CD Odyssey Disc 1972: Einherjer

The dice gods that randomly determine my next review have once again chosen from the Ross Records (a selection of music obtained from my friend Ross when he divested his CD collection).

Also, since we’re now at Disc 1972, let’s continue or whimsical journey of exploring records from the year that matches! Here are three great ones.

• Black Sabbath, “Vol. IV” (Disc 6)
• Gordon Lightfoot, “Don Quixote” (Disc 110)
• Neil Young, “Harvest” (Disc 1877)

Two of those reviews are so old I wasn’t yet doing “What’s Up With the Cover?”

Disc 1972 is…Norwegian Native Art

Artist: Einherjer

Year of Release: 2000

What’s up with the Cover? Of note, my cover for this record is the 2005 re-issue. The original had a picture of the band looking like a bunch of undead creeps. This cover is the same, except it is a different picture of them as undead creeps.

Of course, this could just be depicting the band as actual “einherjer” the warriors that get to go to Valhalla after dying in battle. We always assume that being einherjer means you get to look all youthful in life, probably with your armour all shined up and your best fur cloak. Imagine the disappointment of these guys to find out that bleeding head wound is how you are now.

Or maybe these poor souls are Vikings that died of disease or old age or choking on a chicken bone. In any of those situations you don’t get Valhalla, you instead go abide with Hel down in Niflheim. It’s dreary and grey there, and there’s no central heating like in Odin’s Hall, but on the plus side you don’t have to spend every day of eternity fighting one another. That shit would get old quick.

How I Came To Know It: I obtained a clutch of Einherjer albums from my buddy Ross when he parted with his CD collection and gave me first pick. I ended up with four of their albums, and like them all.

How It Stacks Up: As noted, I have four Einherjer albums. Of those, “Norwegian Native Art” comes in third.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

“Norwegian Native Art” is a dark record, with a whole lot of underworld and suffering. Odin’s spear wound as he seeks the knowledge of runes, a horror filled visit to the aforementioned land of Hel, and even the burning of Yggdrasil, the world tree (prime suspect: fire giant and known arsonist Surtr).

Heavy topics, but fortunately Einherjer are plenty heavy enough to meet these tales with some heaviness of their own, doubling down on thump and crunch that goes with songs about the afterworld, the end of the world, and sometimes both.

Einherjer’s brand of metal is a mix of traditional metal, some black metal and folk structures peppered throughout, as you might expect from the record’s title. They also venture to add no small amount of synthy organ sounds. This should not work, but it does, adding a symphonic element that balances nicely against the crunch of double guitar and the crash of drums.

There are songs where the symphonic elements are a bit heavy handed (notably “Crimson Rain” which can’t seem to match its soar with its plod), but these moments are rare and usually the mix of styles is well apportioned.

Lead vocals on Einherjer go through a few iterations across their career, and on this record we have lost Rune Bjelland but still not fully turned to Frode Glesnes. Lead vocals are listed as Ragnar Vikse, who occupies a strong space between death growl (more of a rasp here than the full growl) and a metal-infused folk vocal. Vikse and Glesnes do a bit of call and answer here and there and the two slightly different, but complementary styles are well matched to the middle ground the album occupies in metal’s many worlds.

The record’s opener, “Wyrd of the Dead” is as good as this style of music gets, with a powerful invocation of Odin in his darkest moments, hanging impaled on a spear seeking wisdom. With its deliberate rhythm and double guitar crunch, the song’s construction would serve well as marching music to a Dwarven army. If Odin’s your thing, then this is your song.

Other songs, like “Hugin’s Eyes” showcase drummer Gerhard Storesund, who has a nice mix of an old school dull thump reminiscent of Bill Ward as well as the more modern approaches like double bass, both blended nicely in a single song as the band bounces from unbounded fury to a more sedate guitar riff suitable for throwing your neck out to in the mosh pit.

Ere the end Einherjer drops a chill out track with “Regicide”, which features a guest duet with fellow Norwegian Hanne Andersen. This tune is a bit phantom of the opera with all the synth for my liking, but Andersen’s vocals (sung not growled) are a well-timed palate cleanser after all the stabbing and burning.

While the front half of “Norwegian Native Art” is better than the back, the whole record is solid and a worthy entry in the discography of a band that – other than being really into Viking folklore – refuses to be defined by genre or external expectation. That’s a good way to approach all art, Norwegian or otherwise.

