Reviews: Scott Walker + Sunn O))) - Soused & Sunn O))) + Ulver - Terrestrials

Scott Walker + Sunn O))) - Soused [Doom / Drone / Experimental]
Sunn O))) + Ulver - Terrestrials [Doom / Drone / Experimental]


This is a curious affair here. Three legendary artistes, two of whom left their metal backgrounds while the latter completely dethroned his own baroque pop beginnings for some truly twisted music in the past decade. In that sense, there seems to be some common ground between all of these guys, but the collaborations leave a lot to be desired.

The point of a collaboration is for either artiste to fuse their best efforts with the other, to offset their different styles to see if there is some harmony.

Terrestrials was released earlier, so I will review this first.

1. Let There Be Light - An 11 minute long opener may not be strange considering the bands' catalogues. It's mostly an atmospheric track that builds a steady momentum from virtually nothing. Sunn O))) isn't very dominant here, providing a few bassy notes here and there. Ulver's typically weird instrumentation with trumpets and keyboards is here. There is progression at the end... but nothing else?
2. Western Horn - The baton is passed to Sunn O))) here. A lot darker than the first track from the get go, I am not sure about the collaboration at this point because the roles of the bands are basically just reversed here, with Ulver doing the background this time. It's not too shabby a song, in fact, I did enjoy this one.
3. Eternal Return - A closer which finally brings the two bands together. A strangely emotional and heartfelt piece with violins, deep droning guitars. Kristoffer Rygg from Ulver provides his vocals for the second half of the song, and they are quite haunting.

Overall, one boring song, one okay song and one saving grace for the end. It could be mistaken for an EP with just three songs, but length seems to be an issue. I know both bands usually release songs at this length, but time isn't utilized as effectively in this collaboration. At DR10, there isn't much to complain about the production. That's an expected value given the bands' minimalist approach to music anyway. It's not that bad an album, but save for the last song, doesn't really accomplish anything.

Now on to the collaboration with Scott Walker:

1. Brando - Song opens on a completely strange note, perhaps a throwback to Walker's younger days. Sunn O))) comes in within a few seconds, but the production here is a lot less accommodating. Producer Peter Walsh has dedicated most of the soundstage to Walker, and the guitars sound completely underwhelming. It's not a bad song, but it goes on for far too long.
2. Herod 2014 - Actually an annoying song. What instrument is that at the chorus- is that even a chorus? Even more annoying is that this is the longest song on the album. The collaboration sounds off here, neither Scott Walker nor Sunn O))) seem to fit each other's style.
3. Bull - The song that was used for the teaser. Not a bad song, actually. It has an accessible chorus, which seems uncharacteristic for Sunn O))) anyway.  This song actually carries the menace that both artistes have embodied in their most recent work. The second half is pure Sunn O))), but with Walker's production. Not cool.
4. Fetish - Continuing with more menace, the only song with actual variation in this album. Drums come at the last part and Walker tries to be melodic here. However, as with the third song, the 'collaboration' seems to be just alternating between the two artistes rather than marrying them.
5. Lullaby - one hell of a repetitive closer. If there's one thing this record achieves though, it's tension. Both the artistes are maniacal in delivery, and this particular song is particularly creepy. Walker uses his higher register for the chorus, and his wailing is frightening. Again, length is a serious issue here.

Too long, too little variations and poor production on Walker's part. Again, not bad, but very underwhelming.

I would recommend you to listen to the artiste's better works though. I only listened to these albums because I hold the individual artistes in high regard.

Terrestrials - ★★★☆☆

Soused - ★★☆☆☆

Conquering Dystopia - Conquering Dystopia Review

Conquering Dystopia - Conquering Dystopia [Instrumental Metal]

Adding to the veritable list of musical super-groups to release material within the last year or so is Conquering Dystopia, featuring Alex Webster (bass), Jeff Loomis (guitar), Alex Rudinger (drums) and Keith Merrow (guitar). 

Being an unabashed fan of the instrumental work of Loomis and Webster, like so many others in the metal world are, I was gleefully anticipating heavy riffing, blistering leads, interesting bass work and ...

... more heavy riffing. 

Keith Merrow has been one of the few YouTube musicians that I've followed for a good few years. Of course, that means that I've heard his previous collaborations with Loomis. Still, the prospect of getting to listen to a full album featuring two of modern metal's most tasteful and creative riffers was enough for me to put my work aside and plug in.

Singling out a particular track or two to feature here (and then verifying its availability on YouTube) was no easy task. This album is as tightly-written as they come, chock full of interesting riff lines and adorned nicely by Alex Rudinger's solid drumming. Each track has its own 'feature': check out, for example, Rudinger's subdivisions of the main motif in the first 30 or so seconds of "Inexhaustible Savagery" (clip above). This is undoubtedly straight-up metal drumming, blast beats, double-pedaling and all, but it is presented in a way that appeals as much to the music geek as to the headbanger. 

A similar concept can be heard in the opening riff of "Autarch", only that here, the band is working around a triplet feel (as compared to the straight 4/4 in "Inexhaustible Savagery"). Often, guitarists working with more than six strings fall too deeply in love with the extended range and end up producing muddy, unimaginative chugs as excuses for riffing ideas. This is, thankfully, never the case here - Loomis and Merrow, perhaps unsurprisingly, make good use of the full range of their instruments in creating highly listenable hooks and riffs.

