Sunday, February 10, 2008

Black Mountain - In The Future: D

Music: 3/10 Vocals: 1/5 Lyrics: 1/5 Production: 1/5
Total: 6/25: D

Doing a quick sample on iTunes, this sounded like a great throwback to 70s rock. Big guitar riffs. Mystical lyrics. Booming drums. Oh, how wrong could I be?

First, yes, it sounds very 70s. And that's mostly a bad thing. The riffs are out of the 70s but have no magic of their own. In fact, they are mostly boring since well, I've heard them all done before and much better.

Next, the recording is horrible. It sounds like it was done on an old analog reel to reel. The high end is gone and it has no sizzle. The reverb effects sound like a 30 year old crappy guitar pedal. And the end product sounds like a bad dub of a cassette tape.

The lyrics don't help either. Yeah, they're vintage 70s goofiness. But, do I need 3 minutes of them singing "Bright Light, Light Bright" and thousand times? Horrible.

I was hoping Black Mountain was conjuring Black Sabbath or at least a good knockoff like Wolfmother. Instead we get utter crap.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Velvet Revolver - Libertad: C

Music: 5/10 Vocals: 3/5 Lyrics: 3/5 Production: 4/5
Total: 15/25: C

Okay, I really liked their first album, Contraband. It just rocked. Yet, you couldn't help but notice that it wasn't as tight as it should be. Perhaps they just needed some time together to completely gel. Enter Libertad. Just as a side note, my copy had a sticker over the bare boob in the cover's graphic. Silly.

How utterly disappointed I am with this album. It is mostly generic rock filler material. It's not bad, it's just not nearly as good as it should be. First, there are a few highlights. "Let It Roll", "She Builds Quick Machines" and the ballad "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" are really good songs. Not great songs. But really good. For for each of those are two purely uninspired songs to accompany it.

Adding more insult to injury, Slash's signature solos are completely missing. Sure, he solos. But none are memorable. Hell, I could play half of his solos on this one. And that should pretty much tell you the solos are utter fodder.

Scott croons and screams nicely, but never gets back the hooks from the first album or his former glory of STP. A good outing but again nothing impressive.

According to the RIAA website, this album hasn't even cracked 500,000 copies. I'd say these guys are done and gone. Too bad. There are insanely talented. But they certainly aren't hungry any more.