Best tracks: Wyrd of the Dead, Hugin’s Eyes, Burning Yggdrasil 

CD Odyssey Disc 1967: The Tragically Hip

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. Before we get to Disc 1967, here are a few records I heartily recommend from the year 1967:

• Jimi Hendrix, “Are You Experienced?” (Disc 1928)
• Leonard Cohen, “Songs” (Disc 522)
• Albert King, “Born Under a Bad Sign” (Disc 1862)

OK – on with the album review…

Disc 1967 is…We Are the Same

Artist: The Tragically Hip

Year of Release: 2009

What’s up with the Cover? Some fellas (presumably the band) stand around an outdoor fire. At least I hope it is outdoors, because the sparks coming out of that chimney will definitely damage the ceiling.

How I Came To Know It: I heard the song “Coffee Girl”. This was years after this album was released and I wasn’t really focused on the Tragically Hip at the time, but I liked the song and was intrigued by what the Hip had been up to all these years.

While not my favourite Hip record, it did return me to them and caused a second round of exploring their discography from the other end of their career, so that was cool.

How It Stacks Up: I have eight of the Tragically Hip’s thirteen studio albums, which is a goodly amount, but not at the level of super fan this band tends to attract. Of those eight, “We Are the Same” comes in at a #7, which sounds bad, but it isn’t – it is just a tough field.

Ratings: 3 stars

For the most part, I am an “early Hip” fan, and all my other records span from their eponymous EP debut in 1987 through to “Phantom Power” in 1998. “We Are the Same” is the exception to that rule, a full decade later returning me to a band and making me ashamed that I had left so soon.

“We Are the Same” is a slightly softer, gentler record overall in its arrangements, but the key ingredients to the Tragically Hip are all there. The superior musicianship - more orchestra of sound than individual showboating, and melodies that draw you inward to a beauty that emerges more fully only after repeated listens. Along with all of that, the thoughtful Gord Downie lyrics, masterfully phrased out into the song.

Downie’s vocals on “We Are the Same” are less aggressive on this record, but just as emotive. His voice has a natural hurt in it, and on “We Are the Same” it surprised me with just how soothing hurt can be, when done right.

This is most notable on the lilting beauty of “Coffee Girl” which paints the perfect picture of the neighbourhood barista, recasting that person you see for five minutes a day as a three-dimensional human. Downie’s artistry is showcasing the “why” of the character, with half-painted scenes that honour the character while reminding the listener that no, you don’t really know this person like you think you do.

I didn’t love all the lyrics on the record as much as “Coffee Girl” but that’s a feature of a Tragically Hip record, where often you’re not sure what Downie is singing about fully, catching his poetry like phrases of passing conversation, or gusts of wind blowing leaves. Evocative in the moment, but fleeting, and a bit mysterious.

Musically, my favourite is “The Last Recluse” which has Downie delivering a sublime set of high notes that lifts your spirits while simultaneously leaving you uncertain just where you are being lifted to. Best line:

“When the wind comes up and the surface of the water scuffs

-      Enough! Enough! – the ferry whistle cried.”

“The Depression Suite” holds down the end of Side One with a deep exploration of depression. The theme is that even when we are down and feel alone, someone else is feeling just as depressed as you are: the Hip’s answer to R.E.M’s “Everybody Hurts”. Observant readers will note later that despite this praise it does not feature in the “best tracks” summary. That’s only because the song is over nine minutes long and could probably accomplish the same magic in five or six.

The record has a pastoral quality to it. The first song features the still imagery of an overly quiet early morning with “Morning Moon” and the final track bookends it nicely with “Country Day”. In both cases, the quietness around him has Downie thinking Deep Thoughts (this is a common state for him).

The songs still manage to rock out in places, but they feel rounded around the edges in the production, and you get the sense of a veteran band that has settled into their sound and are comfortable letting it unfurl without having to press. Still thoughtful, still creative, but all with a greater sense of calm. Is it better or worse than the groove-filled rock of their earlier work? It’s neither. It’s just the exploration of a different facet of the band’s sound, and while not my favourite, still a worthwhile entry into their impressive catalogue.

