Enter Shikari - Take to the Skies (2007) (Special Review: MattJ)

Well well well, Enter Shikari, we meet at last. I've listened to this at the request of Dan who in exchange has listened to and reviewed (very nicely I might add) cLOUDDEAD. I feel that I've gotten the easier end of this deal...

Well everyone and their grandmother seems to have listened to this album and seen the band live apart from me. I wasn't really sure what to expect, although I say that I knew exactly what they are - hardcore(ish) and electronic(ish), but what is that supposed to sound like? The first thing that surprised me was the vocals. I really wasn't expecting what I got from the vocalist on the opening song - he reminded me strangely of the singer from post-punk band Wire and that can only be a good thing.*

'Anything can happen in the next half hour indeed' I thought. I very much liked the little interludes throughout the album and found myself thinking I wouldn't mind listening to an entire album like this, especially the last one before the end. Another part of the album I liked was the energy I heard from the band, especially on the annoyingly named 'No Sssweat'. I very much would like to see this song, Mothership and Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour live. Furthermore, I suppose you could call this a good thing, the backing vocals of 'Return to Energizer' sounds like they are shouted in to a cushion and really made me laugh. Yeah, that is definitely a positive.

Although I did find many aspects of the album to be good it was not without its negatives. 'Sorry, You're Not a Winner' was the only ES song I had heard before this and I have never been a fan of it. From the vocals, which otherwise on the album I have enjoyed but sadly not on this track, to the eternally horrible clapping. I just don't find this song very enjoyable; the same is true of Labyrinth and Johnny Sniper where I really hated the riff of both songs. In fact I found Johnny Sniper down right cringey - it sounds like I stepped out of my bedroom and into a fairground. I'm finding that the aspects of the album I did not like were all things that are down to perspective and so are not things that are bad because Enter Shikari are bad - more because I don't really like some aspects of the album.

This is a fairly solid album from a band who feel like they have been around forever, but listening to this album I hear a young group with a hell of a lot of potential. I much preferred their fast paced songs and shouting as apposed to slower songs like 'Today Won't Go Down in History' but I found 'Adieu' to be a very nice song indeed. I was pleasantly surprised with this album, which is by no means a masterpiece but still a good album, and I am actually looking forward to hear how they've grown with their next album. 3/5

Highlights:
Enter Shikari
Mothership
All of the interludes

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqP-Ezl-4AM (I feel the need to explain myself as I can't just name drop any old band in a review and expect people to know them, I'm not a reviewer from Pitchfork)

cLOUDDEAD - cLOUDDEAD (2001) (Special Review: Dan)

I'm listening to cLOUDDEAD's self titled 2001 album by request from Matt. He never really told me what genre it is, or what I should expect and as I've never heard them before I came into this expecting anything. I would call cLOUDDEAD a hip hop album, but as I'm not really a hip hop fan and don't have a lot to compare this to people may wish to argue with this. I enjoyed the track listing - there are six track titles, each with two parts. I was expecting twelve different tracks though, but I was pleasantly surprised after listening to both parts of Apt. A to find that they were relatively similar sounding, and then after hearing the first part to And All You Can Do Is Laugh was pleased to hear that it sounded very different.

To be honest, I find this really difficult to review; There is nothing I like about what I hear, but there is not I don't like at the same time. This genre of music just doesn't interest me. The vocals are bizarre, and I think the whole album reminds me of The Avalanches - which can't really be a good thing.

I'm actually having so much trouble trying to write anything here, I just can't understand what there is to enjoy about this album. I also can't really work out how to give it a score. Because from my statement where I said that "There is nothing I like but there is nothing I don't like" it suggests that it should be given a 2.5 - A nice, medium score. However, at the same time I'm thinking 'If there is NOTHING that I like, how can I give it anything more than a 0?'. So, cLOUDDEAD has been difficult on a number of levels, I think listening has been the worst.

It has a very electronic sound, with vocals that sound quirky, and extremely unusual. I recall Matt telling me that he likes unusual, and I think that is why he likes this - I really can't think of another reason why he might. Also, though I think it's a bit irrelevant, I seem to have noticed that on every hiphop album I have listened to in the past, there has been a section where we hear a phone being dialled or ringing. Hip-Hoppers clearly find this an exciting sound...Sadly, I dont.

