Author Archives: Calum McMillan

WE’RE MOVING! NEW SITE! NEW NAME! MORE CAPITALS AND SEXY TIMES!

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So I guess the title to this post is kind of self-explanatory. Post-Blog As ( the site formerly known as Post-Blog as F**K!) has moved.

All your support for this site over the last eighteen months or so has been wonderfully humbling. It means the world to all of us who have written here. I quite seriously cannot thank you enough. But stupid names and ambitions, not to mention real life, got in the way so things had to change.

So now we’ll be operating as The Windswept Edge and this will be over at www.windsweptedge.wordpress.com until we buy the domain name shortly. We’re already on Facebook and Twitter as well so please check us out there as well.

The first change is the name. The reasons for that are probably pretty self-explanatory. The second change will be our content. From now on it’ll be much, much, much wider to accommodate our staff’s wide range of interests, talents and inspirations and to stop us becoming burned out on any one thing because despite our best intentions it does happen. You’ve all seen it.

The third reason for the change is frequency. All of us who write here work outside of this, some of us even with pretty promising grown up jobs and careers now. The site pretty much pays for itself but that’s it. We all have our personal lives outside of this to lead and simply keeping up with the expected volume of content became too much. So from now on, at our new home, we’ll be focusing on high quality content instead of a high volume. Better stuff more often but less often than mediocre stuff. That’s no bad policy right? Our passion remains limitless but our time does not.

Reasoning aside please come and join us at our new home over at The Windswept Edge at www.windsweptedge.wordpress.com. Or on Facebook and Twitter.  We’d all appreciate it no end. There might even be a drink or two in it for you.

Once again, our sincerest thanks for all your support and interest in our work. There won’t ever be enough words to do that justice. Thank you.

The Post-Blog As team 

Wish We Were There #9: Monuments @ Le Batofar

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Monuments

Monuments

Monuments are proving themselves to be something of an anomaly of the modern progressive music genre that borrows aspects,  whether you see those aspects as a guitar tone or genre specifics, in that they’re one band who translate much better in a live environment than on record. Much of the appeal of this kind of music is often found in the compositional and production elements so the live experience can…vary somewhat. For Monuments however the tight, percussive and coiled grooves and pummeling riffs that make up the majority of their debut album ‘Gnosis’ come to life in the confines of a club much more than they do through a set of headphones. We discovered that on the Glasgow date of their latest European tour and now everyone who’s been unlucky enough to miss those dates can get something akin to the experience thanks to this full live set of the band from a recent show in Paris making it online.

Click here to ‘like’ Monuments on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan

Introducing #9: Iris

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Iris

Iris

The diversity of rock ‘n’ roll is a great thing. For those of us who are doing it right it allows us access to a whole wonderful world of differently textured music that all come from the same wounded beating heart. This gives not only the fan a wealth of great music to explore but the artists themselves some sort of permission to mish-mash everything they love together and create something that hopefully other people love too. It’s a trick easier said that done, lets be honest something like 75% of bands actually fucking suck, but for some it pays off. So far all evidence points towards Iris being one such a band.

Iris sound something like mainstream friendly alternative rock but there’s a rough punk rock edge to proceedings. There’s not enough gruff edge or aggression here to make them heavy, but there’s not enough focus on sugary melodies and the kind of dirt simple arrangements that radio demands to make them lime light chasing sell outs either. If you’re going to sound like this then chances are its because you really want to. There’s a kind of honesty and integrity to that which speaks volumes. They’re kinda catchy too. I guess you could say that goes in their favour as well. But only if you’re more into hooks and dancing than you are ideologies which I’m not because I’m ginger. No one wants to dance with me.

The band are due to drop their new single ‘Lights at Ten’ on April 29th ahead of a UK tour in May to preceed the launch of their debut full length later in the year.

That sweet slightly dirty production job comes coutesy of Feed the Rhino’s Oz Craggs. If you’re aware of the kind of genuine, down to earth, honest and straight up awesome a band they are then the fact they’re involved with Iris really should make you want to pay attention for a couple of minutes. The catchy tune should probably make you pay attention for a few more.

Click here to ‘like’ Iris on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan

Review: Soilwork ‘The Living Infinite’

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Soilwork 'The Living Infinite' (Nuclear Blast 2013)

Soilwork ‘The Living Infinite’ (Nuclear Blast 2013)

See in all seriousness who really thought a double album from Soilwork was a good idea? I didn’t. Since ‘Stabbing the Drama’ the band’s output has been somewhat patchy. Never terrible but nothing hitting the heights of ‘Natural Born Chaos’ or the aforementioned ‘Stabbing the Drama’. It was perhaps ok to think the band had peaked, they’d produced some of the most exciting melodic metal to have emerged from the Gothenberg scene in 4 great albums. Maintaining that level of quality would be a monumental task for any artist. So it is with a heart swelling with joy that I get to say that I was wrong. Soilwork doing a double album was a tremendous idea.