Best tracks: The Last Recluse, Coffee Girl, Queen of the Furrows, Country Day

CD Odyssey Disc 1950: Sabaton

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey where we have had a month of reviews without metal, but that dismaying trend ends here.

Disc 1950 is…Attero Dominatus

Artist: Sabaton

Year of Release: 2006

What’s up with the Cover? “Hey, mister - looking for a gate to a fantastical alternate dimension?”

“Um…I’ll take the next one thanks. This one looks dangerous and frankly, the entryway is a bit pokey.”

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a late-blooming but ardent Sabaton fan since 2019. This album was just me digging ferociously through their back catalogue.

How It Stacks Up: I now have ten Sabaton albums. I like them all, and “Attero Dominatus” is better than most – I rank it at #3.

Ratings: 4 stars

Behold the majesty and the ferocity of Sabaton, masters of Battle Metal!

Although there are many sub-genres of metal “Battle Metal” is not one of them, but if it were, Sabaton would be its patron saint. This Swedish power metal band like powerful riffs, crashing drums, bombastic vocals and tying it all together, lyrics about history and battles. A lot.

If you can get over that, you won’t like this record. Sabaton’s obsession with historical events (particularly events involving armed conflict) is intrinsic to who they are as a band. If you are listening through gritted teeth hoping for some other topic to arise, you’re just hurting yourself.

If stories about battles are OK with you, then “Attero Dominatus” is some of Sabaton’s best work, and well worth your time. Only their second record, they are already well established in their sound, with every song thundering down on you like an anthem. It is my favourite record featuring the original twin lead guitars of Oskar Montelius and Rikard Sunden and drummer Daniel Mullback (all of whom left after 2012). Like Sabaton’s neutral stance to history, I like both the original and later lineups.

Some power metal bands are obsessed with playing fast and technical. Sabaton are incredibly polished and tight, but they have a thump that is the envy of their peers. A big part of this is the vocals of Joakim Broden. His voice is low and powerful, eschewing head-voice contortions for a big booming vocal that lends gravitas to lyrics that, in lesser hands, could come off stilted and overly literal.

This album also consistently delivers some the finest guitar riffs in Sabaton’s impressive catalogue. Even the songs I liked slightly less still featured killer fist-pumping guitar bits.

Sabaton don't shy away from any conflict, but World War Two is an oft-visited theme.  "Rise of Evil” is particularly grim as it recounts the story of the rise of Nazism in thirties Germany. Choosing a more ponderous tempo than many other songs on the record, there is a deliberateness to the song, fed by Mullback’s heavy drum hits and a double guitar riff. It evokes an army on the move, a society in upheaval, and a descent into darkness. It is intentionally discomfiting and the track’s title frames the moment for what it was – the rise of evil.

Fortunately, the album’s title track provides a welcome thematic bookend to “Rise of Evil”, as it tells of the last days of Nazi reign as Berlin falls.  Here, Mullback’s drumming switches from deliberate thump to a fast-paced and front-end loaded roll, providing a sense of urgency as the long and violent conflict finally finds an end.

This being only the second record from Sabaton, they are not 100% converted to historical songs. The record’s final track, “Metal Crue” is a lighthearted celebration of heavy metal bands. The lyrics work overtime to include reference to a long list of metal band names that came before (I think there are about 20 dropped names in just 3:45 of running time). Technically this is a sort of history of metal, so maybe the boys stay on theme after all. Not the record’s best song by any stretch, and admittedly a bit silly, but also quite a lot of fun.

My copy of “Attero Dominatus” is the “re-armed” release, which has five bonus tracks, most of which I was glad to have. The highlight is a cover of Warlock’s “Fur Immer” which is majestic and masterful (and has me wanting to check out vintage Warlock records as well). The other bonus content isn’t as good, but good enough to not wreck the original record’s energy.

Overall, this is easily my favourite of Sabaton’s early work, and stands equal alongside some of my perennial favourites released later in their career. If you are a fan of Battle Metal, then this record is a must have. If you aren’t, congratulations on getting to the end of the review, but here your journey is likely to end.

Best tracks: Attero Dominatus, Rise of Evil, In the Name of God, Back in Control

CD Odyssey Disc 1941: Amon Amarth

I’ve fallen hard for this next band in a short period of time. So hard I was still sorting out how I felt about the eight albums in my collection when I bought this one – their ninth.

As habits go, there are worse ones.

