perform the back catalogue of The The.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, 👍NME 3,5 / 5, 👉Pitchfork 7,1 / 10 stars ]

Sigur Rós "Kveikur" (2013)

Kveikur
release date: Jun. 14, 2013
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,46]
producer: Sigur Rós
label: XL Recordings - nationality: Iceland

Track highlights: 1. "Brennisteinn" - 3. "Ísjaki" (4 / 5) - 5. "Stormur" - 6. "Kveikur" - 7. "Rafstraumur" - 8. "Bláþráður"

7th studio album by Sigur Rós follows only one year after Valtari and is released on XL Recordings and produced by the band assisted by former member Kjartan Sveinsson and Alex Somers.

Almost as usual with Sigur Rós, they enjoy stylistic changes. This time it might be the result of a change in the usual line-up due to the reduction from a quartet to a trio, as Kjartan Sveinsson (keyboards, guitar, vocals, since 1998) left the band in early 2012, and on this, he only contributes as technical personnel.

The album marks a stronger return to a more traditional shape of post-rock in respect to what we heard on the predecessor, and this time they combine with an industrial touch that I haven't heard them play with before. At some point it resembles the music of Mogwai more than ever (listen e.g. to Come on Die Young, 1999, and Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, 2011), although, Sigur Rós is still more ambient, ethereal, and dream pop-founded, which ain't necessarily bad. In a sense it's also a return to their first more experimental releases only without the art rock connection.

Compared to Valtari, I'm not entirely convinced this is an improvement but as I've come to experience with this band, you need to give it time to unfold.

[ allmusic.com, NME 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Thåström "Mannen som blev en gris" (2002)

Mannen som blev en gris
release date: Apr. 2002
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Thåström, Micke Herrström, Henryk Lipp
label: Mistlur Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Släpp aldrig in dom" (live) - 2. "Ungefär så här..." - 4. "Ännu mera gift" - 6. "Bara när jag blundar" - 9. "Så kall så het" - 10. "Aldrig nånsin komma ner"

4th studio solo album by (Joakim) Thåström is almost as usual made with former collaborative musicians Niklas Hellberg, who plays organ and handles programming, and Per Hägglund, who has co-written four of the songs together with Thåström. The album also features Danish drummer Tomas Ortved (Sort Sol) on several tracks.
Mannen som blev en gris ['The Man Who Became a Pig'] is primarily alt. rock and industrial rock and together with the three solo albums Det är ni som e dom konstiga... (1999) and Explodera mig 2000 (1991) this album may be regarded as one of his most energetic and hardest solo releases. The song "Så kall så het" is a cover song by Stry Terrarie, with whom Thåström played in Imperiet - originally by Swedish band Garbochocks (1979-81).
In 2003 Thåström founded the band Sällskapet with long-time collaborator Niklas Hellberg and Per (Jerker) Ossler, and they began studio recordings while Thåström also worked on a new solo album. Both Hellberg and Ossler took part in the live band with Thåström's solo material.

Thåström "Det är ni som e dom konstiga det är jag som e normal" (1999)

Det är ni som e dom konstiga det är jag som e normal
release date: Oct. 18, 1999
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Mikael Herrström, Joakim Thåström and Henryk Lipp
label: Mistlur Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Från himlen sänt" - 2. "En vackar död stad" - 3. "Hjärter dam" - 5. "Två + två" (live) - 6. "Städer när jag blöder" - 10. "Psalm #99"

3rd solo album by Thåström released more than 8 years following his most recent solo album, and after three consecutive studio albums released from '92-'97 with the band Peace, Love & Pitbulls, which only was active in this period. Thåström is still associated with the Mistlur label, although that label is by now a sublabel owned by MNW.

Thåström's second solo album Xplodera mig 2000 showed us a more aggressive and more hard rockin' Thåström than heard before, and that energy was continued and came to its full extent in the short-lived band he formed with Peter Lööf, Rikard Sporrong and Niklas Hellberg while living in Amsterdam. In 1998 Thåström and Hellberg co-wrote and released the album Singoalla - music for a theatre show based on a novel by Viktor Rydberg from 1857.
Det är ni som e dom konstiga... ['You are strange, I'm normal'] is his first studio album with songs in his native language since his '91 solo album, and it really follows closely in the footsteps of that particular album, as if he hadn't taken a move into industrial metal and singing in English on three other albums. Yes, there's still room for industrial rock, but that step had already been taken in the early 90s, and when listening to the music by Peace, Love & Pitbulls with its bold use of (vocal) distortion it's easy to point out the difference between industrial rock and the more extreme metal-version of the style, which is much closer the early albums by Marilyn Manson than any Thåström solo album.
I didn't listen to this album until after entering the new millennium, but it does have a strong and original touch with a mix of styles. It's not entirely just a bunch of hard rock compositions, as there's a nice blend of harmony-based songs scattered all over the album, and I also hear reminiscences of the old Ebba Grön sound and style - most openly in the song "Städer när jag blöder", which would have made a perfect entry on the first album by his old punk rock collaborators in Ebba Grön. A few tracks bond with the more white noise music of Love, Peace & Pitbulls but other compositions have more in common with his later move into a more apparent singer / songwriter universe (e.g. "Hjärter dam"), and that's also where he concludes the album with "Psalm #99".
The album was generally met by positive reviews from the Swedish music press and the audience who had longed for the day when he would make another album with Swedish lyrics. The album topped the national albums chart list and the first of three singles from the album, "Två + två" reached number #10 on the singles chart list.
Where Explodera mig 2000 showed Thåström experiment with styles and almost stumble into industrial rock, this album reveals a more mature version of his fascination for high energy rock, which blends much richer with music from his past. All in all, a fine release, although, he still seems in search of a unique style of his.

