Black Cobra "Chronomega" review in LEO

I was asked to write another review several weeks ago, and they published it last week. You can see it in print on page 43 of the November 18th issue of LEO, you can read it on their website by clicking here, and the full text of my review is reproduced below, followed by a link to some of the band's music.

Chronomega
Black Cobra
Southern Lord Records
{ hoarse chords }

If the rusty patina of bulky abandoned industrial-era equipment had a sound, it would be something like the heavily distorted guitars of Black Cobra. The tone is so thoroughly textured that you may wonder if your speakers have suddenly developed a distortion problem, but the clear drums and shouty (at times shrill) vocals will reassure you. Lyrically bleak, Chronomega is pregnant with rhythmic reiteration; even the shorter tracks repeat their oxidized riff-centric themes with conviction and patience.

It's arguably better not to know what the genre tags (doom and sludge metal) are supposed to signify about Black Cobra. This, their first album on an established label, is best approached on its own terms: absorb the plodding crunch of the nigh-epic tracks, dig the sinewy dread of the chord progressions, wince at the thrash-like vocals, discern some heavily cloaked incognito punk riffs. Imagine that your ears could understand the sensation of touching the gnarled bark of a 200 year old tree. Now hope with me that the band can accomplish this coarseness on stage – it would be a brutally intoxicating live show.

You can check out the band's homepage, and listen to a few tracks on their Myspace. I'm hoping to have another review (ever heard of Boris?) printed soon, and LEO is also planning a collection of "Top 5 of 2009" lists that should hit the newsstand in December.

A few people died yesterday

As you probably could not avoid learning, two widely known people died yesterday. One from cardiac arrest, the other after a long fight with cancer. To my mind, an appropriate response includes concern for their families and loved ones, who are certainly hurting during such a time.

However, as the corporate media has surely not mentioned, more than just two people died on June 25, 2009.

At an average of 105 deaths per month in 2009 alone, between three and four Darfuries died yesterday. This, after most of the rest of the world has watched for more than five years and done almost nothing.

Almost 200 women died yesterday because they did not have access to legal and safe abortion.

Around 1,500 people died in the Congo, even though the war "ended" five years ago.

More than 4,000 died in Africa because of AIDS, in large part due to Vatican and Republican Party opposition to the distribution of, and education regarding, condoms.

Across the globe, more than 5,000 people died yesterday simply because they do not have access to clean water, while an estimated 16,000 children died because they do not have enough food. When was the last time you heard anybody in the corporate media talk about food or water shortages, in the context of global over-population?

When was the last time you heard a politician that you support speak to this issue, or any of the above issues?

It goes without saying that we could expand this list almost indefinitely. The point is that people are dying completely preventable deaths, every hour of every day, while most news outlets in the United States seem content to tell us all about the latest starlet fashion faux pas, who is getting paid too much to play sports, which American car company has a shitty plan to improve their sales figures, the summer fashion choices of a host of celebrities, and the latest manufactured reality-TV scandal. Oh, and if somebody died and they were famous, they will probably tell us all about that, too. But preventable (or U.S. foreign policy caused) deaths around the globe? There is little time to cover that.

A few not-so-hypothetical questions

Introduction

The following consists of three described scenarios, each with one or more related questions. I pose the questions out of serious curiosity as to how certain mindsets think about certain situations. If you do not find yourself in the named audience for a particular question, feel free to skip it or answer in some other way (for example, if I were to pose a question to a Libertarian and you aren't one, you might say "well, my friend is a Libertarian and I think he would say...").


Scenario 1

A man named Scott is accused of assassinating a civilian, for both political and religious reasons. While in custody, he claims that many similar acts are imminent around the country.

This question is most specifically for those who believe that the U.S. is justified and morally faultless when it subjects unrepresented and never-proven-guilty prisoners to "harsh interrogation techniques" (in seeming agreement with the likes of Dick Cheney and Jack Bauer).

• If Scott is unwilling to give the police any and all information he has regarding other assassination plots, should he be tortured?

Scenario 2

Two men (both U.S.-born citizens), who do not know each other and are unrelated in any way, are each accused of committing a murder, coincidentally within 48 hours of each other. Both men have different (but equally fervent and extremist) religious and political beliefs. Both seem to have committed the alleged acts of murder for revenge against perceived wrongs and to frighten their perceived enemies into changing their behavior.

First question:

• Based on just the above information, would you call either man a terrorist?

Additional information:

The first man, named Scott, is known to have been a member of anti-government and anti-taxation groups, one which has been involved in an armed confrontation with the FBI, and another group which denies the authority of the federal government. He has furthermore been convicted of possessing explosives (which his ex-wife says were intended to be used for similar goals as the murder he is now accused of). The site of his alleged act of murder was a church.

The second man, formerly named Carlos, has no criminal record and has not yet been proven to be associated with any extremist groups (religious, political, or otherwise). When apprehended, he was found to be in possession of three guns and approximately 175 rounds of ammunition. Some evidence suggests that he may have considered attacking religious institutions.