Disc 1941 is… …Versus the World

Artist: Amon Amarth

Year of Release: 2002

What’s up with the Cover? A warrior in full-on “D&D action figure” pose faces down his opponent: the world!

Yes, this intrepid adventurer has decided to fight…planet earth. This cover reminds me of that Monty Python skit of the guy who plans to jump the English Channel, dig to China and eat Westminster Abbey: you don’t like his odds, but you have to admire his moxie.

As for this particular warrior’s quest, I would just caution him that objects in space are larger than they appear.

How I Came To Know It: I learned about Amon Amarth way late – 2019 – through a friend. Since then I’ve learned they don’t make bad records, so when I saw this gap in my collection at the local record store, I snapped it up.

How It Stacks Up: I have nine Amon Amarth albums. I have more every time I write a review of them it feels like (when I reviewed “Twilight of the Thunder God” back in 2022 (Disc 1538) I only had five). Anyway, it is hard to stack against a moving target, but on balance “Versus the World” is…eighth, but that’s no shame with a band this good.

Ratings: 3 stars

Amon Amarth – the band that consistently reminds me that death metal is legitimately awesome when played at a high level and infused with a little melody. Plenty of death metal is too harsh for my tastes, but Amon Amarth is engaging and catchy, while being just as intense and dangerous as anything else in the genre.

“Versus the World” is the earliest record by Amon Amarth I’ve experienced so far, and served to educate me on the evolution of their sound. Later records have crisper production values and a bit more separation of sound. “Versus the World” is muddier and raw around the edges while retaining all the qualities that make for a great Amon Amarth record. It almost has a hardcore vibe, until that precision drumming of Fredrik Andersson kicks you in the side of the temple, practically yelling “metal” at your delicate Eustachian tubes. Daring you to be a wimp and put in ear plugs.

Just kidding. There is nothing wimpy about putting in ear plugs at a metal show, if you want to be able to hear music later in life. Safety first, kids.

But I digress…

Back to the record. With “Versus the World”’s thick crunch I was tempted to call it “wall of sound” but it isn’t – Amon Amarth are so tight in their playing, and so grounded in the tasty pocket of rhythm guitar player Johan Soderberg that it is more like a symphony than a smash.

As with most (all?) Amon Amarth records, the lads like to sing about Vikings and the shit Vikings get up to. Rowin’, raidin’, lootin’, killin’ and eventually crossin’ over into Valhalla for more of the same (Viking heaven was pretty much all the same stuff from Viking life, minus the ability to die).

They’ve also got a song (“Thousand Years of Oppression”) about Christianity which is not…er…complimentary. In the lyrics the band rejects the “kind God” for Odin, and pine for the return of the “wrath of the Norseman”. While those ships have – quite literally – sailed, the song is one of the record’s best, featuring some precision drumming from Andersson and a powerful inexorable build to climax.

When I first heard “For the Stabwounds in Our Backs” I was convinced it was about the Viking response to the St. Brice’s Day Massacre of 1002 (history buffs: look it up) but according to the liner notes it’s just a bunch of Viking warriors returning from the dead and doing what Vikings like to do most. Still, there’s no clarity on who the backstabbers are and for this reason I like my (incorrect) narrative better.

As ever, the powerful and highly emotive death growl of lead singer Johan Hegg underpins every song on the record. Hegg is, quite simply, the best death growl I have ever heard. He is able to enunciate his words, infuse just the right amount of melodic phrasing, all while losing none of the visceral aggression the genre demands.

“Versus the World” lacks the thump of the classics that would follow it, (“Fate of Norns” in 2004 and “With Oden on Our Side” in 2006) and the songs don’t have the same dynamic differences of later classics like “Jomsviking” (2016) (Disc 1542) but it makes up for this with a purity of vision.

It is also a great tether-point to start to better understand the band’s sound, vision, and evolution through the years. Has Amon Amarth changed in subtle ways through their 25+ year journey? Of course, and hearing early records is just a reminder that change or no-change, they’ve always been a force.

Best tracks: For the Stabwounds in Our Backs, Where the Silent Gods Stand Guard, Thousand Years of Oppression, Bloodshed

CD Odyssey Disc 1937: Finsterforst

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey where I methodically review all of the music in my collection in random order. I am 15 years and 1,936 albums into this journey. My trip has not yet matched the original Odysseus in terms of time spent, but I have heard a lot more music than him. He only got that one single from the sirens…not even an LP release.