I'm going to give up with this now, there really is nothing else I can say. Ah, although I can announce that I was only able to listen to this thanks to Spotify. Though, if anything, this is a bad thing.

So I need to come up with a score...I'm just going to go between my two thoughts, and give it a 1.25 / 5.

"It's all the same shit, but they call it cLOUDDEAD"

Jimmy Eat World - Futures (Review: MattJ)

This is the first Jimmy Eat World album I've ever heard. Before this I'd only heard The Middle and a couple of other songs I don't remember the name of but I'm sure I didn't like. With the song Futures I don't think that they went off to a good start. I hated the riff and couldn't get into the song at all. Just Tonight... then came on and I found this to be huge improvement, the music was quite good and the vocals didn't seem to grate as they had done before. The song was genuinely quite catchy.

Regrettably this was the last song that I enjoyed on the entire rest of the album. There were two main points that I didn't like and came up a few times on the album. The first is the vocals - the worst of which I found to be on Work. His high pitched whine annoyed me greatly on this song and the 'oh oh, oh oh oh' parts of the chorus made me cringe horribly.

Another part of the album which ruined it for me was the music itself. It's as if Jimmy Eat World want their songs to sound catchy and for everyone to be singing along and loving it, but it's just not doing it for me. The repetition of the last words on some lines in Kill made me hate it with an unbelievable fiery passion: "I can't help it baby, this is who I am (am)
Sorry, but I can't just go turn off how I feel (feel)"
I know it may seem like I am being nit picky but it is small things like this that can ruin a song for me completely. "We're only ever as happy, as everyone else seems to be." It's lyrics like this that just make me want to shout 'Fuck off' to my computer screen. I am sorry Ben if this seems like I'm being too cruel.

The song I liked the least of all was Drugs or Me. I dislike this the most because I can see what they are trying to do, but they just can not do it. This is supposed to be ballad that fans of JEW will call beautiful, it's supposed to be minimal in terms of instrumentation because the lyrics are the most important thing. The lyrics are supposed to reach the heart of the listener as they cry about the hurt the singer's singing about. But what I heard was lack luster singing and vocals that do nothing but make my ears blink* coupled with boring music. This song made me sad, not because of the message in the song but because it bored me.
You're sorry, you swear it: you're done
But I can't tell you from the drugs
Remember kids, don't do drugs.

Overall I will give this album 1.5/5

Sorry.

*Ear blinking is when you close your ears to sound. It doesn't really exist but I wish it did.

Tool - 10,000 days (Review: Roshan)

10,000 days was the first of tool I was exposed to, which is actually a bad thing (reasons why later). Their sound is definitely a unique and refreshing take on the metal/rock genre that is very much sagging with age. I wouldn’t oppose a spawn of a new genre based on tools style, I would embrace it and hope that other/new bands will follow these pioneers.

As you might probably guess I have very much enjoyed this album. One thing that always affects how much I like an album no matter what the band is its production values. The production on this album is simply splendid and you can hear the quality the moment you press play, to the progressively inspiring drum fills and the last of the ambient Viginti Tres.

The albums starts of strongly with the palm muted, heavily delayed, almost hypnotic opening melody in Vicarious that has an “eastern” feel to it. As mentioned the anthem like lyrics of it really power the song along, but the part I was most impressed with was echoing of lyrics in the guitar riff at 3.25, which is then joined by the drums, almost like an A cappella of instruments. Jambi’s beginning I can’t help but feel is slightly Meshuggah inspired, it’s the sort of polyrhythmic chugging that you’d expect from them. The progression in this song is a lot more secretive than the previous song climaxing up to 3.04 before the instruments make way for the almost speech like delivery of an awesome verse.