Peace, Love & Pitbulls "3" (1997)

3
release date: 1997
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,82]
producer: Sankan (aka Ulf Karl Sanken Sandqvist)
label: MVG Records - nationality: The Netherlands / Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Black Dog Bliss" - 3. "Caveman" - 7. "Youth"

3rd and final studio album by the Thåström-project band Peace, Love & Pitbulls - here in a minimised version as Peter Puders left Joakim Thåström, Niklas Hellberg and Sanken Sandqvist to continue and eventually also end the project as a trio.
Musically, there's considerable change towards both more melodic and slower songs within an industrial rock universe.
The album is imho, clearly the bands best without really impressing. It's still not really good, although, it remains the band's best attempt. After listening to this, you might suggest that bands like Rammstein and Marilyn Manson should pay tribute to Peace, Love & Pitbulls as inspirational source, and Brian Hugh Warner (Manson) has allegedly pointed out that he for one listened to PL&P.
Peace, Love & Pitbulls disbanded after this release and Thåström restarted his solo career.
Not really recommended.

M.I.A. "/\/\ /\ Y /\" (2010)

/\/\ /\ Y /\
release date: Jul. 13, 2010
format: cd (XLCD 497)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,70]
producer: various
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Steppin Up" - 3. "XXXO" - 4. "Teqkilla" - 7. "It Takes a Muscle" (4 / 5) - 8. "It Iz What It Iz" - 9. "Born Free" - 11. "Tell Me Why"

3rd studio album by M.I.A. released on her own label N.E.E.T. through XL Recordings and Interscope Records. The album is named after herself, Mathangi Arulpragasam, or just "Maya", which is also the correct way to pronounce her artist name, M.I.A.

I find the album more complex than the fine Kala (2007), and initially found this a lesser album, but it really contains some fine tracks. Stylistically, this is not like her 2007 album, but more electronically-founded with glitch pop, electroclash, and what may be identified as industrial - some also call it synth punk or noise pop. Anyway, it is more 'noisy' and probably less mainstream oriented, and I think of it as her second best album. It really makes sense that it's more complex - giving the fact that it's about herself. It reflects her life, her struggles with identity, the Sri-Lankan (violent) background, and her view and feelings about love and politics, which is a bit of a mouthful. And therefore it can only be complex, and anything but polished.

[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, Slant 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Spin 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Chelsea Wolfe "Pain Is Beauty" (2013)

Pain Is Beauty

release date: Sep. 3, 2013

format: cd

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,65]

producer: Chelsea Wolfe, Ben Chisholm

label: Sargent House - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Feral Love" - 2. "We Hit a Wall" - 3. "House of Metal" (4 / 5) (live on KEXP) - 6. "Sick" (live on KEXP) - 9. "Ancestors, the Ancients" - 10. "They'll Clap When You're Gone" - 11. "The Waves Have Come"

3d studio album by American soloist Chelsea (Joy) Wolfe is her second album on Sargeant House and her second to be co-produced with Ben Chisholm, who's also credited various instrumentation and as album mixer. Chisholm also featured playing piano on two songs on Wolfe's debut album The Grime and the Glow (Dec. 2010). Actually, the album could be seen has her fifth, as she released two self-released albums as of 2006 and 2009 respectively, but these were distributed as CDr albums only.