Disc 1937 is… …zum Tode hin

Artist: Finsterforst

Year of Release: 2009

What’s up with the Cover? A gorgeous late evening sunset with a touch of menace about it. Like maybe around this lake lurks a slasher who murders anyone who dares to linger after the final rays of sunlight slip below the horizon.

Failing that, there are definitely mosquitoes.

How I Came To Know It: This is the latest in what I am calling the “Ross Records” – a suite of about 20 albums I purchased from my buddy Ross when he recently liquidated his CD collection. I was pretty excited that day. So excited I accidentally bought this album twice. I guess that means Ross did as well…

How It Stacks Up: I have four Finsterforst albums, but I gave up on one (“Weltenkraft”) after only one listen, so that one won’t be getting a review. Of the three that survived, I put “…zum Tode hin” (which according to Google Translate means, “Towards Death”) in at #3.

Ratings: 2 stars

What do you get when you mix traditional folk music with death metal? You get Finsterforst (in English, “Darkforest”), a German band who recognized that two great genres of music need not exist independent of one another if you have the energy and imagination to bring them together.

In light of this stylistic choice, the record’s title should be more than sufficient warning. The ‘towards’ part of “Towards Death” would be only when first select it from the shelf (or your buddy’s hallway) because the death-y parts of this record waste no time in revealing themselves.

The opening track, “Urquell” (which means “Source”) is ground zero for the sound Finsterforst is going for, with screeching raspy vocals, the thump of double bass, wall of guitar, and – of course – flutes and accordions. For the folk, you see.

Initially this combination drew me like a moth to the flame, and Urquell is the record’s best song, capturing the band’s ferocity and whimsy in perfect alignment. This is orcs and elves putting down their weapons to make music together. The result is weird but compelling.

What I didn’t realize in my first more casual listen is that these guys are not interested in a lot of development in the melody. A lilting section suitable for Morris dancing (of the angry kind), and a hammer-your-face death metal section, creating a wall of sound that is fun at first and then started to wear me out.

Don’t get me wrong, if I am in the mood for a wall of sound I’ll take guitar fury and double-bass drums over synthy mood pieces every time. The addition of things like flutes and bagpipes make it even better. But I also want to go on more of a journey in a song, particularly songs as long as these ones.

Because this is a very long record. It is only five songs, but with a total running time of over 70 minutes. The shortest of them is well north of 11 minutes and the final track surpasses 20. Listening to this record means you are in it for the long haul. No bathroom breaks (except maybe for the DJ) and no let up.

This is the last record to feature the lead vocals of Marco Schomas, and I’m hopeful that he is the common denominator for Finsterforst albums that don’t land as well for me (he is also on the already-abandoned Weltenkraft.

Schomas’ vocals – particularly after long exposure are, well, kinda painful. His growl doesn’t have the heft it needs and comes off sounding sharp and over-exposed. I am well-acclimated to death metal vocals, so I’m not a babe in the woods on this front, so do not mistake this for a general dislike of the style. I am sure some aficionados like their death rasps like this, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

The record ends on a strong note, with the 20-minute monstrosity, “Untergang” or “Downfall”. I can’t tell you what it is about (everything is in German) but I can tell you it is epic, because at that length it pretty much has to be.

Unlike many of the songs on the record, “Untergang” has an extended ‘quiet’ period at the intro, featuring some soft guitar picking, and a very slow and satisfying build. At around five minutes in things get heavy, but the transition is smooth and welcome. “Untergang” had me wishing for the same level of dynamics and song structure for many of the other songs.

In the end, I enjoyed the feel of this record very much, but the lack of variability across the whole record, combined with its length and vocals that did not land for me, kept me from going all-in.

Best tracks: Urquell, Untergang

CD Odyssey Disc 1934: Edan

A long day at work was mitigated by a lovely ride home with the top down and listening to this next album for the last time, albeit with some fondness.

Disc 1934 is…Beauty and the Beat

Artist: Edan

Year of Release: 2005

What’s up with the Cover? A collage of heads and some swirly colours.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Edan through his other record, “Primitive Plus” (reviewed back at Disc 1871). I was on a search for that record when I found this one instead. I was jonesing for some Edan that day, and decided to buy it on spec, and hope for the best.

