Episode 225: Baroness, Dead In The Manger, Glitterbomb, Venomspitter 2015 Album Reviews

Sh!t We Missed: Rule of Thirds

We told you the year starts of slow, didn’t we? So, we have some more goodies from 2015, and this time we have a bunch of finds from scouring Bandcamp! We also have that big, colorful release that ended up on just about everybody’s year end list despite the fact those lists came out before the album did.

Oh, and I almost forgot!! We have a guest host!! No, it’s not Kyle. This one is less experienced in some of the more extreme forms of Metal and Hardcore, so we take a few minutes to teach him a thing or two. Pay attention because maybe you’ll learn something too. (Conversely, you may think we’re wrong and have to teach us something. That’s what the comment section is for.)

SideShow.225

Reviews:
Baroness – Purple (Abrazan Hymns)
Dead in the Manger – Cessation (20 Buck Spin)
Glitterbomb – Hive Mind
Venomspitter – Venomspitter

Baroness – Purple

Dead In The Manger – Cessation

Glitterbomb – Hive Mind

Venomspitter – Venomspitter

I’ve been listening to Purple by Baroness as well. The production didn’t bother me. I was looking for it to have a couple of catchier tunes on it. I like the mix of songwriting on Purple, but there was nothing as catchy as “Take My Bones Away” from Yellow & Green. I wasn’t expecting an entire album of songs like “Take My Bones”, but I was expecting something better than what Purple is. I expected Baroness to really break out on their fourth album and show what they are capable of. Looking at the big picture of their career, I suppose that Yellow & Blue is where they stretched musically and now on Purple they are solidifying the formula that is Baroness. That’s not a bad thing, but I just wanted them to stretch a little further to find out what they are capable of rather than churning out what you’d expect from them. Because much of what I have said about Baroness really boils down to my expectations of them, I’d still give Purple a 4.

I agree that Baroness in general are overrated. Their stuff is solid, but they have never stood out to me as being one of the best bands out there. Purple didn’t do anything to prove to me that they are in the upper echelon of bands that should consistently get put on year end lists. I can see Baroness’s career equating to Clutch. Clutch is a solid band that has been putting out their own brand of blues-y metal for a long time. I enjoy listening to both Clutch and Baroness, but neither are probably going to turn into one of my favorite bands.

To add to the power violence discussion, in addition to what Nick said about songwriting, another thing I would add is that it seems like power violence bands usually have listenable production. I feel like a lot of grindcore has shit for production, often times on purpose. Recent albums from Nails, Weekend Nachos, and ACxDC all actually sound good. Even the Glitterbomb song you played sounded good. The moment in that track you played where it gets slower (I suppose it would qualify as the breakdown) you can really hear the guitars and at that point the guitar tone is great.

I can also explain some of reasoning behind why a band releases their album on cassette: a small label reaches out to them to say they’ll put out a band’s album on cassette at no cost to the band. This was explained to me by the guitar player in the band Godmaker. They put out their debut album in 2014 by a small label in Brooklyn, and then were approached by a different label in Pennsylvania who told the band that they’d release the album on cassette at no up front cost to the band. The revenues from the sales of cassettes would be split by the band and the label. So in that case the band said: why not? It was a no lose deal for the band. Even if they sold only a tiny number of albums on cassette, the band got reviewed in Decibel as part of the cassette label’s feature in the magazine.

I agree with Brian that often times I need that kick in the ass in the morning that only some brutally heavy metal can provide, so I’ll frequently listen to it on the train to work in the morning at 7:30am. But I have also noticed that when I wake up on a cold lazy Saturday morning the last thing I want to listen to is that type of metal.

Since you say you are interested in reviewing more black metal, I’ll point out that you have an opportunity when Abbath releases his solo album this Friday. I’ll be buying that one because I’ve discovered that Abbath rules. It took me years but I “get” it now. The corpse paint, the grating vocals, the usually poor production, the whole act. I’ve bought in to his “schtick” and am looking forward to his self-titled solo album.

Great comment from Corey regarding twitter. Grindcore: the Twitter of music. Music in 140 seconds or less.

So let me get this straight: you had two-thirds of the band Trails on the podcast this week and no one even mentioned the band? You say that it’s not metal, but in all seriousness is it *that* much different from Baroness? The production is better on Trails than on Baroness. As for wanting to avoid “shameless” self-promotion? If you stood naked outside on a billboard on I-91 promoting the band, that would be shameless. There’s no shame in merely mentioning your band on a podcast.

