It’s been over a decade since Genghis Tron has released a new album. Thankfully, on March 26th, the wait it over as the bands long awaited new album, Dream Weapon will be released (via Relapse Records). Dream Weapon sees Genghis Tron’s Hamilton Jordan and Michael Sochynsky now joined by two new collaborators: vocalist Tony Wolski and Sumac/Baptists drummer Nick Yacyshyn. This new lineup helps to compliment the mix of extreme rock and electronic music that Genghis Tron have pioneered during their career. The new album was recorded and produced alongside long-time collaborator Kurt Ballou at God City Studio in Salem, Massachusetts, with additional production and engineering by Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe), JJ Heath (Rain City Recorders), and Zach Weeks (God City Studio) and was mastered by Heba Kadry. Now, two weeks out from the release of Dream Weapon, Genghis Tron have dropped another song from the album. “Pyrocene” is one hell of a great song and was also the first song the group completed for the record. The accompanying video for “Pyrocene” is hypnotic and full of lush psychedelic imagery. In addition to “Pyrocene,” two other songs have been released, the title track “Dream Weapon” and ” Ritual Circle. You can pre-order the album HERE.
Consistency in rock music is very important. A band can deviate and experiment all they want but, as long as the album or songs don’t stray too far off path their career longevity will for sure continue. Which in the case of Chevelle, consistency is one of the best words to describe them. Since their inception, each album they’ve released has been a solid rock album after another. Some have seen the band try new things and add different elements but, through and through, they’ve always delivered a solid piece of work. So, it’s no surprise that on their new album, NIRATIAS (Nothing Is Real This Is A Simulation), the band stretched their wings a bit more and fully embraced their past, present, and future on this one.
It’s a little strange to start the album off with an instrumental but, “Verruckt” is one hell of a way to start this one off. The hard charging riffs and rhythms are the perfect guide to take you to the absolute banger that is “So Long, Mother Earth.” That track needs to be a single and added to the setlist. Then “Mars Simula” hits you again and there’s nothing left to do but, turn the volume up even more. “Self Destructor” was the first single released and it’s still one hell of a track. It’s very classic “Chevelle” with a bit more of a melodic palette. “Piistol Star (Gravity Heals)” is the song Tool should have released on the snooze fest that is Fear Innoculum. This track is very heavy on the Tool influence but, it’s done in a very tasteful way that makes you wish Tool would write songs like this. “Peach” is another banger of a song and one that will and should be a live staple for years to come. “Endlessly” is an absolute standout on this album. The songwriting on this song is impeccable. Definitely pay close attention to this one. “Remember When” is another hot track on the album with great riffs and a crushing rhythm. “Ghost and Razor” is one of my favorite songs on the album. This track is so damn good. I’m not going to say anything else about this one, just listen to it! Closing out the album is the ambient/piano drive spoken word track “Lost In The Digital Woods.” This is an eerie one but, interesting. It’s a culmination of all the thematic elements that were touched upon through the lyrics and it’s a nice little coda to end things on.
NIRATIAS is one hell of a great heavy rock album. It’s got all the right parts to make this a stand out in the band’s catalog. The underlying conceptual elements on the album make the listening experience quite enjoyable. The interludes help carry the songs over and gives you a moment to reflect on the previous songs. Lyrically this is an expansive album. There’s definitely a science fiction theme to the album with all the mentions of space and time. It makes for an introspective listen and makes you think enough to put the album on again as soon as it’s over. The tones of the instruments and vocals are top notch. Chevelle really found the right producer/engineer in Joe Baressi. His ability to capture the band is astounding. There is something kind of funny about this album too. As I mentioned in the album/song description about Tool, Chevelle has always had a Tool element to their sound. This album does have some straight up moments that are right out of their playbook but, considering how underwhelming the last two Tool albums have been, hearing Chevelle rock go there on certain songs, makes up for that by miles and miles. Chevelle have said too that this is everything they could throw at an album and that it doesn’t do well, they’ll hang up this project for a while. Well, let me tell you, this is one hell of an album and they should be proud of it. It’s definitely one that will be on rotation for a long long while and will be in my top ten at the end of the year.