How It Stacks Up: I have two of Edan’s three studio LPs. Of the two, “Beauty and the Beat” is #2.

Ratings: 3 stars

A rapper with a creative flow is a rare and precious thing. One that can blend the dense rhyming you might expect from MF Doom with the furious beat forward delivery of Big Daddy Kane? Well, sign me up.

That’s what Edan brings to the table, and things were primed for me to have a good time except for that all elusive key third ingredient – killer beats. As a result you get a four star talent with some two star creative traditions. The result had me marveling at the brilliance of Edan’s flow, while bemoaning the record that might have been had he been just a little less experimental.

First, to the flow. Edan has an innate and natural talent that on the surface flows through bars with apparent disregard for even the basics of pocket awareness. However, it is all an illusion. In fact, his phrasing is next-level complex, climbing up, down and through complex time signatures with the skill of a jazz master.

And yeah, I know, I sometimes throw shade at jazz, but that doesn’t mean I don’t admire their talent to turn music into high math. That ain’t easy, and neither is what Edan gets up to.

He also does it with a frantic, urgent delivery that is on the very edge of losing the line without ever doing so. It isn’t that Edan never takes a breath – he just takes them in weird places that make it all the more interesting as you hang on for dear life and try to pay attention.

And you’ll want to pay attention, because his rhymes are dense and brilliant. At first blush you might be tempted to think he’s just throwing as many rhymes as he can into a sentence, but you quickly realize the whole thing has a purpose. It’s an art-infused purpose mind you -a free-form inspired stream of consciousness that somehow holds a plot together amid all the chaos.

That all sounds pretty good, but it’s a house built on a foundation of noise art that I just couldn’t get behind. Video game sounds, percussion on what sounds like random objects, jazz samples and amorphous feedback gurgles. There is a lot going on, but what isn’t happening is a consistent grounding beat.

So while that complex soup of sounds is working overtime in Edan’s head, and showcasing his brilliance, there are precious few songs you can tap your foot to. Listening you are struck by how intelligently constructed this record is, but it is also exhausting.

I get it - Edan does not want to make it easy on himself or on you. Like any art, music should challenge you. I just found it too much work and, at times, too clever for its own good.

The signs of this are there on his previous record, “Primitive Plus” but as the name of that record suggests, Edan was paying homage to earlier forms through his new and intriguing style. The tension of old and new works there, and the songs that have a similar approach on “Beauty…” like “Fumbling Over Words that Rhyme” and “Torture Chamber” capture the same magic.

But too often in his pursuit of a new and complex beauty, Edan leaves behind the basics of the beat. It’s deliberate, and it is done very well, but that doesn’t mean I liked it.

And so I am going to reluctantly part with this record, just like years ago when I parted with that bottle of Ardbeg on my scotch shelf. I was tempted to keep it because it looked good and suggested I was cool enough to handle all that complex peat. But the truth is that while I admired it, I didn’t enjoy it. Just like this record.

Best tracks: Fumbling Over Words that Rhyme, Torture Chamber, Making Planets

CD Odyssey Disc 1926: Clem Snide

I was a bit nervous about squeezing in two reviews this week with a late start after a long weekend. Fortunately, fate intervened with that shortest of listens…an EP. More on this later.

Disc 1926 is…A Beautiful EP

Artist: Clem Snide

Year of Release: 2003

What’s up with the Cover? A woman lifts her skirt in a playful but modest manner. Perhaps she’s dancing, or maybe just showing off her fancy shoes in anticipation of dancing.

How I Came To Know It: I have been a fan of Clem Snide since 2020 when they released “Forever Just Beyond”, but to my chagrin realized they’d already been around twenty years before I ever “discovered” them.

Even worse, a lot of their early albums which I now covet are very hard to find, and as a result I have lurked the “miscellaneous C” section of local record stores for years hoping for a score.

I’ve managed to land two more through this hunt and peck strategy (1999’s “Your Favourite Music” and 2009’s “Hungry Bird”) but five more LPs still elude me.

So when I saw this EP there I decided to buy it even though it wasn’t on my wish-list, all the while hoping it would overcome the EP curse.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Clem Snide albums, but this is an EP and therefore a different animal. As it is my only EP by the band, it cannot stack up.