‘The Living Infinite’ is wonderful. It’s a mish-mash of every sound element the band have toyed with over the years: their more classic rock influences, ferocious blast beats, trademark guitar harmonies, grooves and moments as catchy as the plague. Songs like…in fact fuck that. Nearly all the songs on here are excellent. I’m certain a few of the twenty tracks on here probably won’t stand the test of the time but they’re not bad songs by any means. It’s by far the band’s most cohesive album while also being surprisingly diverse. The two keys to this lie in drummer Dirk Verbeuren and vocalist Bjorn Stried. Verbeuren is possibly the quintessential metal drummer and the range of rhythmic dynamics he’s able to so effortlessly bring to the band allow them to explore such a wide range of sounds. As for the band’s vocalist…he’s probably the single strongest vocalist in contemporary metal. Certainly for the more straight ahead side of things like Soilwork anyway. As always Strid’s melodic voice is a powerful beast but it’s amazing to hear his aggressive vocals vary from their mid range bark to higher end screams and deep growls alongside some fantastically gritty melodic attacks.

To a certain extent you need to be invested in Soilwork’s sound to really get the most out of this. If you were a casual listener I imagine you’d find half of these songs great and perhaps some of the rest a bit samey. But by samey they are also really good. So if anything the only detraction I can make regarding ‘The Living Infinite’, apart from that awful title, is its length. If the worst a critic can say about your double album is that it may be a bit too long for some people you’re onto a winner.

Soilwork are fucking winners.

Click here to ‘like’ Soilwork on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan

Review: Sectioned ‘Outlier’

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Sectioned 'Outlier' (Self-release 2013)

Sectioned ‘Outlier’ (Self-release 2013)

So many heavy bands want to be intense  They want to be chaotic, over the edge, ominous and scary to everyone who doesn’t get it. Most of them aren’t, which is fine because at the end of the day heavy music is a wee bit tongue in cheek, but occasionally artists emerge who do embody every single piece of the aggressive aesthetic of heavy music. ‘Outlier’ is the beginning of Sectioned becoming just such a band.

If the opening to ‘Parasite’ doesn’t frighten you then you’ve probably downloaded the wrong file by mistake. Consult Bandcamp to help you out there. As a build, and indeed a foil, to the rest of the EP it’s brilliant and displays just strong a grasp of dynamics Sectioned have as they’ve made a subtle, simple and awkward song sounds as menacing and ferocious as the rest of their near bonkers material.  I love the production of this EP. Everything feels like it has depth and purpose. It’s genuinely sonically heavy as opposed to just being chock a block full of break downs, blast beats and screams to imply the idea of heaviness where’s there isn’t any.  Apart from this monstrous sense of heaviness the other appeal to Sectioned is obviously their technical ability, the band can surely play, but thankfully they use those moments of technical flair as exciting accents to enhance some of the more direct dynamics focusing on the band’s speed, be it breakneck or crushing. It’s a definite leap in writing from the band’s last EP, each track feels much more of a song than a bunch of cool parts thrown together for a few minutes. Tracks like ‘Neverbeen’ for example move seamlessly from a more loose rock n roll influenced grove the more mechanical and tight attacks traditionally associated with this kind of approach and then there’s those haunting and menacing clean section in ‘Hell Away From Home’ which morphs into one of the single most satisfying musical moments I’ve heard from an unsigned band in an age.

Probably the only thing the EP perhaps has going against it is how intense it is. It’s not massively easy to listen to in one sitting, unless you are truely invested in this type of music. But perhaps that just goes to show how good Sectioned are what they do? They’re not exactly chasing mainstream success here or Kerrang! covers. Though I hear the deathcore kids dig them now so who knows?

Click here to ‘like’ Sectioned on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan

Video: Super Snake ‘Yes I’m A Doctor’

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Super Snake

Super Snake

See if you don’t find the music that Super Snake make sexy as all fuck then you’re genitalia are malfunctioning. Please seek your Dr’s advice immediately. If you don’t find this video for the band’s new track ‘Yes I’m A Doctor’ hilarious then you’re humour gland is, and this is a technical term, fucked. Your Dr cannot help you here.

This is what I want my birthday party to be like this year. It’s May 15th folks. Mark your calendars.

