Poll Results and Minor Changes

According to the recent polls, the vast majority of you think my review scores are on track (85%, not counting the people who think I'm stupid), and most of you want me to keep giving review scores (76%). Most of you also see the good in the review format (71%), so that will not be changing.

Miskatonic pointed out something that always bothered me, the fact that "I give it X out of X stars" appeared in every review. I couldn't think of a better way to do that before, but now I'm leaving it out of the prose of the review and setting it aside.

The only other change I'll be making around here is in what gets reviewed. In the past, I've had a policy of at least mentioning at least one submission from everyone (each band, PR person, or label gets one). With the quantity of submissions I receive, that's no longer possible. Given that change, I'll have to get better about e-mailing the bands and labels back, rather than leaving them hanging until I post a review.

What this should mean for you is that there will be no more half-hearted reviews, like most of the summary judgment reviews. If something doesn't make me want to talk about it, or nothing interesting comes to my mind, I won't force it. This will probably mean there will be fewer albums getting a 2.5 or 3 star rating, and there will be more high ratings. The very bad ratings probably won't go anywhere.

Songs of Townes Van Zandt (2012)

Black Crow Blues

Townes Van Zandt was sort of the Bobby Liebling of folk and country. He was considered an excellent songwriter, influential on many more famous acts such as Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, but his own career never took off. The drug and alcohol problems that plagued him in life were certainly no help.

A drug-and-alcohol plagued, under-appreciated folk songwriter is the perfect subject for a Neurot split among Steve Von Till, Scott Kelly, and Wino. Or at least that's what the good people at Neurot seem to think, and after hearing it, I agree.

Embracing the Lightless Depths v. The Giant

Electric Funerals

v.

When the genre is done well, I love funeral doom. The problem with being a fan of this genre is how impossibly difficult it is to determine which albums are worth your money and time. And they take up a lot of time. Listening to a few minutes on Youtube, or even an entire song, you could get a positive impression and make the purchase--only to find that the album as a whole is boring.

Faced with this problem, you have a couple choices. You can read reviews, or you can bet on a proven entity. Both of these choices leave something to be desired, because many funeral doom fans can't tell the good from the bad, and even the best purveyors of the doom will occasionally slip. But a comparative review of albums from two proven entities should give you the best of both worlds.

Bar Review: Watch Man IPA

58 IBU / 6% ABV

I used to think hops were the enemy. As I came to appreciate beer and enjoy it more than wine, it was the dark, low-hops brews I loved best, like Guinness.

But then I tried the Tallgrass IPA, and that changed. I learned to appreciate a good hops-infused beer, with its bright, citrus flavor.

So I was excited when I saw that our local brewery, Empyrean Brewing Co., had released an IPA. Until I tried it. There's not much to recommend it, though. It's simply bitter, and the citrus of the hops only serves to make it less enjoyable. I can't explain why, I just know that this is the case.

The Verdict: 2 out of 5 stars

Empyrean has failed me once again.

Panopticon: Kentucky (2012)

Come All You Poor Workers

Much of the best black metal reflects a sense of place. Whether it evokes the feel of the environment, or pulls in folk melodies of the culture, you should be able to tell something about where it comes from simply by hearing it. With Kentucky, Panopticon has put it right there in the title. But Kentucky isn't just in the title. It's in every note.

The record begins on a folk song, which isn't all that unusual these days. What is a bit more rare--at least outside Europe--is just how thoroughly the folk has taken over the album. Over half the tracks are pure folk, and the black metal cuts (over half the runtime) all have a folk infusion. Which is great, because Appalachian folk is a style that I've really come to love.

Förgjord: Sielunvihollinen (2012)

Adversary

Finland's black metal scene is less talked-about than the classic Norwegian or Greek scenes. It's less talked-about than the current US or French scenes. But it's certainly not unimportant, with Impaled Nazarene being perhaps the best-known name. Yet, my exposure to it has been extremely limited, coming mostly in the form of very unusual entities like the psychedelic Oranssi Pazuzu or the cheesy black/gothic/symphonic In Silentio Noctis.

So, consider Förgjord's Sielunvihollinen my introduction to Finnish black metal proper. The band has been around, apparently, since 1995, but this is only their second full-length release.

Horseback: Half Blood (2012)

The Other Half Is Kittens

Horseback is one of the most unusual-sounding bands to get regular mention in metal publications. Clearly they're not a metal band, but those raspy black metal vocals and the dark tone of the music make us the primary audience.

The band has more than one side: The mellow psychedelic rock side and the ambient/noise side. I like the former, but not the latter. Half Blood, their latest release, puts both of those sides on prominent display. True to its name, the record is bifurcated, with the cool rock up front and the ambient/drone/noise to the back. Which makes sense, because you draw people in with good music, and then they might stick around for the rest. But I have been expanding my horizons, so I held out hope that this could be the one to make the other half of Horseback click for me.

Dawnbringer: Into the Lair of the Sun God (2012)

Pure

Dawnbringer made quite the splash in 2010 with Nucleus. I reviewed the album, liking it a hell of a lot but finding fault in the flat vocal performance. I gave it a score I would later come to regret, as the record grew on me over time. Now my favorite T-shirt is my Nucleus T.

So I was eagerly anticipating the band's follow-up, Into the Lair of the Sun God, partly because I really wanted to hear it and partly to right the wrong of my previous score. I am pleased to say the band has taken no radical change of direction. This means they are still as pure a metal band as anyone, without prefix or suffix. The only deviation from the core values of riff and solo is the electric organ on "VI," but it's so well-done I can't imagine anyone finding fault in that.

Dying Fetus: Reign Supreme (2012)

Slamming Good Time . . . Almost

Slam death has not been a microgenre that I've explored a lot. It gets derided for being the dumbest kind of death metal. Admittedly, I prefer smarter music, but dumb shit is fun sometimes.

Dying Fetus is credited as one of the most important influences in the formation of the microgenre. Reign Supreme is my first experience with the band, but I have to say I'm very impressed. Sure, they follow all the tropes of the slam they helped create, but with a style and fervor that's hard to match.

The Future of Digital Albums: Art, and Beyond

Digital music doesn't have to have static album art. With advances in technology, there are some who will take it even further, beyond the art.

These days, one of the main selling points of physical media is the possibility of highly-detailed packaging. Graf Orlock's Doombox, which can be transformed into a cardboard boombox, is only the pinnacle of examples. Most of them have album art that unfolds in unusual ways, plus detailed liner notes. But there's no reason similar attention to detail can't go into a digital package.

Many people seem to think that the digital age is destroying album art, because it's been reduced to thumbnail size. As I've noted before, that's not really the case. There are plenty of reasons it's not true, such as the resurgence of vinyl as a collector's item, the fact merch sales aren't going anywhere, and the abundance of attention given to art in the blogging community. I mean, you can't really have a blog post about an album without any pictures, right?

I've somewhat considered the possibilities of album art in digital media, but South Africa's The Ocean Doesn't Want Me is the first band I've known to begin to take advantage of the possibilities. (Despite their douchy name that screams metalcore, they're clearly not a metalcore band--more Intronaut meets Russian Circles, which ends up being too hopeful-sounding for my tastes.) As the Dust Settles has a true album cover, but after the first song, each track has its own art, a photograph of some natural scene. I hope that this is only one of many.