Ah now, Wings both parts 1 and 2 are a masterpiece. If these were the only two songs on the album I would have still felt I received my moneys worth. Incredibly well crafted, atmospheric and engrossing. It begins with a soothing whirling sound that almost surrounds you, fluctuating in speed. By the time it’s sucked you in it hits you hard at 4.12 into a full on traditional power chord enraged riffing followed by an increasingly robotic voice. In wings part 2 the whirl of sound has been replaced with thunder and rain taking you again to another world. The voice is kept slow and almost silent, rarely rising above a whisper. Something I thought was quite cheeky was the return of the whirling sound without you quite realising it blends into the vocalists harmony at 3.18, blink and you’ve missed its entrance. It returns to similar heavy riffing heard in the previous track.

The Pot brings things back to the mainstream with very impressive singing and minimalistic riffs and random guitar noises. Halfway through it cuts to a familiar palm muted melody heard at the start of vicarious. Its little things like this, the similarities, the constants, such as the guitar tone and style of singing in the album that makes sure every song sounds like it belongs there. Blame Hoffman keeps with the background noises and with some simple picking of guitar chords and background chatter makes for a great and interesting instrumental, something other metal bands try and hopelessly fail at, producing an incoherent mess they clearly aren’t talented enough to direct.

Intension builds on their instrumental efforts, including Tablas which I think is a silent nod at reflections from their previous album. There’s not much I can say about the other tracks other than I can only describe them as “typically tool” and they have a fair amount in common with the previous album.

I have to say I am immensely impressed with the hidden genius of this album and it beckons for repeat hearing so you can appreciate it fully. I only wish that this wasn’t the first tool album I heard as their other albums disappoint in comparison. I think tool, although well into their career still have a lot to offer us and I look forward to future productions. Overall 4/5

Jimmy Eat World - Futures (Review: Alex)

I've Listened to two Jimmy Eat World albums previous to this one: Bleed American and Chase This Light (purely for their respective singles, somewhat shamefully). Whereas I was very impressed by Bleed American, my opinion on Chase This Light was that it didn't live up to quite the same standard. I was, therefore, interested to see what I would think of Futures.

Having read Dan's review before listening to the album, the opening track provoked thoughts that my review would end up going in much the same direction. The guitar riff to 'Futures', I thought, was pretty awful. In fact, I didn't really enjoy much of this track on first listening. It's the sort of thing which I'm sure I could have written myself, and I'm Not even close to being in a globally successful band.

However, 'Just Tonight', by total contrast, is a great song. It's catchy (especially in the chorus, which is always important), and something about it shows me a new side to Jimmy Eat World which I can't exactly place. Had I the authority to do so, I would certainly have chosen this as the opening track.

I'm in danger of going through the album track by track, but 'Work' is one of the best things I have heard Jimmy Eat World do. In fact, I've never noticed a Jimmy Eat world album in which the band moves so freely and easily into drop tunings. The album, and this song in particular, shows me something new, dark and interesting about the band which I have never noticed before. It reminds me a lot of 'Hear You Me' from Bleed American, but offers so much more.

From the second track onwards, this album moved up and up in my perception. They offer something soothing, but paradoxically with a lot of 'grunt' (much as I hate that word, it's the most fitting one). It's subtle and simple, but throughout there is an underlying feeling that there is something more. I get this sense most while listening to 'The World You Love'; something that I just can't place. This is a very clever trick to have pulled off and is a testament to the band's songwriting, if not technical, talent.

I'm not sure how they managed it, but with Futures, Jimmy Eat World managed to pull off something ever so slightly different. I think this easily deserves a 3.5/5, though I feel I really should be giving it more.

Damien Rice - O (Review: Elliott)

I'd always thought that Damien Rice was one of those artists that Mothers listen to whilst cooking dinner for the family - a bit of background music. Having been introduced to the likes of "Jeff Buckley", "City and Colour" and "Get Cape Wear Cape Fly" I've started to have a lot of time for music that I previously wouldn't have considered listening to. Slow, melodic music coupled with a pleasant voice can be incredibly soothing and I've found that I can listen to these kinds of albums regardless of the mood I'm in.

