Various Artists - 'The Ripple Effect Presents Volume 1 - Head Music' (Ripple Music) 5/5

Five years ago a couple of Californian music lovers set up The Ripple Effect, an online magazine where they could share their love of old school stoner and modern underground rock. To say the idea was a success is a vast understatement. Since the site was launched Ripple has grown into one of the most respected music sites in the world, has its own radio station and of course Ripple Music, a label that has rapidly become one of the most vibrant and cutting edge in the whole realm of underground music with such acts as Grifter, Stone Axe, Mighty High, Mos Generator and Iron Claw on their books. Now to celebrate the first five years of The Ripple Effect they have issued this twenty three track compilation album, representing the very best of the kind of stuff Ripple have been championing over that time.


Now this compilation is a real delight to listen to, most of the 23 cuts here are previously unreleased, and every track is of the very best of whats happening on the current stoner, retro and underground classic scenes.


I'm not gonna give you a track by track breakdown, this is a free download album, go get a copy for yourself and have an explore. However I will point out a few highlights. There's the glorious stonehead groove of Torso with One, the fantastically sleazy Swear It To The Sun from Voodoo Johnson, Dark Earths highly headbangable eponymous post Sabbath work out and Concrete Sun with the underground classic of Silver Tear... infact every track on this one falls somewhere in between the 'yeah thats pretty damn good' and 'fuck me sideways that was great' camps.


There is still a huge market out there for this kind of new wave old school rock, and with retro rocking bands like Gypsyhawk and Dear Superstar on the edge of the mainstream, the market for this kind of classic rock is only gonna grow, and I have no doubt that Ripple will be there to bring you the very best of it for many years to come. Whats more this is a FREE record, so download it NOW and expand your head with the effect of ripples of superb music


Get this album NOW


For fans of... Stone Axe, Mos Generator, Fen, Black Sabbath, the classic and the underground....

Get your copy here for FREE - http://therippleeffect.bandcamp.com/album/the-ripple-effect-presents-volume-1-head-music

Lehmon - 'Sampler EP' (self released) 4.5/5

Oooo this is a good 'un. Lehmon are a two piece project from Paris over there in France that consists of Walter Monnen and Michele Leonor and they claim to be inspired by everything from modern pop and rock through to various European and Middle Eastern folk traditions. Their debut album 'Golden Mountains and Dark Valley's' is due out early next year but they have just put out this four track sampler ep to give the world an idea of what to expect.

Now I do like acts that know how to mix their sounds and influences up a bit, and thus I am finding this four tracker a very compelling listen. We have alsorts on offer here; A Hundred Centuries is a bit of psychedelic weirdness that comes over like maybe a tuneful Tom Waites or possibly Alien Sex Fiend stripped of the gothic trappings, Crepuscular Dream is a glorious slice of light weight post gothic darkness that sounds like a bit of sound trackage from a Tim Burton animation, I Need to Love You is a Krankshaft like helping of acid pop ballad weirdness and That's All is a plaintiff duet that could be part of the sound track to an ultra left field stage musical - all pit orchestra and soft shoe shuffle slow dance beats. Add in some very engaging tongue firmly in cheek lyrics, some superb vocal and instrumental performances and some attentive production and you have here a cracking ep that leaves the listener hungry from the full album. All very very good stuff indeed.

Until this arrived Lehmon were completely new to me, but I'm now a bit of a fan and I'll be following their progress very closely from now on.

Recommended

For Fans of - Krankshaft, Tom Waites, Rocky Horror Show, The Enid, Bauhaus......

Cirith Ungol - 'Servants of Chaos' (metalblade) 4.5/5

If I had to select one act to represent the true spirit of underground metal it would be Californian rockers Cirith Ungol. They were formed in the early 70's and for a good few years were nothing but local heroes before getting themselves signed in 1980. Over the next eleven years they issued four fairly obscure but musically remarkable albums before frustration over management and record label issues lead to the bands split in 1992. They were never a critically acclaimed outfit, Kerrang! magazine once named their debut LP 'Frost and Fire' as the worst heavy metal album of all time, yet at the same time they built a cult following far larger than their apparent profile, had a huge world wide fan base and are now hailed as a greatly influential outfit on many of the bands that came after them. Since the split the name Cirith Ungol has been kept alive by a string of compilation releases and even a tribute album from acts who hail them as one of the greats.