Musically, Wolfe has always stood with one foot in a darkwave and gothic rock corner of the alt. rock scene, although, all of her now three studio albums are diverse in their individual sound. In that regard, the debut stands as her most clean expression of a lo-fi, alt. rock release bonding with an experimental scene, and her sophomore album Ἀποκάλυψις (aka Apokalypsis from Aug. 2011) is stronger shaped by alt.rock and darkwave which brings memories of PJ Harvey and Dead Can Dance but which also pointed in many directions. Pain Is Beauty is then again a new product with a new focus point. It's primarily an album that blends elements of darkwave and industrial metal, where Wolfe comes out as stronger and more distinct vocalist of her own, although, on the fine "House of Metal" she does sound like influenced by Siouxsie Sioux, but overall, the album appears as her most coherent album to date. There's an underlying ethereal tone throughout the album - even on more direct metal tracks, and perhaps this is what makes it all feel like one organism. My initial thoughts were kind of bland, and I didn't hear any distinct songs but already on a second spin, I found it opening up to an original sound that can only be described as Chelsea Wolfe, and which makes me abstain from further comparison. What's quite remarkable here is Wolfe's try on various styles and sounds but with a result that is anything but incoherent - her moody vocal and the spacious, yet simple arrangements and tight production keeps everything together.

Pain Is Beauty is a fascinating album.

[ allmusic.com, Drowned in Sound, Pitchfork, PopMatters 4 / 5, 👎NME 3 / 5 stars ]

The Chemical Brothers "Hanna" (OST) (2011)

Hanna (soundtrack)
release date: Mar. 15, 2011
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,68]

Track highlights: 1. "Hanna's Theme" - 2. "Escape 700" - 4. "The Devil Is in the Details" - 10. "Bahnhof Rumble" - 11. "The Devil Is in the Beats" - 17. "Escape Wavefold" - 19. "Container Park" - 20. "Hanna's Theme (Vocal Version)"

Original Soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers to an action adventure movie by Joe Wright (feat. Cate Blanchett). It's unmistakably The Chemical Brothers, and pretty much as usual a soundtrack album differs from what artists normally produce. In this case the music is more progressive and experimental house instead of big beat and / or breakbeat, and also, many tracks are noteworthy short in playing time with elements of industrial and musique concrete. I think, it's an interesting album, which almost touches a genre of modern classical, and I come to think of Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, and Kraftwerk as possible sources of inspiration.

Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine "White People and the Damage Done" (2013)

White People and the Damage Done
release date: Apr. 2, 2013
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: Marshall Lawless
label: Alternative Tentacles - nationality: USA

[ full album ]

2nd studio album by Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine. With this album, Biafra and T.G.S.O.M. comes out as one of Biafra's better musical projects after his time in Dead Kennedys, and the music isn't that far from the old legendary band. Not that it's a simple return to 1980's formula of hardcore punk, but it's more like how you could imagine DK would have sounded had they stayed together. Compared to the debut from 2009, the production side has improved and there's a fine balance of hardcore punk combined with industrial rock and metal, some of which comes close to the music Biafra played with Lard, D.O.A., NoMeansNo, as well as with The Melvins, and then he hasn't stopped having a critical view on his home-country, which was more blurred on the predecessor The Audacity of Hype (2009). Marshall Lawless seems like Biafra's first choice for the production seat as he has produced albums for Biafra since the early 1990s whether Biafra played in collaboration projects, alone, or in more traditional band compounds, This is an improvement to the band's music, I think, and mostly because the material is more originally diverse.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine "The Audacity of Hype" (2009)

The Audacity of Hype [debut]
release date: Oct. 20, 2009
format: digital
[album rate: 2 / 5] [2,18]
producer: Jello Biafra
label: Alternative Tentacles - nationality: USA

Studio debut by Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine. The album is an actual band release after Biafra's most recent spoken word album In the Grip of Official Treason (2006), and his involvement in various collaboration works, and releases with industrial metal band Pigface. The style seems like a clone of whatever he has been involved in since the late 1970s, which is a huge pothole of punk-related music. This is hardcore punk, and as such the closest one could imagine would have been the result if Dead Kennedys had stayed an active band, although, there's some industrial rock to it, which mostly points to Biafra's former band, Lard. It's also tight alt. rock, but I don't find it that interesting, as it just sounds like angry old men / punk rockers, who don't have much new to say and the tracks are simply too much alike making it much on par with Sieg Howdy!.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Jello Biafra With The Melvins "Sieg Howdy!" (2005)

Sieg Howdy!
release date: Sep. 27, 2005
format: digital
[album rate: 2 / 5] [2,14]
producer: Ali G. North, Marshall Lawless
label: Alternative Tentacles - nationality: USA

[ full album ]

2nd collaboration album release by Jello Biafra With The Melvins after the 2004 album Never Breathe What You Can't See. The music here doesn't have the same playful approach to music. Stylistically, this is raw hardcore punk close to the metal universe associated with The Melvins and Canadian band NoMeansNo. Of course, with Jello Biafra writting lyrics and bashing out the songs there's a heavy satirical element but it sounds more like a return to the sound of Lard (and / or Ministry) and another time and place. I don't really enjoy this release.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]