Imicus – Animal Factory

Transcend Records

24th May 2010

The album kicks off with the title track, Animal Factory, setting the pace for the album. I find the album atmospheric and in places dark, aided by the vocals of Andrew Miller, even occasionally haunting with echoes and delays. This can be heard well in the breakdown to Visceral, their first single back in 2009. A great catchy song, though for me the middle 8 is about a middle 16, too long! Then comes the bounce with Inveigle which went down very well live at Download Festival 2010, but come the chorus you start to see a pattern emerging in that the chorus for the songs are very similar

You may think the album could then be repetitive but it is very solid and the riffs set the tracks apart. Precise drumming from (now guitarist) Dale Chapman and subtle guitar layers along with Dan Baker and flowing solos along with a groovy, hard and smooth bass lines from a Mr. Steve Parker show this bands high quality ability to write good songs – for example, The Butterfly Effect, with a striking solo, groovy riff and bass line. I really like this song.

The album is great to drive to, especially on a rainy day. It works when you’re happy and it is also pretty good to do the hoovering to (turn it up loud of course!!) I look forward to more great stuff form this band. ★★★✩✩

Xander – Album Of The Week 08/06/10

The Cumshots – Just Quit Trying
11th May 2009
Rodeostar Records

“Max Cargo looks like he might just kill you. A TV presenter who does not own a TV, he’s had lawsuits for allowing naked activists to screw on his band’s stage in order to save the forests, has spent a week eating the unhealthiest of foods while living in an Oslo shop window as part of a televised experiment and has undergone plastic surgery in the name of entertainment. He is also the vocalist for Norwegian nutters The Cumshots, which might go some way to explaining the band’s uniquely wild sound. Bestowed with the tag of ‘Death N Roll’, The Cumshots have been alarming conservative Norwegians with their unique blend of metal, punk and whatever the hell else they feel like throwing into the mix since the release of their first album in 2001. With Norwegian Grammy nominations under their belt, they are now setting their sites on the rest of the world and plan to come crashing into the UK in the neat future.”

This is actually a hard review to write simply because I love every track on this album. Looking at the list of tracks it is quite obvious there is a theme of depression, disappointment and anger and is very much confirmed by the lyrics. For example the optimistic name of Praying For Cancer and Bitter Erection with the line “If you wanna be force-fed true depression why don’t you fuckin’ gag on my bitter erection”. My favourite line is “Your pussy is a graveyard and I’m dying to get in” from Punchdrunk On Death which is a nice twist reminiscent of Baroness/Mastodon.

Put all this aside though and you have yourself an album composed by a group of fantastic musicians. Ripping solos, blistering drumming, killer riffs. The Cumshots very much have their own sound of Death N Roll, basically being very heavy rock with heavy melodic rhythms and riffs and heavy rough vocals with the occasional quite pleasant harmonies/backing vocals. Thundering drums are mixed with slow solid beats and there is also the occasional slow and acoustic sections. It’s worth mentioning that Just Quit Trying is awesome to drive to and also if you’re angry or down at any point then this is great to put on at full whack with a bottle of cheap cider!

Although I’ve had this album for a few months and only just written the review (I thought I’d already done so, oops!) it gives me the chance to say that with every listen I have given it, I’ve not once skipped any tracks! I can’t wait to see the band a second time, this time knowing more tracks, to be able to sing along with! ★★★★✩

Xander – Album of the Week 02/03/10