Month: August 2012

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We’re All Gonna Die – Kiss The Ground, Curse The Sky (2008)


We’re All Gonna Die
Kiss The Ground, Curse The Sky
2008

We’re All Gonna Die brought the thunder on Kiss The Ground Curse The Sky. The album opens with “Brown Rabbit.” The instrumental serves as a fitting intro to the dark, heavy rock on the rest of the album. “Bled Out” is in the number two spot. It has a sludgetastically catchy hook that most metal bands would kill for. Damn near perfect. The bulk of the record flows from the same vein. Heavy riffs, gritty solos and powerful grooves are the rule here. “Elevator Down” has Kiss The Ground Curse The Sky‘s most devastating guitars and a swaggering vocal. “Burn” and “Shank” are as a brutal as their names imply. It’s not heavy for heavy’s sake, though. These are bona fide songs. Good ones at that.

Jim Healey and company also knew when to pull back a little. “Nothing To Say” has a Jimmy Page-esque guitar part. The dark ballad “Dusk And Done” uses female vocals to nice effect. The melody of “On The Sea” lingers long after the record ends. These are not power ballads; think Alice In Chains in EP mode. These are melodic songs with lots of tension.

We’re All Gonna Die was a powerhouse band. Kiss The Ground, Curse The Sky is a testament to that.

Where to get it:

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Velah – Black Olympia (2012)


Velah
Black Olympia
2012

When I caught Velah at TT’s last month, I was impressed with how well-formed the young band’s sound was. I knew their lineage. I appreciate the work the band’s members did in Static Of The Gods and The Acre. I had high hopes. I also know a band’s early work can be a bit disjointed as they find their legs. Black Olympia flies that notion out the window on a breeze of shimmering guitars.

“Wanderlust” opens this EP with an elevated level of urgency. The immediacy of the song defies the shoegaze tag that is often placed on the band. We’re introduced to the vocal interplay, intertwining guitar parts and clockwork drumming that will define these recordings. Each song steps out from there. The chorus to “Calm Down” is pure pop. The EP’s title track is majestic. “Glass Heart” threatens to drown in its own delay-soaked layers before breaking the surface in a triumphant crescendo. It all works. Let’s see where Velah goes next.

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Viva Viva @ Great Scott 7.23.2012

Viva Viva capped off the first night of the Boston Accents Funeral Party. Michael Marotta put together one hell of a night* to celebrate one hell of a run on his WFNX radio show. He’s a huge asset to this town. I look forward to seeing what he does next. As for Viva Viva’s set, it rolled as much as it rocked. It burned itself to the ground. It brought the night to an uproarious end – just like the radio show it celebrated.

* Word on the street** is that the other two nights were pretty great, too.

** Internet, obviously.

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Ribs @ Great Scott 7.23.2012

Ribs put on quite the show during Night #1 of the Boston Accents Funeral Party. Not only did they have a a ton of music and electronic gear hooked up, but they brought their own light show. There were so many cords and cables on the stage you’d think they had the Ark Of The Covenant up there.* They opened with Placebo’s “Pure Morning,” a sign of the indielectro rock that would mark their powerful set.

* That’s my second Raiders Of The Lost Ark reference in a week. Time to watch that movie again.