4 comments

Pingback: Episode 227: Aborted, Cetus, Dropout Album Reviews | The Sideshow Podcast
bobsala says:

01/18/2016 at 8:46 pm

I’ve been listening to Purple by Baroness as well. The production didn’t bother me. I was looking for it to have a couple of catchier tunes on it. I like the mix of songwriting on Purple, but there was nothing as catchy as “Take My Bones Away” from Yellow & Green. I wasn’t expecting an entire album of songs like “Take My Bones”, but I was expecting something better than what Purple is. I expected Baroness to really break out on their fourth album and show what they are capable of. Looking at the big picture of their career, I suppose that Yellow & Blue is where they stretched musically and now on Purple they are solidifying the formula that is Baroness. That’s not a bad thing, but I just wanted them to stretch a little further to find out what they are capable of rather than churning out what you’d expect from them. Because much of what I have said about Baroness really boils down to my expectations of them, I’d still give Purple a 4.

I agree that Baroness in general are overrated. Their stuff is solid, but they have never stood out to me as being one of the best bands out there. Purple didn’t do anything to prove to me that they are in the upper echelon of bands that should consistently get put on year end lists. I can see Baroness’s career equating to Clutch. Clutch is a solid band that has been putting out their own brand of blues-y metal for a long time. I enjoy listening to both Clutch and Baroness, but neither are probably going to turn into one of my favorite bands.

To add to the power violence discussion, in addition to what Nick said about songwriting, another thing I would add is that it seems like power violence bands usually have listenable production. I feel like a lot of grindcore has shit for production, often times on purpose. Recent albums from Nails, Weekend Nachos, and ACxDC all actually sound good. Even the Glitterbomb song you played sounded good. The moment in that track you played where it gets slower (I suppose it would qualify as the breakdown) you can really hear the guitars and at that point the guitar tone is great.

I can also explain some of reasoning behind why a band releases their album on cassette: a small label reaches out to them to say they’ll put out a band’s album on cassette at no cost to the band. This was explained to me by the guitar player in the band Godmaker. They put out their debut album in 2014 by a small label in Brooklyn, and then were approached by a different label in Pennsylvania who told the band that they’d release the album on cassette at no up front cost to the band. The revenues from the sales of cassettes would be split by the band and the label. So in that case the band said: why not? It was a no lose deal for the band. Even if they sold only a tiny number of albums on cassette, the band got reviewed in Decibel as part of the cassette label’s feature in the magazine.

I agree with Brian that often times I need that kick in the ass in the morning that only some brutally heavy metal can provide, so I’ll frequently listen to it on the train to work in the morning at 7:30am. But I have also noticed that when I wake up on a cold lazy Saturday morning the last thing I want to listen to is that type of metal.

Since you say you are interested in reviewing more black metal, I’ll point out that you have an opportunity when Abbath releases his solo album this Friday. I’ll be buying that one because I’ve discovered that Abbath rules. It took me years but I “get” it now. The corpse paint, the grating vocals, the usually poor production, the whole act. I’ve bought in to his “schtick” and am looking forward to his self-titled solo album.

Great comment from Corey regarding twitter. Grindcore: the Twitter of music. Music in 140 seconds or less.

So let me get this straight: you had two-thirds of the band Trails on the podcast this week and no one even mentioned the band? You say that it’s not metal, but in all seriousness is it *that* much different from Baroness? The production is better on Trails than on Baroness. As for wanting to avoid “shameless” self-promotion? If you stood naked outside on a billboard on I-91 promoting the band, that would be shameless. There’s no shame in merely mentioning your band on a podcast.

1. Brian says:
  
  01/19/2016 at 1:12 pm
  
  Geez dude. That’s a whole lot of comment!
  
  Good call on Abbath. I keep seeing around and personally go “I really don’t care,” but we probably should give it a go here. I think we have the next two shows planned out, but I will add this to our list for beyond then.
  
  Regarding cassettes…while what you said makes sense from a cost perspective by the band, why the hell is label even dealing in cassettes?? They need to just die. Also, I would love to know who is buying them, why, and if they are actually carrying around and old school Walkman.
  
  I am not production is a notable quality of powerviolence. I mean, what you have said it true, but to call that a trademark quality may be reaching a bit.
  
  WE apparently need to get Corey on more. You just quoted him, and Glitterbomb did when they shared the episode.
  
  And speaking of him…I agree with you about Trails promo! I have just stopped trying to argue with Nick about it. Maybe I’ll just do a FB post in the podcast page sometime…
  
coreyplucker says:

01/17/2016 at 11:02 pm

I think thst went well!

On Sunday, January 17, 2016, The Sideshow Podcast wrote:

> The SIDESHOW Podcast posted: “Sh!t We Missed: Rule of Thirds We told you > the year starts of slow, didn’t we? So, we have some more goodies from > 2015, and this time we have a bunch of finds from scouring Bandcamp! We > also have that big, colorful release that ended up on just about ev” >