I woke up this morning with a song stuck in my head that I haven’t heard in a very long time. The song was “Down” by 311. I do find it to be a coincidence that this song pops in my head on March 11 (311 day). I remember when this song came out. I was in 7th grade and 311’s self titled album was popping. I heard this song on the radio and after school that day I had my parents take me to the record store to buy the CD. I jammed that album for a good part of 7th grade. I still think the riff for this song is badass. It’s also one of those perfect 90’s songs that instantly takes you back to when it came out.
The Mars Volta are one of the best live bands since the turn of the century. Especially when they released their debut album, De-Loused In The Comatorium, their live shows became legendary. If you had the chance to see them during the first couple albums, you got to witness some amazing performances. One of my favorite live videos of them is a performance from 2003 at the Electric Ballroom in London. This was during the De-Loused era and it’s simply superb. The Mars Volta seems to be coming back as well. They announced plans to release a box set of all their albums. Hopefully, this means we can get a new album and tour, when that’s possible.
A while back I wrote about a band you might have missed along your musical journey called, The Tea Party. This astonishing three piece band from Canada, is seriously one of the best bands in the last 25 years. They are one of those bands that has the ability to add elements to their sound without losing sight of the overall sound objective. Their 1997 album, Transmission, is a wonderful mix of heavy rock, blues, world music and on this one they added an electronic/industrial tinge to it. One of the best songs on the album (and my favorite song of theirs), “Psychopomp” is stunningly epic. The studio version is one thing but, the live version of this song is on a whole other level.
There are songs that when you hear them on the radio, you always have the inkling to turn up the volume and commence rocking out. It doesn’t matter what era those songs are from either. One of those songs that always gets me is “Anything, Anything (I’ll Give You) by Dramarama. Originally released in 1985, the song was not a hit right away. It took a couple things for it to make an impact. LA radio legend and KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer began spinning the track heavily in their rotation as well as being featured in the movie Nightmare On Elm Street 4. The song has gone on to be one of the most requested songs in the station’s history. You can also find the song on the bands album, Cinema Verite.
Travel back to 1995 with me and revisit the time White Zombie was on the Late Show with David Letterman. While out promoting their album, Astro-Creep 2000, White Zombie payed a visit to the Letterman show and performed “More Human Than Human.” They were joined by Paul Schaffer as well who provided the keyboard parts. It’s a very fun performance and it looks like the band was enjoying it, especially David Letterman at the end. What’s even cooler is that, White Zombie returned to the Letterman show a few months later and performed again. This time they chose “Super Charger Heaven.” I still believe that if White Zombie were to reunite, they could put out one hell of a good album.
The band Cold has long been a favorite of mine. Their album 13 Ways To Bleed On Stage is truly a remarkable album. Over the years, I’ve sought out the band’s b-sides and have found quite a few. One of the songs that I’ve come to really enjoy more and more over the years is their song “With My Mind.” You can’t find this song on any of their albums sadly but, it was released as part of the soundtrack to the video game Psi Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy back in 2004. This track is a great song. Sadly too, it’s only been played live a handful of times. Hopefully, when shows can happen again, and Cold tours, they will add this song to their setlist.
The days of MTV back in the late 80’s and 90’s were great. You could watch music videos all day long. Even the specialty shows like, Headbangers Ball and 120 Minutes were awesome. During the peak of MTV, bands would release pretty spectacular videos. One of the best from that era was Aerosmith’s “Cryin.” The video was a huge mainstay on MTV for a long time. It was also the first of 3 videos Aerosmith made that featured Alicia Silverstone (pre Clueless). The “Cryin” video also features Stephen Dorff and Josh Holloway. It’s a great video and it was justified as so when it was the most requested video of 1993 on MTV also it won Video Of The Year at the 1994 VMA’s. I miss videos like this.
Thrice is one of those bands that when they do covers, they put their own spin on it and it usually turns out pretty damn good. A long while back during their Beggars era, they released their version of The Beatles “Helter Skelter.” It’s a very rockin version and the arrangement is definitely Thrice through and through. Take a few moments and dig into this gem!
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