Flash Flash Revolution - View Single Post - An Album A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

EzExZeRo7497 · 05-13-2014, 09:10 AM

May 13th, 2014
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Red Rainbows by Noveller
I've been trying to get this album for a while now. Red Rainbows is best described as guitar-based drone album. I could hear a couple of influences from this - mainly Tim Hecker and Birchville Cat Motel. Noveller does put her own flare into this album though, particularly in her noisier tracks.

The first two tracks - Rainbows and Brilliant Colors, is primarily noise. I have to admit, tracks like those are too loud for me. They're incredibly aggressive in structure, absolutely relentless in its approach. It's just so noisy - by far some of the noisiest tracks I've heard that could still be considered drone. Because it's so noisy, it's really haunting and even traumatic to me. The sounds are so massive and so overwhelming, it's frightening. There isn't a landscape to even portray - the massive sound IS the landscape. Although I do respect the fact that those tracks are able to evoke such emotions from me, I can't say that I enjoyed them. They're too aggressive - I could barely see any light that I could comfort myself in. As much as I want to be fascinated by sound, I also want to feel at peace. This especially applies to drone. October Language is noisy as well. While I do feel terror at some points in October Language, I can still relax and not get a panic attack from how overpowering it is. This is just... too much. Noise is a genre that I can barely withstand by itself. This is pretty close to just noise - I can't get into it.

After that relentless maelstrom of noise, St. Powers feels like some of the calmest music ever. It still isn't as pleasant as I'd want it to be, but it does the job. It is quite pleasant, but incredibly disheartening. I see a blur picture of the aftermath of a natural disaster. You could still hear some parts of the place you're in fall apart - which further shows the damage done. It is the sound of the city weeping in pain, begging for no more. It's not as pretty as I'd expect it to be. In fact, it's probably some of the most depressing tracks I've heard. Not sure what to think of it.

The atmosphere does become far more terrifying in Tunnels, an incredibly dark and eerie track. I could hear sounds of plates and doors just move around, just building anxiety. I don't know what's going to come next - and it becomes more and more terrifying as the track moves on. It does feel really forced however. It's basically ten minutes of foreshadowing without sounding pleasant. Noveller didn't do much other than to try to create anxiety - which doesn't work too well by itself.

Bends is a huge letdown in comparison. It just builds more and more fear as you're expecting the storm to explode at any minute now. The storm does take on many forms, but you've noticed that it doesn't get any bigger. It does pick up more force occasionally, but never reaches the point that it becomes critical. Ultimately, it never does explode, it just ends up dissipating in your very eyes. But why is this so long? It had nineteen minutes to follow up the anxiety I get from Tunnels, but it fails to do so. I was fully expecting a majestic storm of noise, but all I got was a gentle breeze in comparison to the first two tracks. Really disappointing closer.

While this album does create vivid pictures, it doesn't quite work for me. I think my biggest gripe with this is actually the track order. The first two tracks caught me too offguard, which didn't give me a good first impression at first. While the third track is fine, the fourth/fifth tracks are too weak in comparison to the first two. I know that a track order isn't really that necessary, but it does detract a lot of my potential enjoyment from this. It's horribly ordered, but even when it is properly ordered (say, 5 -> 3 -> 4 -> 1 -> 2) it wouldn't be that good to begin with. I think I'd give it a 6 at most. It's either too much or too little to really indulge in as a whole. It'd probably be better if it's less experimental.

But that cover art though.

Album Highlights: St. Powers
Track Average Rating: 2.7/5
Overall Rating: 5/10
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Dopesmoker by Sleep (recommended by rayword45)
Sleep is a stoner metal/doom metal band from San Jose, gaining considerable popularity with their second album Sleep's Holy Mountain. Dopesmoker is their fourth studio album and at this point of time, their most recent.

