FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
If you guessed by the album title that A Storm of Light plays post-metal, congratulations! You win a new car! (Car not included.) Nevertheless, this is some pretty decent stuff, album number three from the NYC trio that features Neurosis collaborator Josh Graham.
I’m not a big fan of bands with overt drug references in their names. I mean, Weedeater is pure genius, Bongzilla’s not bad, but it’s all downhill from there. That being said, Ironweed somehow works, taking one of the most over-used words in (dorky) metal, and adding weed. You know what they say… Just add weed, right?
I can see how this would’ve blown some minds back in 1990, but it really hasn’t aged all that well. Other bands have since taken the torch and left Winter sputtering behind with this lo-fi, depressing slog of an album that has more in common with the “gothic doom” of My Dying Bride than the true masters of the genre.
April 15, 2011 was the day the music died. At 6:45 pm, without any warning, CKLN 88.1 fm was taken off the air, ending 28 years of community radio programming–five and a half for yours truly.
I should mention that the station continues to broadcast online, and will do so for the foreseeable future (which might not be too long). And while I’m pretty convinced that I’ll be walking away, I’ve got some unfinished business to attend to first. Tonite is the 100th episode of Smokin’ Green, est. 2008, RIP 2011.
I actually quite liked their debut, but this one isn’t grabbing me in the same way. Songs seem shorter, and they’ve definitely dialled down the heavy, opting for a slightly less distorted desert rock/grunge sound.
Even Dehumanizer was gloomier than this. That being said, if Balls to the Wall/Metal Heart era-Accept or those mid-80’s Scorpions albums are your thing, you might not mind this modern slice of throwback Euro metal.
Three signs that it’s April:
1) Time to pay the taxman!
2) Start of the NHL playoffs (or as the Leafs call it, golf season)
3) The Acid Mothers Temple is playing at El Mocambo
Boldly strides Argus, lookout!
Back in the day, Sea of Green moved the mountains on their Northern Lights EP, but Red Fang takes things one step further, putting a gun to those mountains’ heads, and making them beg for their lives before pulling the trigger.
These guys play slow, dirty swamp metal, buried deep under several layers of distortion. Much better suited for the bleakest, darkest days of winter than an early spring release.