The album opens with "Delicate", a very simple song. The title describes this song perfectly and sets the tone for what's to come."Volcano" introduces a female singer who appears on quite a few songs on the album. Something about her voice is very similar to "Regina Spektor's" and it fits the track perfectly. The violins on "The Blower's Daughter" work perfectly and the power of Rice's voice followed by the choir at around 3:30 is one of my favourite moments on the album - along with the climatic part around 3:15 into "I Remember".

There is something about Damien Rice's voice that I love. It sounds effortless and raspy but these are the reasons that I love it. The album doesn't sound overproduced and it doesn't suffer from a vocalist attempting to show-off their vocal range. It's easy to listen to and it seems to satisfy any mood. I can't think of a single fault with this album. I want to be able to say that it lacks a "happier, more upbeat" song but I know that's exactly what I don't want to hear from Damien Rice.

I'm happy that this album has completely disproved any preconceptions I'd had of Damien Rice.

5/5

For anyone wishing to join in the fun

Hello,

To anyone who wants to be an author on the site and join Alex, Ben, Dan and I in reviewing the albums on this blog then just contact any of us and let us know, we'll add you as soon as possible. Elliott already has. You're not expected to review every album put up but please take it seriously.
Unfortunately we aren't currently having anyone else suggest albums as 4 a week is enough, coupled with our new feature New Release Sunday where each of us will review an album that none of us have heard before (this may not yet happen but it probably will), it's probably going to be too much to handle and too hard to keep organised.

Thanks.

Jimmy Eat World - Futures (Review: Dan)

I like Jimmy Eat World. I love the the album Chase This Light, and I find Adkins' vocals brilliant. And normally, a good vocalist is enough for me. And for some reason, I've never gotten round to listening to Futures, despite the fact that I love almost everything I have heard from the band, and they were one of my favourite live acts of 2008.

So I was actually quite looking forward to hearing this. But it is with massive regret that I report; I did not enjoy the album. That's not to say there weren't any good songs on it though, as there some that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Futures and Just Tonight... were not enjoyed at all, they did nothing to excite me and I couldn't find any enjoyment from them. However, I thought that the track Work was magnificent, and I began to think the album would start to improve. It turns out I was wrong, and, though it was a huge improvement on tracks 1 and 2, Kill was already a significant drop below the standard set by Work. Don't read too much into that though, I did enjoy the song. I think things picked up again with World You Love, though, which was a fairly decent track.

The song Pain is very good. This was the only song I knew before listening to the album, and it is undoubtedly one of the best. But it just doesn't suit the rest of the record. It sounds like it doesn't belong on Futures. I can't really justify this, but when I was listening to it, it just felt so out of place.
From then on I think the album got worse and worse, until the song 23 finally gave it a little bit of strength at the end.

I was really disappointed that I didn't enjoy this album; I think there is a lot of filler there, and hardly any strong tracks. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh; I think my hopes were probably just too high for Futures.

Settling on a score for the album, though, has possibly been harder than listening to it. It was let down by so many weak tracks, and I wanted to give it somewhere between 1.5 and 2...However, with tracks like Work, Kill (which grew on me with each listen) and 23, it seems rude to give it such a low score. So, thanks to some of it's better tracks I'm going to give it a (perhaps generous) 2.5 stars.

Highlight Tracks:
[3]Work
[4]Kill
[5]World You Love
[6]Pain
[11]23

Tool - 10,000 Days (Review: MattJ)

Vicarious - what an album opener. It's a brilliant track with some of my favourite Tool lyrics: "I need to watch things die from a good safe distance
Vicariously, I live while the whole world dies". The lyrics are well complemented by the superb musicianship of Tool that I heard on their 2001 release Lateralus and these are two factors that are consistent throughout the whole album. I am especially a fan of the drumming from Danny Carey, which I found better than the drumming I heard on Lateralus.

On 10,000 Days Tool experiment with some more ambient tracks (mostly in the form of interludes) - an odd although not unheard of path taken in the metal genre, especially that which is considered 'Progressive Metal'. Tool have managed to pull these tracks off very well, and I would certainly like to hear more of this sort of thing. A criticism of Tool has always been a fairly similar slow, built up, heavy, progressive structure in almost all of their songs and with tracks such as Lost Keys and Viginti Tres the show critics that they can do more than this.