The first track is 63 minutes long. It's like a journey in the middle of the desert and you're fully confident of where to go. It's a very long journey, but you're ready anyway. Eventually you hear the calls of a large figure, screaming "drop out of life with bong in hand, follow the smoke toward the riff filled land". You hear where the voice is coming from and continue to walk under the hot blazing sun. Your journey continues and continues... you do get tired at some points. After a short deep breath, you continue your journey as forward as ever. This continues up to the end. There are some bursts of energy here and there (translated from guitar solos), which does change the atmosphere a bit here and there.

I couldn't get into it. This is supposed to put you into a trance-like state or at least immersed, from what I've read. I don't think they achieved that with Dopesmoker for me. The solos do almost nothing for me (other than the part 40 minutes in) and I thought the vocals were pretty trite. However, my main problem is the length. Why is this 63 minutes long? It is quite monolithic, but I think it appears to look far larger than it really is. It is rather unpredictable when it comes to the solos and all, but that doesn't mean that it should be that long. The riffs do sound rather nice though, just not interesting enough to hold my attention for nearly an hour. Maybe if it's shortened to 30 minutes it'd be nice. Flood 2 by Boris is a beautiful track that rarely moves other than the occasional guitar solos, creating a lot more beauty than that in 1/3 of the time. So I don't think Dopesmoker needed to be that long-winded.

Sonic Titan is a bit too upbeat for me to like, despite its heavy sound. It's nice that it's significantly shorter, but if it doesn't work if you couldn't hold my attention within the first few minutes to begin with. Does feel a little too cheesy too, but I think that's just me being overly analytical at that point. I can't really conjure a picture when it comes to this, unlike Dopesmoker.

I'm pretty sure I missed the entire point of Dopesmoker. I really don't get it, it's an album that doesn't faze me in any way. It is a nice listen, but it doesn't go any deeper than that. The landscape I get from Dopesmoker ultimately becomes repetitious due to its length and lack of variation. More variation would've been fantastic. As it is I just think it drags on way too much for its own good. It's a great sound for the first 20 minutes though.

