Le sujet du jour va être un peu plus différent que d'habitude, et surtout les photos que je vais disperser n'auront pas de rapport avec le texte!! En effet, suite à plusieurs évènements, je vais changer de registre et vous offrir mon classement des albums sortis en 2011, ainsi que mes commentaires! Et donc, comme vous allez vous en rendre compte, les photos enneigées qui les accompagne n'ont pas une significations intrinsèquement philosophiques ou je ne sais quoi! Mais tout simplement je n'ai pas eu le temps comme je le voulais de faire un visuel pour l'occasion et comme il a neigé par ici la semaine dernière et j'aime tellement la neige, je me suis dit que j'allais faire d'une pierre deux coups! ^^
Donc voilà pour vous! Et désolée les gens français, mais le classement a été écrit en anglais et je me sens paaas du tout le courage de tout traduire! Mais, mon vocabulaire n'est pas non plus des plus compliqués à comprendre!!
-----------
The subject of today will be a bit more different from usual, and most of all, the pictures that I am going to spread won't have any link with the text!! Indeed, after several events, I am going to change of genre and will offer you my ranking of the albums of 2011, as well as my comments! And so, as you will realize, the snowy pictures that accompany them have no intrinsically philosphical meaning or something! But it is simply because I had no time to do a visual for the occasion and as it was snowing around here last week and that I like snow so much, I thought that I shoudl take the occasion! ^^
So here for you!
Thrice - Major/Minor
**
The songs on this album are in general missing of variety and dynamism, and it seems that all of the tracks are following the same pattern, or at least the same ambience, which leads the album to sound pretty long. I noticed two tracks though, Promises and Disarmed, the first one being probably the most vivid and interesting song on the album and the second one, beginning just as the rest of the songs except that around half of it, a beautiful guitar riff comes out of nowhere and brings the little sparkle I was waiting for. Too bad it's the last track of the album...
I wouldn't call it a bad album though, just that the whole delivers no surprise and that, knowing the number of masterpieces on The Artist In The Ambulance, the only album I had from them for a while, was a bit disapointed by the band. But ah well... They called it quit a few months ago so I won't be too harsh for this last effort of theirs!
Limp Bizkit - Gold Cobra
***
Having never been a huge fan of Limp Bizkit, I would say that this album is in a good continuity of the previous ones - read that I was not expecting anything special from it, I was already more than happy to know that Walking Away would be an official track! All in all, I would say that the songs are enjoyable and really really nice for some... And some others that I maybe wouldn't have minded taking off, but it's still very minor. The only thing is that it is maybe too repetitive in the formula of the songs, and especially since I own the special edition of it with 18 tracks, which ends to be pretty long. But I acknowledge that the absence time of the band was pretty long, so it's really cool I think that they came back with so many tracks, and with such an awesome guitarist * brackets* But I have the feeling that all I'm writing so far doesn't quite justify the 3 stars, so let's try to be more precise! The first time I listened to the album, I have to admit that I liked it but it wasn't for sure a revelation. And it's still not one but it did grow on me and I happened to find really interesting things in almost every songs, and even if like I said before, the formula is maybe too much the same all along, it doesn't prevent that it is a good formula, with dynamics and nice melodies all in all.
+++ - Crosses
***1/2
I didn't know at all what that new project would sound like, but I enjoyed it! The whole sonority is fresh, the mix of electronic and ambient music is quite efficient and Chino Moreno brings the most relaxing side of his vocals to it. And so the result is an EP I like to listen to when I need to concentrate, or when I'm a bit tired or just feeling calm in general... Well, that is to say that it is not for every mood but still good enough to bring nice feelings, and again not the ones I am used to. This Is A Trick is my favorite, as an opening track it creates the surprise and is very dynamic with little elements I haven't found on the other songs. The rest of the EP is more experimental to me, and I mean that it is turning more around the research of new sonorities and maybe minimalism, which is of course not negative at all though! Just that it sounds maybe a little less structured then, and it is longer to get into it. But all in all again, a very enjoyable EP!
Staind - Staind
***1/2
I didn't know much about Staind before, so let's say that I have started my experience with that one album! And it is a very enjoyable one. To me, it is a good album to just relax and take off from the usual bands I'm listening to. And I think that the proof that it is quite relaxing to me is that the songs I tend to prefer are among the most melodic ones, just like Failing, Throw It All Away or Take a Breath. Even if overall it is a melodic album, but with its good balance of beautiful and more dynamic, heavier songs.And I am now thinking more specifically about the song Now, which has a great riff, and not only, since it is also one of the best to me on the album! And well, apart from telling these little things, I have not much more to say! It is for sure not a revelation, neither a deception at all, but really the kind of music I will enjoy listening to whenever I am in a calm mood or in need of calm...