The lead work, as has come to be expected from Loomis, is edgy and blazing quick. What is surprising about it, however, is that it takes up a significantly smaller proportion of the total airtime than Loomis has always had with his solo work. I was still iffy about this state of affairs after the first couple of listens, but have slowly come to appreciate how this affords space for Merrow's own melodic passages and Rudinger's frenetic drumbeats without taking away from the fact that Loomis is the de facto lead player.

My only definite gripe with this album is that Webster's insane bass-playing isn't featured as much as I would have liked it to be. Perhaps that was not what the band had set out to do, but ... it's Alex Webster! Imagine buying a Ferrari and only ever using it to perform the mundane task of driving to work! Having said that, though, this is ultimately only a minor issue in light of all the other excellent things the band does in this work. Production is good, songs are captivating, the band sounds like an actual unit instead of a hastily-assembled bunch of musos and Keith Merrow finally gets his due time playing for a wider audience. 

Here's hoping Conquering Dystopia produce more stuff.

★★★★☆

PSMS (Portnoy, Sheehan, Macalpine, Sherinian) Live In Singapore

The four American rockers performed, courtesy of Inokii, at TAB Orchard Hotel last night in front of a crowd of about 200 people.

Satthia and I started queuing outside TAB at around 5.30 pm (doors were at 7 pm, according to the tickets); we were something like third in line. By around 6.30, the line had lengthened to over a hundred long. What, then, did the organisers do? Let us in early? No, they saw it as a chance to flog off merch. However, in a rather comic sequence of events, the guy and girl trying to sell posters couldn't even get a single customer amongst the hundred-odd-strong crowd.

What did the organisers do next then? Well, as has always been standard procedure, they conducted bag checks on everyone in the queue (funnily enough, they would do a second round of bag checks as we streamed into the venue). Way to hold us up outside, fools!

Anyway, after all that shambles, we got into TAB and took some time to check out the available merchandise. There was, disappointingly, very little purely PSMS-related material; rather, each individual performer's solo material was on sale. Satthia and I decided to pass on the merch and instead grab drinks and head over to the standing area. We managed to get spots right at the foot of the part of the stage where Derek Sherinian's keyboard rig stood.

The crowd (which by then - around 7.10pm - had ballooned to a couple of hundred people) initially stood and waited in anticipation, but soon got bored after having to wait through around half an hour of random music filtering out of the speaker systems, with not a single performer in sight.

Suddenly, at 7.45pm, the music stopped and was replaced by one of those tension-building, bass-heavy tracks. Smoke started rising from the back of the stage. The crowd went wild; their heroes were arriving. One by one, Tony Macalpine, Billy Sheehan, Derek Sherinian and finally Mike Portnoy took to the stage and immediately broke into song.

At this point, I have to confess; I had done very little research on PSMS before attending their gig - I was there precisely because I have long been a fan of each individual musician's work, rather than their collective production. Still, I was hugely impressed by what I was seeing and hearing; the four guys were obviously taking it easy and having fun, yet still playing out of their minds and driving the crowd wild with their complex lines and mindblowing solos.

The character dynamics of the four musicians were plain to see; Sheehan and Portnoy, the most outspoken members of the group, were taking turns to mock-'stage hog', what with Portnoy's liberal use of stick tricks and contorted facial expressions and Sheehan, all six-foot-something of him, taking up dozens of different rock-star poses with his bass and always shifting to the front of the stage to engage the crowd. Sherinian, the group's serious one, always had this intense glare on his face as he pulled out riff after riff, counterpoint after counterpoint and solo after solo on his rig. Macalpine was just chilling in the centre of the stage, dishing out blistering solos while wearing the expression of a contented retiree relaxing on a beach, lemonade in one hand and novel in the other.

It was obvious that the four guys genuinely enjoyed playing with each other (as well as with the audience) and weren't just there to show off or rake in quick cash.

Tunes like Planet X's 'Apocalypse 1470 BC', Dream Theater's 'A Change of Seasons' and 'Lines in the Sand' and Tony Macalpine's 'Edge of Insanity' were gleefully lapped up by the audience, most of whom were, refreshingly to see, pretty familiar with the work of at least one out of the four musicians.

Of course, one does not go to a gig like this without mentioning the solo segments of each artist. Billy Sheehan's bass solo - performed with all the other members offstage taking a break - was, for me, the best among the four. On top of his usual frenetic shredding, Sheehan added in sprinkles from tunes like the ever-beloved 'To Be With You' and displayed his trademark showmanship and style.

Overall, the gig was a joy to behold, both musically and in terms of performances. There were a few minor letdowns along the way: firstly, standing so close to Sherinian's rig meant that at times we couldn't quite hear Sheehan's bass and especially Macalpine's guitar; secondly, the sound tech kept screwing with Sherinian's levels (to the point where midway through the gig, his default expression was a death-stare towards the general direction of the sound board); thirdly, the number of monkeys waving their iPods, iPads and whatever with no consideration for the viewing pleasure of others was way too high and finally, the bouncers and security crew kept being wet blankets and discouraging us from staying close to the stage (the whole crowd just ignored them after a while).

However, that's not to say that any of the abovementioned incidents was able to take away from what was a truly marvelous and worthwhile performance. If, as expected, PSMS release a DVD of their set, I will hunt it down.