Album Highlights: -
Track Average Rating: -
Overall Rating: 6/10

05-13-2014, 09:10 AM	#72
EzExZeRo7497 ⠀ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Singapore, SG Age: 28 Posts: 6,858	Re: An Album A Day Keeps The Doctor Away \| 365 Album Challenge May 13th, 2014 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Red Rainbows by Noveller I've been trying to get this album for a while now. Red Rainbows is best described as guitar-based drone album. I could hear a couple of influences from this - mainly Tim Hecker and Birchville Cat Motel. Noveller does put her own flare into this album though, particularly in her noisier tracks. The first two tracks - Rainbows and Brilliant Colors, is primarily noise. I have to admit, tracks like those are too loud for me. They're incredibly aggressive in structure, absolutely relentless in its approach. It's just so noisy - by far some of the noisiest tracks I've heard that could still be considered drone. Because it's so noisy, it's really haunting and even traumatic to me. The sounds are so massive and so overwhelming, it's frightening. There isn't a landscape to even portray - the massive sound IS the landscape. Although I do respect the fact that those tracks are able to evoke such emotions from me, I can't say that I enjoyed them. They're too aggressive - I could barely see any light that I could comfort myself in. As much as I want to be fascinated by sound, I also want to feel at peace. This especially applies to drone. October Language is noisy as well. While I do feel terror at some points in October Language, I can still relax and not get a panic attack from how overpowering it is. This is just... too much. Noise is a genre that I can barely withstand by itself. This is pretty close to just noise - I can't get into it. After that relentless maelstrom of noise, St. Powers feels like some of the calmest music ever. It still isn't as pleasant as I'd want it to be, but it does the job. It is quite pleasant, but incredibly disheartening. I see a blur picture of the aftermath of a natural disaster. You could still hear some parts of the place you're in fall apart - which further shows the damage done. It is the sound of the city weeping in pain, begging for no more. It's not as pretty as I'd expect it to be. In fact, it's probably some of the most depressing tracks I've heard. Not sure what to think of it. The atmosphere does become far more terrifying in Tunnels, an incredibly dark and eerie track. I could hear sounds of plates and doors just move around, just building anxiety. I don't know what's going to come next - and it becomes more and more terrifying as the track moves on. It does feel really forced however. It's basically ten minutes of foreshadowing without sounding pleasant. Noveller didn't do much other than to try to create anxiety - which doesn't work too well by itself. Bends is a huge letdown in comparison. It just builds more and more fear as you're expecting the storm to explode at any minute now. The storm does take on many forms, but you've noticed that it doesn't get any bigger. It does pick up more force occasionally, but never reaches the point that it becomes critical. Ultimately, it never does explode, it just ends up dissipating in your very eyes. But why is this so long? It had nineteen minutes to follow up the anxiety I get from Tunnels, but it fails to do so. I was fully expecting a majestic storm of noise, but all I got was a gentle breeze in comparison to the first two tracks. Really disappointing closer. While this album does create vivid pictures, it doesn't quite work for me. I think my biggest gripe with this is actually the track order. The first two tracks caught me too offguard, which didn't give me a good first impression at first. While the third track is fine, the fourth/fifth tracks are too weak in comparison to the first two. I know that a track order isn't really that necessary, but it does detract a lot of my potential enjoyment from this. It's horribly ordered, but even when it is properly ordered (say, 5 -> 3 -> 4 -> 1 -> 2) it wouldn't be that good to begin with. I think I'd give it a 6 at most. It's either too much or too little to really indulge in as a whole. It'd probably be better if it's less experimental. But that cover art though. Album Highlights: St. Powers Track Average Rating: 2.7/5 Overall Rating: 5/10 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Dopesmoker by Sleep (recommended by rayword45) Sleep is a stoner metal/doom metal band from San Jose, gaining considerable popularity with their second album Sleep's Holy Mountain. Dopesmoker is their fourth studio album and at this point of time, their most recent. The first track is 63 minutes long. It's like a journey in the middle of the desert and you're fully confident of where to go. It's a very long journey, but you're ready anyway. Eventually you hear the calls of a large figure, screaming "drop out of life with bong in hand, follow the smoke toward the riff filled land". You hear where the voice is coming from and continue to walk under the hot blazing sun. Your journey continues and continues... you do get tired at some points. After a short deep breath, you continue your journey as forward as ever. This continues up to the end. There are some bursts of energy here and there (translated from guitar solos), which does change the atmosphere a bit here and there. I couldn't get into it. This is supposed to put you into a trance-like state or at least immersed, from what I've read. I don't think they achieved that with Dopesmoker for me. The solos do almost nothing for me (other than the part 40 minutes in) and I thought the vocals were pretty trite. However, my main problem is the length. Why is this 63 minutes long? It is quite monolithic, but I think it appears to look far larger than it really is. It is rather unpredictable when it comes to the solos and all, but that doesn't mean that it should be that long. The riffs do sound rather nice though, just not interesting enough to hold my attention for nearly an hour. Maybe if it's shortened to 30 minutes it'd be nice. Flood 2 by Boris is a beautiful track that rarely moves other than the occasional guitar solos, creating a lot more beauty than that in 1/3 of the time. So I don't think Dopesmoker needed to be that long-winded. Sonic Titan is a bit too upbeat for me to like, despite its heavy sound. It's nice that it's significantly shorter, but if it doesn't work if you couldn't hold my attention within the first few minutes to begin with. Does feel a little too cheesy too, but I think that's just me being overly analytical at that point. I can't really conjure a picture when it comes to this, unlike Dopesmoker. I'm pretty sure I missed the entire point of Dopesmoker. I really don't get it, it's an album that doesn't faze me in any way. It is a nice listen, but it doesn't go any deeper than that. The landscape I get from Dopesmoker ultimately becomes repetitious due to its length and lack of variation. More variation would've been fantastic. As it is I just think it drags on way too much for its own good. It's a great sound for the first 20 minutes though. Album Highlights: - Track Average Rating: - Overall Rating: 6/10 Last edited by EzExZeRo7497; 05-29-2014 at 09:01 AM..