Ratings: 2 stars

Not long after I got through my second of many listens of “A Beautiful EP” I realized two things. First, that it is objectively a solid record by a band I enjoy. Second, that much of what constitutes an EP tends to annoy me.

EPs can be great, but they are often dodgy by their very nature. They usually have half or fewer the number of songs from an LP, but they’re rarely half the price. Those songs tend to take a few well-worn turns best left unexplored, and “A Beautiful EP” is no exception.

First off, EPs love their cover songs. Sometimes you can get some real gems in the process – things the band might not put on a full record because it doesn’t suit the vibe or theme, but can work on an EP. Ghost covering the Eurythmics “Missionary Man” or Soundgarden doing the Ohio Players’ “Fopp” are two great examples. Bonus points if the band later combines a couple EPs into an album you can buy as a full length (as Soundgarden did this on “Screaming Life/Fopp”).

Clem Snide goes for a cover of Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” which is…solid. It isn’t as good as the Ghost and Soundgarden songs I noted above, but I don’t like the original as much, so it had less to work with. Anyway, I liked it, and Clem Snide indie pop it up with solid success. Lead singer Eef Barzelay can’t hold a candle to Aguilera’s vocal gymnastics, but he doesn’t go for that, sticking to a punk adjacent approach that lacks depth, but retains enough edge to see it through.

The band also does a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror” which is, again, passable but not a “must have” by any stretch. I prefer the original, as the cover drags just a bit.

EPs also like to recycle old songs with very similar new versions. Again, “A Beautiful EP” has two of these. “Nick Drake Tape” from their 1998 debut and “All Green” from “Soft Spot” (released earlier the same year). Argh. Both songs are OK, but knowing they’re recycled from earlier records is irritating. Despite it being many years later, I felt the echo of irritation of hard core fans having to buy these songs twice just to get the two covers.

This leaves us with only a single song that is 100% new and original material – “Mike Kalinsky” at Track 3. This song, about a high school outcast who doesn’t “do sports”, or score with girls but later goes on to be a successful musician is fine as narrative arcs go. However, the switch in styles from the slow folk pop of the main tune into a – surprise! – jump to Kalinsky’s punk rock styling at the end wore thin after multiple listens (which with an 18-minute EP you are going to get plenty of).

For all this, there aren’t any terrible songs on the record, and absent Aguilera’s powerhouse vocals I realized that “Beautiful” is a much stronger song structurally than I had ever given it credit for as a pop ballad. “All Green” is a lovely pastoral tune that makes you think of lazy summer days and iced tea.

But at the end of the day, I don’t need a bunch of re-releases, live versions and covers. If I wanted that experience, I’d buy a boxed set. So I’m going to part company with this record and do what I should have done in the first place: wait for the LPs that are actually on my list to show up in the record store and buy those instead.

Best tracks: Beautiful, All Green

CD Odyssey Disc 1924: The Devil Makes Three

This next album has been in my collection a long time, and yet I’ve never rolled it through my random selection process. Or maybe I did once and mistakenly thought, “I’ve already reviewed that one” and moved on without checking. If that has ever happened, I apologize to whatever Gods of Chaos might take offence at such an uncharacteristic rejection of the arbitrary.

Disc 1924 is…Do Wrong Right

Artist: The Devil Makes Three

Year of Release: 2009

What’s up with the Cover? A drawing of an old man.

Minus context I will assume from this man is adept at ‘doing wrong right’, and he’s been doing it that way for a long time. You could ask for details, but I sense from that settled scowl in his expression that this feller would see the question rising to your lips and slap it away before you uttered it.

Better to just mosey along and save yourself a fat lip.

How I Came To Know It: I don’t remember. It was either a) reviewed in a folk magazine I used to buy occasionally (maybe Penguin Eggs or American Songwriter) or b) from a list of “best obscure folk albums you’ve never heard of” or somesuch. I’m a sucker for a list as much as the next online surfer.

How It Stacks Up: The Devil Makes Three has made quite a few records over the past twenty plus years or so, but this is my only one, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 4 stars

A mix of old timey bluegrass, folk, and Dixieland, with a side of sin and damnation – that’s “Do Wrong Right”. This trio does up traditional music with a side of nasty.

The first thing that comes across with these guys is how raw their sound is. It feels like they’ve walked in off the back forty, dirt still under their fingernails and laid down a record for $30, a sandwich and a six pack of beer.

