| finally, something that isn't completely terrible |
[Feb. 22nd, 2008|10:47 am] |
| [ | music |
| | brian eno - music for airports | ] |
we got a very nice review in ReGen for the new album. about time. everything else i've seen has mostly been shite, written by sub-morons of the lowest form (ok, maybe just one review). you can read it here:
Battery Cage
Forever Never Ends
Metropolis Records
Posted: Friday, February 22, 2008
By: Vlad McNeally
4 out of 5 Stars
Having already embraced the guitar, Battery Cage's new mini-album continues to swing the heartache across industrial rock, brooding trip-hop, and everything electronic in between.
It's amazing to listen to Battery Cage's current work against their earlier releases; unless one can audibly pinpoint Tyler Newman's gruff vocal delivery as a mental reference, one would probably think that Forever Never Ends was the work of some other band. This change began with 2006's A Young Person’s Guide to Heartbreak, a release wherein Battery Cage shockingly told their old EBM influences, "it's not you, it's me," picked up their electric guitars, and ventured bravely into the rather vacant world of industrial rock.
Thankfully, Forever Never Ends continues right where the last album left off. Though guitar remains rather omnipresent throughout this release, the disc begins on a dismal electronic note with "Forever Never Ends." Continuing on with the last disc's theme of destructive love, Tyler's croon balances this topic between bitterness with melancholy. His vocals reside in a tortured howl, one that pairs itself well with its mumbling bass line, staggering trip-hop percussion, and even remains salient for its intermittent outbursts of frustrated guitar. As if to make up for this somber start, "No One Else to Blame" erupts with thunderous gusto in a flurry of rapid punk power chords and raucous drumming. While its verses carry on with this charge, skirting ever so close to pop punk in its frustrated shudders, its chorus pauses to catch its breath and emit a proud swaying dirge. Though there's no resource available to verify one's claim, but the rapid rap flow of the guest vocalist in "The Perfect Girl" has to be either Ned Kirby from Stromkern, or one truly talented mimic. Over a jungle of cardboard snares and percolating electronic bubbles, Newman's voice trails gossamer and brittle. Yet the heart of this beast is in its chorus, a stomping pulmonary monster where guitar swirls twanging, dissonant, and loud above pensive synths and exclamatory stanzas. Though pieces like this stride proud with malicious rock energy, the new material curtails into intriguing instrumental territory at its conclusion. For example, there is "Even Colder Inside Her;" as if inspired by Trent Renzor's cinematic intermissions, this suicide note finds the murmur of a lone piano, pouring its heart out through fragile notes over the distant urban din of barking dogs and police cars before finally exploding into a wall of cacophonous drums and whining guitar.
After dishing out these seven new morsels, Forever Never Ends concludes with a quartet of remixes that cover some of the highlights on A Young Person's Guide to Heartbreak in styles ranging from breakbeats to juicy IDM. Probably the most straightforward of the pack, but also perhaps the best, The Bone Crusher mix of "Crush and Spurn" is as if someone summoned up the specter of '90s era industrial rock, reminding one of a time when a mean-spirited lead synth could hold its own against its guitar counterpart. A close second in quality is the Electro Skank mix of "Something Wonderful." Here, Newman's vocals are breezy and unusually melodic, acting as a perfect emo foil for its disenfranchised, near-acoustic guitar's jangle. This alone is enticing, but it grows even more impressive as Battery Cage infuses it with a reggae-flavored drum machine hiccup, flares of brassy horns, and even hums of gracious synth.
Lastly, one must note that this disc is a digital-only release; while on one side, one can applaud their grasp on music's inevitable move to a predominantly non-physical format, but on the other hand, some will probably be miffed by the lack of an actual album. Regardless of where one stands on this issue, Forever Never Ends teems with variety and is certainly a worthy successor to the originality forged within their previous album.
it's worth noting that i was the ned kirby clone on 'the perfect girl'. i wanted ned to do it, but he didn't want to be involved, i don't think. well, who can blame him? c'est la vie...
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in other news, not much to talk about right now. life, on a personal level, continues to sink further into the abyss than i ever thought possible.
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the informatik show in san francisco seemed to go well. we play los angeles on sunday. if you're in the area, you should try to make it. more information available on myspace.
i don't have the strength to do much more than this minimal amount of internet chatter. see ya.
-tn |
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