Silverstein - Rescue
***1/2
This is when I heard that album after maybe a couple of listenings that I realized two things: 1) this band really can play KILLING riffs and 2) oh this is so good when the singer lets clean vocals to the profit of screamings! Indeed, the best example is probably showing on the first track, Medication, which has a wonderful introduction and while the tension starts growing and that you feel the explosion coming, this is the typically punk-emo clean vocals that comes in instead... Not that I had minded at all before, I like a lot this band for anything they do, but it went clear to me that on that album, moments when they are the best are when they simply combine their most powerful riffs with screaming... Which eventually comes later on that same first song! And which makes of it anyway a great way to start the album. I particularly noticed as well Intervention, The Artist (it's rare that a featuring song is among my favorites but it happens! Yeaaah, I have a song in mind that is a featuring and is amazing, but I'm getting out of subject now!) and In Memory Of... which is maybe the softest song on the album though but doesn't prevent it from having a really simple beautiful riff that carries you into the song completely. And as it's the last track, we can say that both the opening and ending songs were well chosen! And then, about the other songs, I would say that it sounds like Silverstein for sure, meaning that they are good ones even if maybe less good than some on their other albums. The thing is that they seem to be shy of innovating, which happens to a lot of bands but then, they will keep doing good songs but expected ones!
Earthtone9 - For Cause And Consequence
****
As always with Earthtone9, at least as far as I know, they could find a great mix of beauty and power on this EP! And I honestly don't know much of what to say because this is simply a good continuity of what they can do. Only with four songs, they could keep variety, each song has its own personality, and still the unity is there! My personal favorite is Ghosts, it's really what I mean when I talk about beauty and power. I am not very good at describing a band in their style... It's more towards my own feeling. And I am aware that my feeling is not necessarily the same as others' but still if it does that effect on me, there are chances it could for other people as well. So I encourage you all to check this EP anyway, considering that it is also the first release they had in a long time!
Cave In - White Silence
****1/2
You want some chaos? Then here you go... I only knew Cave In so far for their album Jupiter, released in 2000, and it seems that I have been missing a lot during the 11 years in between! Or maybe not that much while reading the comments of fans about this newest release... It seems that the band came back to old roots (and what heavy ones!) while some of their public are more attached to the softer sound they had built all along these past years and are seeing 2011 as a big change in the musical history of Cave In. I knew them then during their full soft spacy sound, that I appreciate a lot this said, and so when the title track begun, I at first wondered if we were talking about the same band... Brutal, chaotic, a bit uncomfortable and so relieving at the same time... Actually reminding of The Blood Brothers a bit, at least the Guitarmy period. But in a way higher level. I think I honestly held my breath during the first 6 tracks of this album, diving into a wave of pure beautiful heaviness, mixed at points with that typical, almost celestial, sound that is theirs, and by that I'm particularly talking about Sing My Loves, the epic track on the album and my favorite. If it wasn't for the last three songs, this album would have reached a full 5 stars rating...Indeed, those are really unbalanced with the rest of the album, even if the real intruder is by no means Iron Decibels to me. I guess it has good things in it, and it still has to grow on me but the overall sound of this song is closer to trendy pop-rock bands than to what our ears were so happy to receive during the previous 25 minutes. The two others are just way softer but are keeping in a way a good vibe of what at least the band used to sound like. And Reanimation is, I have to admit, a lovely ending track.
But what I will for sure recall from this album is the crazy feeling I got while listening to it the first time, and the mood it still keeps me in now. A really surprising and great album, for all of those who are missing a refreshing heaviness vibe!
Evanescence - Evanescence
****1/2
Wow... So, with Evanescence... I had almost forgotten about them during these past few years, but thanks to the recent crazy re-discovering of a friend, I went back into them as well! And it just happened that they release a new album on this same year! While Fallen is really still an awesome album to me, when I heard What You Want, the first single off of this new self-titled album, I couldn't help but to be slightly disappointed. The song finally grew on me though. But the good news were that What You Want happened to be on a lower level than most of the album to me, making the rest of the songs really great, and for some... Really really really great! We can still recognize the priamary elements of the band, still with an evolution in the style, in the ambience, which is of course only a good thing and what any band should seek for. My personal favorites are Oceans, Sick, which caught me right at the first listening, and The Change, which incedibly grew on me, most likely due to the hard moment I was going through and the power that this song had had over it. But the whole album just keeps growing on me with each new listening. It is all at the same time catchy, beautiful and powerful, and even if I can't say that the band is among my top favorites, still there are moments when I can't stop listening to them because, I guess, it feels really good inside. And this is just the key of a very good album!
