Review: Mushroomhead - Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children

It’s been a while since I have checked out a Mushroomhead release, but their latest album Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children has been streaming in full over on Aol.com this week so I thought I’d check it out.

I was a fan of 2001’s XX , which was creepy, violent and had this horror movie soundtrack feel running through out it that suited their masked appearances.

A few lineup changes over the years and we arrive in 2010 to see how things have changed.

The first few tracks get the album off to a rocking start with tracks like Come On, Slaughterhouse Road, with all their trademark palm muted riffs and double kicks, as well as the mix of clean and growling vocals (which at times remind me of Disturbed during the album.) The track I’ll Be Here almost has a hard rock feel to it rather than metal, but ends in traditional Mushroomhead fashion, with piano, distant melodic vocals and what sounds like children playing in the background.

The melodic vocals seem to be a standout feature of this album, on tracks like Burn The Bridge and The Harm You Do it sounds at times like a pop song with a metal backing track, not in a bad way, he just has a strong clean vocal style.

Half way through the album things start to change a little and get a bit more varied. Holes In The Void has a creepier feel and slows down the pace from the start of the album. The next track Harvest The Garden starts with a tribal drum intro and then along come the guitars and drums with a real groove feel, and the DJ can also be heard scratching away - would be a possible single if they are still released these days!

Now comes The Harm You Do which changes the pace again. Lots of piano and clean guitars on this one.
Things get heavy again for the next couple of tracks with a few mid-paced rockers. Your Demise brings back the heavy guitars, followed by piano through the verses and probably more guitar solos on this track than any other on the album. Darker Days breaks away from the mid-paced tunes with an 80’s metal/rock riff, a good change in style to the previous songs.

The album closes with Do I Know You? which is a short atmospheric song, with more piano & clean vocals and some sound bites of children playing, with the palm muted guitars creeping into the back ground before the album closes.

While the album is nothing to rave on about, I could imagine it would work really well live, and from what I read they are a great live band. While I wasn’t as impressed with this one as I was with XX, I don't think Mushroomhead fans will be disappointed with this solid release.

Update:

Check out this live video of Come On. Would be good to see more of these songs performed live! Intense!

Big Day Out 2011 Announcement

The 1st announcement for the Big Day Out 2011 festival was made over night, here's the lineup!

Tool, Rammstein, Iggy and the Stooges, M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Andrew W.K., Deftones, Crystal Castles, The Black Keys, Die Antwoord, Grinderman, Lupe Fiasco, Primal Scream (playing Screamadelica), The Bloody Beetroots, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Plan B, CSS, Ratatatat, PNAU, Bliss N Eso, Wolfmother, The Jim Jones Review, John Butler Trio, Angus and Julia Stone, Birds of Tokyo, Little Red, Gyroscope, Operator Please, Dead Letter Circus, Airbourne, Blue King Brown, Children Collide, The Naked and Famous, Anna Lune, Gypsy and the Cat, Kids Of 88, Kid Kinobi and MC Sure Shot, Lowrider and Sampology.

It will be interesting to see if TOOL will debut any new material at the BDO, having not released any music since their last appearance in 2007.

Here are the tour dates & venues:
FRIDAY JANUARY 21st AUCKLAND MT SMART STADIUM
SUNDAY JANUARY 23rd GOLD COAST PARKLANDS
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 26th SYDNEY SHOWGROUND
SUNDAY JANUARY 30th MELBOURNE FLEMINGTON RACECOURSE
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 4th ADELAIDE SHOWGROUND
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 6th PERTH CLAREMONT SHOWGROUND

Tickets will be on sale as listed below and will cost $155 + bf.
SYDNEY: WEDNESDAY 6th OCTOBER
GOLD COAST: THURSDAY 7th OCTOBER
AUCKLAND, MELBOURNE, ADELAIDE & PERTH: FRIDAY 8th OCTOBER

...and here's Andrew W.K making the announcement!

App Review: Cradle of Filth

Cradle of Filth have released an iPhone App to promote their upcoming album, 'Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa'.
First of all, the App features new music from the album, which as of today is 2 tracks. The first track, 'Lilith Immaculate' was added when the App was launched, and more recently the track 'The Cult of Venus Aversa' has also been included.
There is also a fan wall, allowing users to post messages & photos, and it can also show you where these users are located on the world map and the CoF fans nearest to you.
There is a news stream which is regularly updated, and a photo gallery that features new artwork and promo shots. There is a video section which features 15 videos, a good mix including 'Honey and Sulfur', 'Her Ghost in the Fog' and 'The Promise of Fever'.
There are also links to the CoF store, mailing list and the capability to link the App to your facebook and twitter accounts.
The App has a great user friendly layout, good content and seems to be quite stable.
It's also free so a very convenient way to get your hands on some new CoF material!

Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is scheduled for release on 1st November 2010.

For more information visit the DDVA mini site.

Check out the demo below!

Trent Reznor Releases free 5 track EP

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have released a free 5 track EP, a sampler from the sound track they have been working on for the upcoming film, 'The Social Network'.
Reznor is continuing to explore different formats for releasing his music, much like he has for his last few releases including this year's How to Destroy Angels EP. The Social Network will be released as a standard CD, Blu-ray (audio only 5.1 surround and high resolution stereo) and 2 disc 180g vinyl formats in October. The album will also be released digitally on the 28th September, and the 5 track EP is available now.

Reznor has decribed the music as "electronic in basis, but mostly organic sounding. Lots of experiments and emphasis on sound fraying around the edges while focusing on the proper emotional tone for the various scenes".
From the sampler it sounds like the music will please fans of Nine Inch Nail's Ghosts album, while also touching on some of his other recent NIN material and also the previously mentioned HTDA.

Head over to www.nullco.com for more information and to download the EP.

The Social Network movie opens on October 1st in the US and is scheduled to be released in Australia on the 25th November.

Review: Metallica, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne 16/09/2010

For their 2nd show in Melbourne for the Death Magnetic world tour, Metallica delved a little deeper into their back catalog. While still featuring all the set staples including Enter Sandman, Master of Puppets, One and Nothing Else Matters, they pulled out a few not so common in their usual set lists, especially for Australian shows! Some tracks featured from 1991's Black album included Holier than Though, Wherever I May Roam and The Unforgiven which added some great variation to the set. I had always wondered if ... and justice for all was rarely played because it was too long and or just didn't come across well live, but after seeing it played last night i can only conclude that it is because they just have too many great songs to be able to include songs like this in their regular sets.
Metallica certainly know how to command the crowd also, and playing in the round suits them perfectly, they don't neglect any part of the arena roaming the stage constantly giving every fan their money's worth for the entire concert.
There isn't a bigger show as far as metal concerts go. Set opener That was just your life featured laser lights which were effective even if a little unusual for Metallica. The lighting rigs were massive coffins which raised/lowered during various parts of set. There was plenty of pyro during One, Battery and Enter Sandman. The set closed with sing along to Seek and Destroy when massive black Metallica beach balls were released into the crowd.
After 6 years of waiting since Metallica last toured, you wonder if they 'still have it' and after last nights show, they have reminded Australia why they are the biggest metal band in the world.


Setlist:
That Was Just Your Life
Cyanide
Creeping Death
Holier Than Thou
One
The Four Horsemen
Wherever I May Roam
Sad But True
The Unforgiven
...And Justice For All
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Battery
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
- - - - - - - -
Helpless
Motorbreath
Seek and Destroy