Click here to ‘like’ Super Snake on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan 

Video: No Consquence ‘Coerce:Conform’

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No Consequence

No Consequence

I don’t often write this but I’ve been forced to eat my words when it comes to No Consequence. The band’s 2009 debut did nothing for me. I couldn’t deny the band’s instrumental ability but the two vocalist shtick seemed like a too obvious Sikth rip off and I considered them to be very much guilty of parts over songs. There just wasn’t really anything there that I couldn’t get better elsewhere so to a certain extent I kind of ignored the band thereafter. This track, from their upcoming new album ‘IO’ on Basick, isn’t so easy to ignore.

Come 2013 the band have shed a vocalist and become a much more exciting beast. There’s a real sense of energy and abandon running through their technical metal now. The band sound much more organic than many of their mechanical peers which is refreshing. Vocally as well the more hardcore aggressive vocals combined with those smooth clean vocals lends the band a more textured edge when compared with the over saturation of the technical scene currently. If the rest of ‘IO’ turns out to be like ‘Coerce:Conform’ then they’re onto a real winner here. Here’s hoping it’s not a one trick pony.

Click here to ‘like’ No Consequence on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan

Introducing #8: Bacchus Baracus

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Bacchus Baracus

Bacchus Baracus

These guys have a song where the vocal hook goes thus ‘I am the mammoth, I am the woolly mammoth.’

Do I really need to justify why this band are great anymore? I wouldn’t think so but I have been wrong on occasion so let’s just assume I am this time around as well.

While the typical tempo and approach of Bacchus may not bring to mind the kind of partying that popular culture attributes to part of their name sake the band bring a sense of sincere and organic heaviness that harkens back to the days before heavy music became so po faced and angst ridden. Lazy tags surrounding the music are sure to include words like ‘stoner’, ‘whiskey’, ‘smoke’ and even less imaginative cliches but it does the band a disservice given the subtle influences from elsewhere that bleed into their sound.

If ZZ Top were more interested in gear than they were women and cheap sunglasses then this could be what they sounded like. It’s amazing the difference growing up in the damp of Scotland as opposed to the heat of Texas can have right?

If a comparison to ZZ Top in a positive way doesn’t get you interested in this band, or any other band, then you’re crazy man. Straight up crazy.

The band’s debut EP ‘Growler’ is still available now following a digital re-issue late last year from Wasted State Records with their debut full length ‘Tales of Worries, Woes and Whatever’ due for release on Vinyl via Wasted State on 1/4/13. You can check out some choice cuts from ‘Growler’ on the handy Bandcamp player below. Sweet of us to do that for you right?

Click here to ‘like’ Bacchus Baracus on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan

Review: Life On Standby ‘Masquerade’

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Life On Standby 'Masquerade' (Self-release 2013)

Life On Standby ‘Masquerade’ (Self-release 2013)

Life On Standby: proving growing up does not fucking suck since 2013.

That could be a sweet t-shirt. Arguably with some more U rated edits but the point stands. Life On Standby have grown up a hell of a lot since their debut release ‘Set the Sail’ last year. This time around the songs have no excess. There’s no fat and none of the ‘OH DUDE! We should keep this cool part for no real dynamic reason’ syndrome that afflicts all bands, sometimes for their entire careers. ‘Masquerade’ is three entirely focused songs that play to their strengths and don’t outstay their welcome with only track breaking the four minute barrier. Comparison of the band to other artists remains an awkward task. Parts of the sound are heavy, parts are more straight ahead, there are those electronica influences bled throughout the EP and of course the female vocal in rock music, which immediately demands a million comparisons before you realise next to none of them are relevant.

All that is relevant really is how contemporary, and I guess more to the point, fucking good the band sound. The larger production suits the more mature and direct compositions down to the ground and matches the band’s obvious ambition. There’s just enough of a sense of looseness and organic energy in the tracks to stop the band from sounding so polished that those of us of a more punk rock mentality can’t relate. Though some of the electronic sections do run the risk of that, so its a line should tread carefully. But, if they continue to sell things with their more aggressive moments and those impassioned and frankly really quite impressive vocals they should be alright. In truth, these might not be songs that stick with you forever or demand constant replay,they don’t quite pulse with the excitement or soar on hooks big enough to do that yet, there’s very little chance of them being tracks you’d ever skip whilst on shuffle or if you heard them on the radio. Immediate gratification is very much the name of the game here. Which is a game worth playing because we can’t all be cerebral all the time.

The truth remains though that the real test of the band will come in the form of a full length. Part of the appeal of these tracks is how different they are from each other without ever straying too far from the tried and tested template. The other strength is the intensity and brevity with which the tracks are delivered. It’ll be interesting to see if it’s a trick they can pull off across an entire album.