Fear and The Nervous System - Fear And The Nervous System
****1/2
This album was a very very nice surprise... I was expecting liking it a lot after the preview with Choking Victim, which is an amazing song, and my expectations have been more than fulfilled. The whole album is diverse, and I would say maybe quite classic yet with a little something more that creates the originality. I already loved this album and still it keeps growing on me, I am hearing all the time these songs with something new, new feelings towards each and then I am not hearing a song on a lower level than the others (maybe to the exception of Chinatown, which is for sure my least favorite track, but still great). It has everything: dynamics, great and beautiful melodies, true ambiences and a wonderfully talented vocalist! And I don't really know what else to say because I am not sure I can even explain why I like it. So I would just recommand it for anyone who is maybe waiting for a revelation or just waiting for the occasion to be left leading through ones imaginary and get a bit crazy!
Times of Grace - The Hymn of a Broken Man
****1/2
Here we go... Times of Grace have been quite a revelation to me. When I heard a couple of preview songs, it had already made me want to hear more and so, when I saw the album in a music store, all alone in the middle of other bands', I didn't hesitate because I had the feeling I would like it a lot, and you can say that it was a sign it was meant for me to buy it then! Indeed, I've been caught right away by the melodies, as for the instruments as for the vocals... I, usually not too fond of heavy screamings like that, found myself really conquered because of the balance between screamings and melodic vocals... And his voice, I have to say, is pretty much death! I couldn't really explain the whole feeling I get from most of the songs... The music violently takes me to the stomach but then fluidly and softly carries me away with it. Fight for Life demonstrates that feeling perfectly. It hurts because it's so beautiful... Have you ever had that feeling too? When you almost get tears while listening, but you don't know if it's just the beauty of it or if it's because it tells you something so intimate that it touches you so much but you don't even understand why. The title track does that effect a bit, as well. And really, there are just a few songs that I find a little under the others in terms of power, like Live In Love, but... Even the last three tracks that I had found weaker have grown on me now and I see them in a new way. I recommend that album to anyone looking maybe for another world to discover. It is at least kind of the effect it had on me!
Minora - Imago
*****
A perfect album to close your eyes and let yourself be overwhelmed by beauty, by calm and intensity at the same time. It also has the effect of a warm nestle in which we could find shelter, and through which the cold world outside could appear even more beautiful. But also, through the tonality of the whole album, the resonances and the melody itself (yes, I voluntarily used the singular form), it brings us a fresh breeze, like the one we could have at the top of a snowy mountain, purifying mind. That's how I feel it. In other simply words, this album is very relaxing. I don't know if I could analyse enough to give a more detailed description of it though... Some songs may be slightly better than the others but honestly, each has its weight of emotion and of greatness. And one of the really good thing is that there's a true unity throughout it, the same atmosphere and still every songs are very different to me, they have their own identity... Which shouldn't even be worth mentioning, but I think it's not that easy to find, and especially for an atmospheric album.
Thursday - No Devolucion
*****
Ah Thursday, Thursday, Thursday... I started listening to this band several years ago and I appreciated them already a lot, but the more they were releasing albums the more their music as a whole was growing on me. Hence I also think that their albums are better and better with time, and hence No Devolucion is for me THEIR masterpiece. Even if I would call it close to A City By The Light Divided, there is something in this album that takes you for a trip in the air right from the first track. There are litterally aerial, poetic and beautiful ambiences all in all. It tells you a story from beginning to end and even if I consider Magnets Caught In A Metal Heart, Millimeter and Turnpike Divides like being the songs a little apart from the rest in terms of quality, I can also say that they are then the little touches that allows the story to have some elements out of the logical continuity and so to bring some variety, yet we can still recognize their style. And what else to say?... The general feelings I am getting from this album is inner peace, full emotion, and most of all the impression of having my mind floating into something out of space and out of time... Really wonderful album. I would recommend it for any person liking ambient music or just relaxing yet dynamic music... And of course to any other people willing to look for new things!
Unfortunately the band announced in November that they were stopping the band, most likely forever, but I would still quote Geoff Rickly in an interview "...and this record (No Devolución) was the first one where we said, 'You know what? Who cares? Let's say our career is over tomorrow, who fucking cares? Let's make something beautiful' " and I would just add congratulations guys, you did really make something beautiful and I'm proud of having been in the adventure, this was really the best way to end your career...