Something that I love about Tool is that it is hard to pigeon hole them into any specific genre, they don't really sound like anyone else. With 10,000 Days they continue this tradition and like Alex said, they are a clever band. This is a clever album because of the unusual structure of the music, '6.5/8' time signatures and the experimentation taken by all musicians which combine to make their unique sound. This album is also clever because of the lyrics: "Kangaroo done hung the jury with the innocent" from The Pot and the brilliant Right in Two which looks at the actions of man from the perspective of angels.

One of the things I liked so much about Lateralus was the interesting vocals, the high pitched shouting/screeching on Ticks & Leeches being a personal favourite. Despite there being no more screeching I found the vocals to be on point as usual. I've always thought that the singer could be in Alice in Chains as he is not totally dissimilar to Layne Staley, and I was delighted to find that he was offered to be their vocalist at one point, but he turned it down. Shame.

Unlike the album Lateralus I did find one track that I did not like. That track is 10,000 Days (Wings, Part 2). I honestly found it boring - it's like they've made a song based on all the bad reviews they've gotten. The music is repetitive, and not in a good way, the lyrics are barely audible and there was nothing there to excite the listener. But one bad track on an eleven track album is by no means bad, in fact it's very good. I am certainly looking forward to exploring more of Tool's discography.

4/5

Album Highlights:
Vicarious
The Pot
Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)
Rosetta Stoned
Right in Two

Audioslave - Audioslave (Review: Ben)

Aside from 'Cochise', I'd never really listened to Audioslave and so it was with baited breath after a string of healthy reviews from everyone else that I delved into their self-titled offering. So, let's start with what we know, Morello is a guitar genius and Cornell is a fantastic vocalist. But what to expect from this 'supergroup' combination?



The album begins with a solid opening track, a nice riff and a song which promises good things from the album. Unfortunately, I found 'Show me how to live' went in the opposite direction and prepared me instead for a much more challenging listen. The song was solid enough and by no means terrible but it lacked something to keep me interested, a trend I found consistent throughout the album.



Influences of RATM were obvious from the outset but I felt the album as a whole lacked the stand-out, in your face kind of tracks that have become such a trademark of RATM. Ok, so this is not RATM and Audioslave are clearly trying to do their own thing, but I just can't help but feel the album as a whole is solid if unspectacular and almost drifts by without leaving much of an impression. Having just finished listening, I can name maybe 2 tracks other than 'Cochise' which stuck in my head. 'Like a Stone' showed a much more diverse style to Audioslave and proved their undoubted quality to write a song with a lot of depth and meaning, typified by another fantastic Morello solo. However, 'I am the Highway' stands out for me as the real anthem of this record. It is a much slower song but has so much emotion in it and really showcases Cornell's vocals. It hints at something epic within this band and I was hugely disappointed that no other track managed to reach these heights. Despite these two tracks, the album fails to really engage the listener and by the time I'd reached track six (Set it Off) there was a sense of "heard it all before".



So, to conclude, I thought that this was an average album that despite showing in parts great promise to deliver something epic, ultimately fell way short of consistently delivering memorable tracks. Audioslave left me with a great sense of unfulfilment and so I give it a score of 2.5 out of 5.

Jimmy Eat World - Futures (2004)

"Futures" – 3:58
"Just Tonight..." – 3:26
"Work" – 3:23
"Kill" – 3:48
"The World You Love" – 5:01
"Pain" – 3:01
"Drugs or Me" – 6:25
"Polaris" – 4:51
"Nothingwrong" – 3:09
"Night Drive" – 5:03
"23" – 7:23

'Futures' is the fifth offering from Jimmy Eat World and one which took them from "that band who did 'The Middle'" to one of the biggest alternative rock acts in the world. It is an album which is easy to listen to and flows well from start to finish and includes the singles 'Work', 'Pain' and 'Futures'. I think the album peaks with the stunning closer '23', one of my favourite songs of all time and as a whole I think this album is well worthy of a place in anybodys record collection.

Stand-out tracks:

Pain

Work

Kill

Just Tonight...

