Toxic Holocaust - Chemistry of Consciousness

Now THAT'S a fucking metal album cover. Lace up your Vans, grab your board, and CRANK THIS SHIT UP!I have my own opinion of the whole "punk metal" genre. My take: it's metal. Technically, music experts would most likely excoriate me for my unsophisticated knowledge of heavy music, but that's where I stand. Case in point, Oregonian maniacs Toxic Holocaust's opening track to their latest musical screed Chemistry of Consciousness, Awaken the Serpent, sounds like classic metal in the vein of Motörhead's Ace of Spades. And I would never call The 'Head a punk band.

That aside, Toxic Holocaust has put together another delightfully brutal soundtrack to our modern world, replete with officious pricks, and serves as a fine follow up to their previous effort, Conjure and Command. Founder Joel Grind continues to singlehandedly (he performs all of the instruments) make some of the best classic thrash metal music today like it's as easy as breathing, and I couldn't be more satisfied with this.

The Bottom Line: The usual topics are here, post-apocalyptic imagery and gritty reservation in a world permeated with self-serving politicians and businessmen all looking to make a buck off of the less fortunate or informed. But the real strength here is the breakneck speed riffage and machine gun blast beats that make for some kick ass beer-fueled catharsis.

Tracks To Make You Wanna Dig Your Old Skateboard Out Of The Closet: The whole damn thing!

- Genghis really wishes he had learned to skate back in the day...

Podcast #162: Mood

One of our favorite bunch of guys, Harem Scarem make some great music and we got 'em!What is the best way to come out of retirement? Like great athletes, musicians may prefer to get out of the game when they're on top, while some like to take a break to explore other opportunities and come back fresh to rock our collective asses off. In the case of Harem Scarem they got back together for Mood Swings' big birthday. To celebrate this glorious occasion, the band re-grouped to re-record their classic disc in its entirety. Join the lads in their latest An Evening With... series as they welcome Harry Hess and Pete Lesperance who both weigh in on their new recording and give their thoughts on the future of the band as well as some of the other things they're up to.

Featured Tracks: Harem Scarem - Saviors Never Cry, Hope, Stranger Than Love, Just Like I Planned, Anarchy, Brighter Day, Killing Me, Warming a Frozen Rose, Jealousy, Had Enough, and Mandy

- Ragman can't tell which version is better...(They both rock!)

Podcast #162: Mood

Shining - One One One

For a land known mostly for the blackest of metal, this is some surprisingly different and interesting music.Every now and then you run across a band that's doing things just left of center without going so far off they end up on the precipice of individuality teetering over self-indulgence. The Norweigian musicians collectively known as Shining started in 1999 as an acoustic jazz quartet, slowly incorporating heavier elements into their sound, leaving us with their 6th (and heaviest) effort, One One One.

Interestingly, there's less of a jazz feel than an industrial metal vibe going on here, save for the occasional saxophone outburst from founder Jørgen Munkeby. Tracks like The One Inside and Off the Hook in particular remind me of 90s era Ministry or Rammstein with their screaming vocals and cyber-Wagnerian rhythms that sound like a factory building dancing, killer robots 24/7. The band has coined their own term for it: Blackjazz - which was the name of their previous album, and shows up on the track Blackjazz Rebels. I have to say, this is pretty good music despite the fact that I'm really not an industrial guy. Nice work, lads.

The Bottom Line: Fans of a less rockabilly Rob Zombie or a jazzier Nine Inch Nails of old will probably find a lot to like in this heavy, energetic album that's different enough to be interesting but genuine enough to not bore you after a couple of songs.

Tracks You Do Not Want On Your Hangover Soundtrack: The One Inside, Off the Hook and Paint The Sky Black

- Genghis was skeptical about that saxophone at first...

thehappymask - Ruines

thehappymask is a pretty good example of the shoegaze metal movement that's recently enjoyed a resurgence.You don't often come across a genuine mystery in the music biz these days - especially in the Internet age. But thehappymask seems to be one of those. Reportedly, Ruines, is the debut effort of a one man band, "Constantine Horizon", who may or may not be Russian in origin. Constantine claims to have come by the inspiration for this album "in a town that doesn't exist". Such is the mystery of thehappymask. But if you're into the shoegaze movement, you should enjoy this "modest musical project".

Ruines is your basic aforementioned shoegaze metal, the subgenre having emerged in the 80s and taken a backseat to grunge in the 90s, but currently enjoying a resurge in popularity these last few years. There's no shredding, but there's no shortage of distortion either. It's something like the wall of sound you get from your basic doom metal bands, but mashed together with the mellow britpop meanderings of acts like The Cocteau Twins - minus the vocals.

The Bottom Line: If you prefer your mellow music on the crunchy side, than the shoegaze stylings of thehappymask might be what you're looking for. Just think instrumental doom britpop metal.

- Genghis just finds this genre a little depressing even without corroborating lyrical content...

Martyrd - The Mortal Coil

New Yorkers Martyrd seem to have a pretty good handle on the whole progressive metal thing. Nice work, guys.I had never heard of New York City band Martyrd until I attended a recent concert here in Houston. They were one of the opening acts. We talked with the band and they were amiable and enthusiastic to chat about their ambitions. When I listened to their latest CD, which they generously provided, I was impressed with the maturity of the songs and the overall musicianship. The Mortal Coil is a good representation of the progressive metal genre I know and love - one that began probably just before these guys were born.

A quick look at their Facebook page and website reveals their influences to be a nice mix of the progressive metallers (Symphony X, Angra, Dream Theater, et al) and old school thrashers (Megadeth, Testament, Metallica, Overkill, et al), and I'm happy to say that these influences and the band's hard work have resulted in a fine sophomore effort. Even the mix was good, which can often be where an otherwise great sounding band can be degraded in the transition from live performance to recorded mediums.

On a side note, I came across a review written years ago for their debut CD that was unusually harsh. I won't mention names, but it was bad enough to seem like the guy had a vendetta against the band or something. If there's any truth to his accusations, then it serves as a real statement to bootstrapping for a band to come from the album that reviewer described to this new one I heard. Kudos to the guys in Martyrd for slogging it out and making a progressive metal album that can stand amongst others in the genre.

The Bottom Line: The Mortal Coil is a worthy CD of progressive metal songs from a band that sounds quite serious about making good music, and I'm very interested to hear where they go on future efforts. Check 'em out.

- Genghis was really shocked at that guy's vitriolic review...