• Now would you call either man a terrorist?

Here's even more information:

Scott has been charged with first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

Carlos has been charged with capital murder and fifteen counts of terrorist acts.

Oh, and Scott is a white Christian, while Carlos is a black Muslim.

• Now would you call either a terrorist? And, given the above information, do the charges seem fair to you?

Scenario 3

Consider a man named William who lives in Indiana, where the age of consent is 16. Suppose that he somehow knows with some certainty that Mr. Taper, a 25 year old man living in his neighborhood, has been having completely consensual sex with different girlfriends, all of whom are 17 or 18 years old. Never mind that it's none of William's business, nor that it is none of the business of the rest of his neighborhood. Now, imagine that William is morally outraged. He gossips to his friends and neighbors, and posts fliers around town, accusing Mr. Taper of raping children, calling him "Taper the child raper!" Now, suppose some particularly emotional and volatile person(s) in the neighborhood assault Mr. Taper in a parking lot, landing him in critical condition at the hospital.

Thus, the following questions are for all, but are especially directed at viewers/readers/fans of such media personalities as O'Reilly, Hannity, Goldberg, Coulter, Limbaugh, et cetera.

• Relative to the above situation, is William a liar?
• Is he guilty of slander and libel?
• Should he be considered, at the very least, somewhat responsible for his rhetoric?
• Is it reasonable to expect William to at least consider the possibility that his dishonest claims might have had something to do with landing Mr. Taper in the hospital?
  

Obviously, my proposed scenarios and questions bare quite a bit of relation to the facts surrounding the assassination of Dr. George Tiller. I've purposefully tried to avoid the potentially incendiary topic of abortion. Perhaps a topic for another day.

Blood review printed in LEO

LEO recently gave me the opportunity to write another music review, and it was published this week. I also decided to try making an audio version of the review, which you can listen to by clicking the play button below.

Here's the original text of my review, followed by a link to the review on LEO's website, and a scan of the slightly edited version that appeared in print.

Blood
OSI
(InsideOut)
<heavy repose>

For the third time, Jim Matheos and Kevin Moore have combined progressive metal and almost ambient electronica, producing an intriguing genre-bending album. This release welcomes Gavin Harrison on drums, with guest vocals on one track by Mikael Åkerfeldt.

The paradox of capacious atmospheres against thick riffing, over Moore's almost terminally laid-back vocals, seems designed to demand repeated listens for full appreciation. Heaviness is present but restrained, with the meticulous groove of the drums and the exacting guitar chops employed in direct service of the overall compositions, or not at all. Albums with this much programming often sound completely artificial, a problem Blood deftly avoids – the production is perfect, but also alive and breathing, almost leaping from the stereo to reward the careful listener.

OSI's newest is one of those uncommon, diverse and nuanced records that you both love getting lost in, and playing – loud, on real speakers – for anybody who is willing to listen.

To see the online copy of the review and check out LEO's website, please click here.

Also worth mentioning is that if you spend the extra two or three dollars to get the two-disc version of the album, you get the deliciously heavy "No Celebrations" with Tim Bowness guesting on vocals, plus a cover of the Elliott Smith song "Christian Brothers," and an extended version of the second track from the album. To view the official website for OSI, click here.

Looking back at 2008

Tom Tomorrow rings in the new year with a look back at 2008.



To see the full Part 1 strip, click here. To see the full Part 2 strip, click here.

Happy New Year!

The Darjeeling Limited

I made a trailer for one of my two favorite movies, The Darjeeling Limited, directed by Wes Anderson. I hope you enjoy it, and are encouraged to check out the movie, if you've not yet seen it.

And here I should write a little essay about why I love this movie, and the previous four, as well. Perhaps later.

True or False?

On my favorite hospital drama television show, a patient is informed that she has a small but quite operable brain tumor. She's reassured by her doctor that the procedure will be performed by a certain Dr. Derek Shepherd: "Don't worry ma'am. Doctor Shepherd is one of the best neurosurgeons on the West Coast. He's the best. Elite, even." The patient responds, "He's elite? Oh, no..." and begins to cry.


A man finds himself in fairly serious need of a root canal. After getting a list of the local dentists and oral surgeons covered by his company's medical insurance, he asks around the office for recommendations (being new to the area). One co-worker informs him: "You should go see Schuffler. She was excellent when I had some troubles, and she graduated near the top of her class from one of the most elite dental colleges in the country." The man considers this and responds, "Elite, you say? I dunno – I'm more comfortable with a dentist I can relate to. Someone who generally disbelieves or is ignorant of sound science would be more to my liking."


Having grown up enjoying playing a few different sports (sandlot baseball as a kid, intramurals in college, pick-up games at the gym as an adult), Peter is attempting to explain to a buddy why he doesn't enjoy watching the NBA Finals. "What's up with all these elite players? They're all, like, at least six feet tall. I can't dunk a basketball – I'd rather watch normal guys play, not these lanky, well-trained snobs."