23

Audioslave - Audioslave (Review: Elliott)

Having listened to Rage Against The Machine's self-titled album and "The Battle Of Los Angeles", I wasn't sure how the absence of Zach De La Rocha would affect this album. I started listening to Rage Against The Machine after hearing that they were announced on the Reading line-up last year and after seeing them perform live, I had the two aforementioned albums on rotation for a very long time. However, after a while - as with any other album that I play too much - I started to realise a lot of things that I really didn't enjoy. I started to realise how similar their songs sounded. Two songs into "Audioslave" and I was beginning to see the same pattern. Something about the choruses on the first two songs - in my ears - sounds similar. Nevertheless, I refused to let that stop me from listening to the album. It's probably a good job that I didn't stop listening because after listening to the album all the way through, I think I quite enjoyed it.

Obviously, there are some downfalls to the album. At points, the album falls victim to the same element that ruined the “Rage Against The Machine” albums for me. Often, choruses sound incredibly similar and I can picture Chris Cornell screaming along to the song from on top of a tower with fireworks flying everywhere (see Cochise video) As a result of this, I think the more melodic songs come as a pleasant surprise – notably “Shadow in the sun”. Chris Cornell’s voice is brilliant on the majority of the tracks but for some reason, as the album progresses, I find myself growing tired of it. This could be due to the fact that on the later, slower songs, he sounds about 50 years old. A part of me also misses the presence Zach De La Rocha. I think he added another dimension to the band along with a heap of energy in his angry lyrics.

I’ve probably been a bit harsh when talking about the “downfalls” of the album. I really did enjoy it. Tom Morello’s guitar solos are extremely entertaining – most notably around 3 minutes into “Like a stone” - and Chris Cornell’s voice is incredibly powerful at times. I’m just hoping this album has the longevity that I didn’t really get from Rage Against The Machine’s albums.

Personal highlights for me:

Gasoline

Like a stone

Shadow in the sun

 

 

Damien Rice - O (2002)

I'm just putting this one out there for anyone who isn't too busy and fancies next week's album from me a bit early. It also gives you plenty of time to download and listen to it, I feel it's more relaxed that way.
Anyway, this is, I believe, Damien Rice's debut album, and it is truly magnificent. It's quite simple, and a very pleasant listen. There's really not much I can say about the album, other than that I like it, and it doesn't require me to be in a specific mood for it.

Track Listing:
[1]Delicate
[2]Volcano
[3]The Blower's Daughter
[4]Cannonball
[5]Older Chests
[6]Amie
[7]Cheers Darlin'
[8]Cold Water
[9]I Remember
[10]Eskimo

Highlights:
[1]Delicate
[2]Volcano
[3]The Blower's Daughter
[8]Cold Water

For a link to the album e-mail us at albumswap@hotmail.co.uk

Metallica - Master of Puppets (Review: Alex)

I've never listened to an entire Metallica album before, so I have no frame of reference. I've never liked the few Metallica songs which I've heard over the years, and was therefore quite sceptical about this album. Saying this, I was hoping to be proven wrong. The reality is, that this album was everything I expected it to be: pure thrash metal.

This isn't to say I didn't enjoy it though. I know I'm contradicting everything I have just said, but there are aspects of this album which I very much enjoy. There is a lot of power behind it, which is to be expected from a band with such credibility in the metal genre, and I think this works well on all levels. This album isn't proving anything, and it doesn't need to; it's thrash at its best, and Metallica know exactly what they're doing. The harmonised guitar solos work wonders as a contrast to the anger which drives the album.

One thing I don't like is, somewhat controversially, Ulrich's drumming. Throughout the album I can't help but think he's just being plain lazy. Moments in 'Welcome Home' and 'Disposable Heroes' tell me that he is a great drummer, but this isn't consistent enough for me. Similarly, and I echo Dan's sentiment here when I say, Hetfield's vocals often do nothing other than to get on my nerves.

