RECORD REVIEWS - July 2010



Disco Machine Gun "Zona"

It does not surprise me at all that this is an enjoyable and creative cross-genre album. I was impressed with his Philadelphia band's live set earlier this year where they fought through an iffy sound system with some energetic rock music that had several under-currents of other styles working within. They don't quite explode as audaciously as one of my favorite bands, Caverns, but they do share some creative space with them. In Caverns case, it was the marrying of classical piano to heavy metal. Here it is a violin married to progressive metal, punk spirit and even some western themes. I could try to name some other bands they sound like, but there it would be more in spirit than actual sound. OK, maybe Amon Duul II meets the Proletariat. At the end of the listen, I was quite impressed and this is one I will return to several times. Well that's not it, but you can sample the entire album and download it at the price you want to pay at:

http://discomachinegun.bandcamp.com/

Songs to check out...

Silver Eyes - A short appetizer that sets a table in the Wild West and prepares you for the main course which is fusion cuisine at its finest.

Homeland - I mentioned the Proletariat above as they also have a song called Homeland. This one rocks harder.

Rook Hoka-Hey - A lovely slow psychedelic rocker sounding like a metal band covering Dead Meadow.
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The Mostly Dead "Slightly Alive" eps

This ep has eleven songs split among two 7" records. From song one to eleven, you get rock solid intense hardcore punk rock. I like these guys live and these records represent what they do on stage with just a bit of nice clean studio production. Zak Jordan has a classic strong voice that has better range than the guttural grunting singers that tend to turn me off. The band is fast with just enough good guitar work to stand out from the pack. I like the ringing sound of the guitars on Side One of the first ep. Lyrically they do well by covering the usual personal angst in a far better manner than most cliche ridden bands. I can be awfully hard on punk rock bands in this century as I lived with so much of this music back in its formative years. However, there is always a place for this message and energetic delivery. The Mostly Dead have all of that and enough personal style to deliver the goods.

Although all the songs play well together, the highlights for me were:

You Suck at Interventions - A great title is matched by intense music with a nice middle section that breaks a few rules.

Culture Dog - Good lyrics with that great ringing guitar work.

Opposition - A cool bass sound with a guitar that sneaks in from the background in its own odd way.