Obviously (hopefully), all three of these examples are false. Or anyway, they're intended to be (I just made them up – no similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is intended). I thought all this up after reading something that Sam Harris wrote:

"Americans have an unhealthy desire to see average people promoted to positions of great authority. No one wants an average neurosurgeon or even an average carpenter, but when it comes time to vest a man or woman with more power and responsibility than any person has held in human history, Americans say they want a regular guy, someone just like themselves...

This is one of the many points at which narcissism becomes indistinguishable from masochism. Let me put it plainly: If you want someone just like you to be president of the United States, or even vice president, you deserve whatever dysfunctional society you get. You deserve to be poor, to see the environment despoiled, to watch your children receive a fourth-rate education and to suffer as this country wages—and loses—both necessary and unnecessary wars."

It's odd to me that folks (including me, both four and eight years ago) will actively vote against their own self-interest (and for that matter against the well-being of others, especially if they're a marginalized, demonized, or otherwise unfamiliar minority) based on, among other things, measures like "relatability" and glossy biographical summaries. This is a big problem for democracy, quite apart from our willingness to believe outright lies, or to not notice or care that the Corporate Media seems blissfully content to regularly avoid pushing for facts and honesty from politicians and pundits.

SOB

A few weeks ago, LEO asked me to write another music review. I ended up with a pre-release copy of the debut from Scars on Broadway. The album came out maybe two weeks ago, but my review wasn't printed until this week.

You can hear a track or two on the band's website, or you can check out two of the songs mentioned in my review at their Myspace page. For some reason my review was edited, and in a way that doesn't make much sense to me. One sentence was cut in half, and one sentence was actually lengthened to include a dig at SOAD. Plus, if you consider the wasted spacing higher on the page in the printed issue, there's no reason to have shortened my review for space constraints.

Anyway, the online version is here, and my original text is here:

Scars on Broadway
Scars on Broadway
(INTERSCOPE)
{incongruous}

With SOAD on hiatus, lead guitarist Malakian and drummer Dolmayan have formed a new band called Scars on Broadway. A more straight-forward rock direction is attempted, but the music ultimately fails to live up to the hype.

Most of the songs sound like two or three minute ideas that rely on a single hook, frantic delivery, and little else. The record’s cohesion is questionable – is this minimized formula rock? A studio-slick amalgam of punk, dance, and disjointed screaming passages? Did he really just shout “supercalifragalisticexpealidocious”? Lyrics range from political commentary to frivolous nonsense, and Malakian's descending hollering during the verses of "Chemicals" is laughably obnoxious.

These disparate elements do work together on a couple produced-to-sound-heavy pop songs: not completely on the single “They Say,” but tracks like "Kill Each Other / Live Forever" and "Babylon" are better. To compliment this debut, I could characterize it as diverse and driving, but it's more honest to just note its lack of development and direction. Scars on Broadway is an odd attempt at over-produced frat-rock that does not compare favorably with the band members' previous work.

YouTube

Decided to try my hand at YouTube, recently.


Several of my uploads are of Introvert performing live, and I experimented with annotations on this one.

One of my first videos was a coincidental juxtaposition of bluegrass with The Terminator.

Later, I tried my hand at combining video with audio, once with a waterfall and another time with burning Christmas trees.

Then I edited a 5-minute MST3K clip from one of my favorites, "Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell."

More recently, I spliced some Joshua Jesty with some Star Wars Cantina dialog, and shot some video of a train going through my neighborhood and added some Kate Tucker music to it.


If you like what you see, please subscribe to and/or friend my channel.

Published in LEO

I've had some letters published in LEO a few times over the past year or so, but this week they published a music review that I wrote! Below are two songs that you can listen to (make sure to listen past the 3:20 mark on the second one), a scan of the review, and the full text.

Click here to listen to "Coil."

Click here to listen to "Porcelain Heart."


Watershed
Opeth
(ROADRUNNER)
{beautiful agony}

After waiting for three years, with only the live double-album The Roundhouse Tapes to tide us over last year, fans will be eager to finally have their appetite for Opeth's mixture of '70s prog rock and Swedish death metal satisfied (if only temporarily).

Those unfamiliar with Opeth will do well not to let "progressive death metal" fool them into missing this album. Its three-minute opener might be the band's most beautifully gentle acoustic song yet, and Åkerfeldt employs his powerful growling voice for less than half of the vocals on Watershed. But make no mistake — the band's reputation for complex arrangements, stunning musicianship and thundering heaviness is skillfully reinforced.

Death metal at its best can be epically brilliant, as made clear on tracks like "Heir Apparent" and "The Lotus Eater." And at 11-plus minutes, "Hessian Peel" is like a negative photograph of Opeth's continual journey into new territory: Long and gorgeous progressive melodies are only sparsely interrupted by brutal genius for a minute or so, reminding us that music can still be exciting.