Possibly a reflection upon my general dislike for thrash metal, the best aspects for me are when the band breaks down into some slow, melodic, often harmonised guitar lines, heard midway through 'The Thing That Should Not Be' and in 'Orion'. It shows to me that Metallica are far more than the average thrash band. I genuinely believe that it is this which Metallica can trace their immense global success to.

I do quite like this album. It's no nonsense, which is undoubtedly its strength. It has put Metallica slightly up in my expectations, and warrants I think, a 3/5.

Audioslave - Audioslave (Review: MattJ)

Now, unlike Alex, I’m going in to this without having listened to any Rage or Soundgarden albums and no proper opinion of the band, so I’m curious as to how my review will differ from his.

The first thing that stuck out for me on this album was the riffs, they are very catchy and well… they rock. They make me nod along to the song which is always nice. Staying with guitar the solos are unusual and this I quite like, specifically on Gasoline. A problem I’ve always had is where a guitar solo just sounds like it was thrown in for the sake of it with no consideration to how it would sound with the rest of the song – Audioslave successfully avoids this.

Like Alex I am surprised I like this album. I mean its nothing groundbreaking; the vocals aren’t amazing and despite my previous complement neither are the riffs. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoy the riffs but they’re not going to make me eargasm. I like this album because it works; it isn’t trying to be groundbreaking, it’s just making some nice music. I hope it doesn’t look like I’m belittling the album in any way because an album that tries to be totally new and fails is a lot worse than an album that knows what it wants to do and is sticking to a formula. What I’m saying is Audioslave are not making the listener work in order to understand what’s going on, they can just sit back and enjoy, and the more I learn about Dan’s music the more I realise that this is type of music that Dan enjoys the most.

All in all this album is not without its filler, but is still a good album because of its enjoyable music and cool lyrics. It is not a complex album because it doesn’t want to be, I’m sure this album is very popular amongst Audioslave fans.

3.5/5

Tool - 10,000 Days (Review: Dan)

I was surprised when Tool came up, if I'm honest. I didn't think anyone liked them. I was also very reluctant to listen to them, as they are what I have always very naively called an "Old Band". Which is a ridiculous thing to do really.
However, I have been extremely pleasantly surprised from what I have heard from 10,000 Days. Vicarious, I genuinely believe, has been one of the most exciting songs I have listened to in a very long time. I'd be willing to say it's one of the best new things I've heard in a long time, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
As I had never listened to Tool before I didn't really know what to expect, which was great for them, as I can be very stubborn, as I feel I was with Metallica, depsite the perhaps generous score I gave the album. It's because of this that I have let their long songs not become a burden to me. I've embraced what I'm listening to and accepted that it is good, despite it's ridiculous length.
I'm probably not going to say alot more, other than that I enjoyed the album.
Sadly, I can't find a picture on amazon of 4 stars. So you will have to imagine them.

My favourite tracks were:
[1]Vicarious
[2]Jambi
[5]The Pot

Audioslave - Audioslave (Review: Alex)

The initial problem I have with Audioslave is that they are neither Soundgarden or Rage Against the Machine, two of my favourite bands. I have always been sceptical about whether or not Cornell and Morello could pull it off. I have to say that, with the opening track to this album, it wasn't off to a great start. The guitar riff to Cochise harbours an uncanny resemblance to Pantera's I'm Broken. Nevertheless I do enjoy the song. Audioslave do it better, but Pantera did it first.

I am suprised, therefore, at how much I actually enjoyed this album. I was especially impressed by the tracks; 'Like a Stone', 'I am the Highway' and 'Set it off'. A lot of it proved to me that Morello's trademark guitar riffs do, indeed, work without Zach De La Rocha's anger fuled rapping. However this probably owes a great deal to the power of Cornell's voice, which is able to keep up with the power of Morello's guitar. My favourite aspects of this album, however, are the moments when the band manages to forget the supergroups they came from. It shows me something different about the diversity of Morello in particular, something he later recaptured with his side project, The Nightwatchman.

All in all, I am very impressed. It certainly isn't something I will now stop listening to. I will therefore give it a very respectable 4/5.