Now Servants of Chaos isn't a new compilation.This collection of rare unreleased tracks, demo recordings, live renditions, alternative takes and rehearsal room sessions first surfaced 10 years ago, but to commemorate  the 20th anniversary of the bands demise metalblade have decided to revamp and reissue it, along with a DVD of a 1984 live show to help keep the legend of Cirith Ungol alive and available for the next generation of metalheads.

There are 31 tracks on the audio part of this triple disc set (and 8 on the DVD which didn't come with this review copy so you'll have to check that bit out for yourselves), and it covers the bands entire history from demo versions of tracks that ended up on the Frost and Fire album, right through to a couple of numbers recorded just before the split. Listening through to this album I can't help but be struck by what a great band Cirith Ungol were. There are the ghosts of all the greats in here, riffs that hint at classic Rush, driving metal sections that reference Black Sabbath and Montrose, touches of Led Zeppelin... , all wrapped around some great lyrics that draw from classic fantasy literature as penned by the likes of Michael Moorcock and Fritz Libre. And there's more, just take the double header of Ill Met In Lankhmar and Return To Lankhmar, we have here a couple of tracks that can only be described as progressive metal, yet dating from a time when that genre didn't even exist and the only other band experimenting in the field were the equally cult and obscure NWOBHM outfit Demon.

Playing this one through and once more getting to know great tracks like Master Of The Pit, Chaos Rising, Join The Legion and 100 MPH, you begin to realise that maybe Cirith Ungols problem was the fact that they were too far ahead of their time, I'm sure had they come around ten years later when the whole progressive metal thing was beginning to break through thanks to the likes of Dream Theater, they would have realised their true potential and gained the critical and commercial success they undoubtedly deserved.

Still that is now just speculation, and with various ex-members of the band saying a reformation is most certainly not on the cards (but I for one still live in hope), all we can do is treasure this compilation, enjoy the majesty of what Cirith Ungol were; use it to pass on to younger generations of rockers the mythology of one of the metal undergrounds true greats and keep the name Cirith Ungol alive.

Highly Recommended

For fans of.. Rush, Crowned By Fire, Black Sabbath, Demon etc....

Decayed Race - 'Demo 2011' (Grandmas Lakehouse?) 4/5

A time for another random surf find, Decayed Race, are from Texas in the USA and have only been around since the start of last year

Now this sort of stuff takes me back. In the late 1980's I was in a rather obscure thrash metal band and due to the fact we knew Bath crustcore kings Amebix we ended up on a number bills with acts from the then exploding UK hardcore / grindcore / crust core scene. This was the age of the infamous micro-song. One act we played with did over 50 tracks in a half hour set. It was a bit of a shock at first, after all my musical schooling came from the days of prog rock and old school metal, but I soon got used to the minimalist approach and broadened my musical taste to allow albums by the likes of Napalm Death and Doom into the collection.

So when I downloaded this little nine tracker and found myself with tasty slice of 80's sounding crust fueled hardcore on my hand I was little bit delighted. Of the nine tracks on offer here, seven can be called true micro songs with play times from 14 seconds to just over half a minute (of the two remaining tracks Chipped Teeth only just passes the one minute mark). Numbers like Swine Brutality, Oppressed and Bleached fly past in glorious short blurs of angry attitude, walls of sonic devastation and brutal bludgeon that hit and run like Greek rioters outside a government office. Think Sore Throat, Electro Hippies, Napalm Death and Ripchord and you'll know exactly where these guys are coming from. Then by contrast we have the closing instrumental Chained Up, by contrast an epic at over three minutes long that is classic doomcore, all grinding menace, dark riffs and wailing feedback.

OK the production here is not hot, but when it comes to this stuff it doesn't need to be, as I keep saying, punk in all its sub genres is about attack and attitude, with everything else being secondary; and boy do these guys have both in abundance. True crusty grindcore is not often heard these days so when you do find some as good as this, then it must be embraced and praised for keeping one rocks most interesting sub genres alive.

Recommended.

For fans of... Napalm Death, Doom, Police Bastard, Black Flag, Sore Throat, Ripchord etc...

This demo can be downloaded for free from here. http://www.mediafire.com/?559pmc0ckwuamcb