Click here to ‘like’ Life On Standby on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan

Live Review: Born of Osiris, Monuments & more @ Cathouse, 26/2/13

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Monuments live @ Cathouse

Monuments live @ Cathouse

Contemporary metal is kind of an odd thing (by that I mean metal music made post ’06 say) because while there’s been something of resurgence in musicianship, recording quality and cross pollination of sounds its also true that plenty of bands are content to simply bolt ideas together and call it songs while relying on technological crutches  As such I find myself forced to take the position of being slightly dubious when it comes to bands of this era. Some of them are doing it right and some of them are just about doing it. Tonight’s bill is kind of a mix of that. I’ll let you see if you can guess which band falls into which category. (If you can’t after reading this then I suggest you go back to School. Your close reading needs work.)

At this stage I’m not going to apologise for finding the HAARP Machine a bit of a joke. Part of it isn’t the fault of the band but the fans who have gotten so possessive  judgmental or precious about the recent disintegration of three quarters of the band’s line up. Live the band seem decent but its hard to tell at this point what’s down to backing tracks, the band’s session line up for the tour or the actual quality of the music. So far as I can tell the band have no bass player this evening so those are certainly tracks. They’ve been augmented with an additional guitar but there are segments that are less than inspiring. At the end of the day I didn’t rate the actual album itself so perhaps I’ll never really be able to be objective about the songs in a live format, particularly given the line up shuffles.Full credit to former Periphery vocalist Chris Baretto though who is an impressive front man and vocalist and makes it seem as if he’s been fronting the band from day one. Though one out of four probably isn’t all that good even by Meatloaf’s standards.

After the Burial are easily the most popular band with the crowd tonight. I’m lost as to why. The band are clearly capable musicians who have their set rehearsed down to a tee (with the exception of actually running to stage time that is) but despite such displays of musicianship there’s not a decent song in sight. Well maybe there is but its hidden in amongst the near endless onslaught of incredibly knuckle headed, and knuckle dragging, breakdowns. To be fair, it certainly keeps the massive and constant pit happy so maybe it’s just that I’m too old to throw myself into the choreographed violence. But I’ve glasses so I think that’s acceptable right? In truth it is kind of hard to fault the band on anything other than a case of personal preference but a few more shifts in dynamics wouldn’t hurt them as some of the ideas become a touch repetitive, not that the crowd care, as the set goes on. Oh and those choreographed stage moves and the super ‘brootal’ growls are a touch cringe worthy if you’re over 18 lads. But again I’m just a grumpy old ginger guy in glasses? I can’t imagine they care what I think when they’re going down this well.

Monuments are stellar this evening. Uniquely they may be the only band of the original Djent scene (God, did I actually just type that? Fuck me.) who genuinely sound much better live than on record because they’re the most straight ahead. Monuments songs are based more on slamming and heavy grooves than they are layers, progressive arragements and atmospherics. It allows the band to throw themselves about with chaotic abandon while still being incredibly tight. In Matt Rose they really have found a gem of a front man, his time in the Drum & Bass scene has made him a master of crowd control and his unique voice by metal standards lends the band an edge, particularly in this bill. The new songs the band debut tonight sound much more exciting than any of the ‘Gnosis’ material, which is ageing better live than on record in truth, with a more chaotic edge and some exciting vocal arrangements. They’re the first band to bring out the crowd surfers tonight and once they start they don’t stop until the tide eases at the end of the band’s set. But perhaps they only stop in pure joy as Chris Baretto returns to the stage to add a novelty saxophone solo and ending to the band’s final song. Given how my feelings on ‘Gnosis’ have changed I was surprised to have enjoyed the band this much. But a great live band is a great live band. There’s no arguing.

Born of Osiris are proven headliners tonight (though again, stage times are important guys. Especially when you take to the stage almost 40 minutes late. Presumably there was a legitimate reason though). The band are tight, professional and slick but don’t lose that sense of spontaneity like After the Burial did. Musically the band are incredibly impressive, it’s a simply a shame that pre ‘The Discovery’ material is so naff and doesn’t allow the band to showcase this. On the other hand, the tracks from that album sound brilliant live. The progressive flair in musicianship and arrangement makes an excellent dynamic foil against the death metal elements and breakdowns that make up so much of their sound. ‘Follow the Signs’ and ‘Recreate’ are obvious stand out moments but the really impressive moment comes during the brief melodic interlude of ambient electronics where the band’s two vocalists display an excellent sense of performance and clean vocals. It’s an element to their sound they only briefly explored on ‘The Discovery’ but when they can pull it off live as well it makes you hope that its an element they explore more in the future. It gives them a sense of texture that sets them apart from their peers. Born of Osiris have begun proving they deserve respect as a genuinely classy band. It’s just a shame about those first couple of releases really.

C.McMillan