Metallica - Master of Puppets (Review: Dan)

I had mixed feelings before listening to this album. I've never been a Metallica fan, and I've always been quick to slate them, without ever really giving them a fair chance. I'm also not a fan of long songs, and it seems Metallica are big fans. This is why I was never a Guns N Roses fan. But anyway, I did my part and listened to the album.

I found something strangely catchy about Master of Puppets (MOP), and I still can't really place it. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it, because I actually quite enjoyed the music. However, I really think that the vocals provided from James Hetfield are very poor. I really don't like them, which is a shame as MOP is a very solid album. It's consistently good from start to end, but the whole thing is let down by the vocals. Obviously a lot of people have no problem with them, as they are certainly one of the most successful bands in the world. I just don't understand why. I'd have thought that such talented musicians would have wanted a better singer than the one they have.
Anyway, I won't carry on slating the vocals. I think that MOP is a very impressive record, and I will most likely continue to listen to it, and I have a feeling that the vocals will grow on me. Though I don't want them to.

Album score:
Personal Highlights:
[2]Master of Puppets
[4]Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
[6]Leper Messiah

Tool - 10000 days (2006)

Track listing:
1 - Vicarious - 7:06
2 - Jambi - 7:28
3 - Wings for Marie (Pt.1) - 6:11
4 - 10,000 Days (Wings Pt.2) - 11:13
5 - The Pot - 6:21
6 - Lipan Conjuring - 1:11
7 - Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann) - 3:46
8 - Rosetta Stoned - 11:11
9 - Intension - 7:21
10 - Right in Two - 8:55
11 - Viginti Tres - 5:02

For a link to the album e-mail us at albumswap@hotmail.co.uk

I think this album deserves a chance. It's far too clever to be a straight metal album, but I struggle to class it as anything else. I'm sure there are many terms which I'm yet unaware of, but as far as i'm concerned, It's just good.

Songs to listen to in particular:
Vicarious
The Pot
Rosetta Stoned

Enjoy.

Audioslave - Audioslave (2002)

Track Listing:
Cochise
Show Me How To Live
Gasoline
What You Are
Like A Stone
Set It Off
Shadow On The Sun
I Am The Highway
Exploder
Hypnotize
Bring 'Em Back Alive
Light My Way
Getaway Car
The Last Remaining Light


This is an album I decided to give a chance just after I had been to reading festival. I was inspired by Tom Morello's brilliance, and so downloaded this album and some RATM. I feel that this may have prevailed in the battle between the two bands, but I think that 'The Battle of Los Angeles' has some very good songs on it. I think I prefer the vocals from Chris Cornell to those from Zach De La Rocha, which may be why I prefer Audioslave. Anyway...Personal favourites include:

[1]Cochise
[2]Show Me How To Live
[5]Like A Stone
[8]I Am The Highway

For a link to the album e-mail us at albumswap@hotmail.co.uk

Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986)

Track Listing:
'Battery' - 5:13
'Master of Puppets' - 8:38
'The Thing That Should Not Be' - 6:37
'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)' - 6:28
'Disposable Heroes' - 8:17
'Leper Messiah' - 5:41
'Orion' - 8:28
'Damage, Inc.' - 5:30

Well renowned classic in the metal community 'Master of Puppets' was the first Metallica, and indeed Thrash, album that I listened to and has since remained one of my favourites. This is Metallica before they turned shit, this is the Metallica that the band tried to recapture with 'Death Magnetic', and this is Metallica we should all still be listening to. My favourite aspect of the album has got to be the guitar work from Kirk Hammett supported by singer James Hetfield - proper face melters. If you were to get one thrash album in your life... it would be Slayer's 'Reign in Blood', but this would be second. Maybe.

Album highlights include (although are not limited to as every song is very good):
Lepar Messiah
Disposable Heroes
Battery

For a link to the album e-mail us at albumswap@hotmail.co.uk

Welcome to Album Swap

Hello there,
This is a blog where me (Matt), Dan, Alex and Ben, and anyone else who is interested, trade albums with each other in order to find new music, share opinions of them and have fun listening to music.
Each week we will post an album each to swap with each other and for you (the reader), followed by a short review and rating of the other person's album.

That's about it, hope you enjoy it.

Matt