The production is so sparse you’ll think at times it was recorded in mono, but you don’t want it any other way. It gives the whole record a “sitting on the porch” vibe that is perfect for songs about regular folks living regular lives.

You won’t find lead singer and principal songwriter Pete Bernhard belting out an aria at La Scala, but his rusty saw of a vocal style is exactly what you want for this kind of music. Bernhard has the kind of voice that is welcoming enough that you’ll sing along with him when the spirit moves you, which is exactly what his two bandmates (Cooper McBean and Lucia Turino) do on many occasions. The effect is to generate a party atmosphere, even though most of the songs are about being poor, drunk, and maybe even ugly. Everyone’s welcome on this porch, but most of the guests stay too late.

There’s a Devil’s Carnival quality to these songs that give them a lascivious sway that reminded me of Tom Waits or the Bridge City Sinners. All those artists are partial to hard lives and bad choices, and the Devil Makes Three are no exception. The record is rife with songs of booze and poverty. Both themes coming together with self-destructive delight on “Gracefully Facedown” which celebrates such unwelcome but natural partners as bottom-shelf bourbon and blackout drunks.

“For Good Again” revisits what it’s like to be starving artists, couch surfing and trying to get ahead. Devil Makes Three’s old school musical approach reminds you this an occupational hazard of the artist as old as civilization itself, even while throwing in modern takes on sin with lines like:

“You’ll never understand the things my friend Aaron put us through
He had this power point presentation about this girl he wanted to do”

Yes, the album’s title is a recurring theme.

The record ends strong with “Car Wreck,” the story of a man who is born restless, cursed to always leave something good in the hopes of finding something better. One day he leaves the love of his life, but the decision haunts him and years later, drawn by the memory of the one thing he can’t shake, he races home to her. Except he dies in a car wreck on the way. The song is tragic and heart-wrenching and full of bad choices (case in point: he’s so drunk when he crashes that car that “whiskey soaks his bones”. One more bad choice transformed into immortality through the power of song.

Through it all, “Do Wrong Right” maintains a frantic energy, careening from one poor soul to another, and making every cautionary tale a toe-tapper of a time. You wouldn’t want to be these folks, but the Devil Makes Three will make you want to hear their stories.

Best tracks: All Hail, Do Wrong Right, Gracefully Facedown, For Good Again, Help Yourself, Working Man’s Blues, Car Wreck

CD Odyssey Disc 1922: Gwen Stefani

This next record is a thrift store special. Sometimes that works out and sometimes it don’t but it usually doesn’t cost you much to find out.

Disc 1922 is…Love.Angel.Music.Baby

Artist: Gwen Stefani

Year of Release: 2004

What’s up with the Cover? Gwen Stefani’s so hot she’s melting that throne.

As for this record – is it hot or a hot mess? To know the answer to that you’re going to have to do more than look at the cover, my friends.

How I Came To Know It: This record was culturally unavoidable in the day and was loaded with monster hits. As for actually buying it, that never crossed my mind until last year when I saw it in a thrift store for the low cost of three dollars. Sign me up for that bargain.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Gwen Stefani album. I also have a single No Doubt record (reviewed way back at Disc 1223). These two albums came out one after the other, but while they both feature Stefani, they’re not by the same band, so there’ll be no stacking up.

Ratings: 2 stars

I find Dance Pop a dangerous genre to court. It lives dangerously in the Land of the Single, where radio play is king, club play is queen, and cohesive records are often an afterthought. Yes, you can find all-round great records in the genre like “Electra Heart” (Disc 1639) and “The Fame Monster” (Disc 747) but you are much more likely to get a loss-leader experience with a couple of killer club bangers at the front end, and a whole lot of filler thereafter.

For this reason, I tend to responsibly engage one full listen before taking this style of music home to meet the wife, but for the low price of $3 I figured it was worth it just for the singles.

Let’s start there, since the record (wisely) does so. While this record’s early oughts dance vibe is very of its time, that doesn’t make “What You Waiting For?” even remotely less of a full-blown banger. This is a song for blowing out your hair, then blowing out your wallet at a club and then blowing kisses out of the cab to strangers on the way home.

What’s this song actually about? Reader, I don’t care terribly. It is a vibe and that vibe is get out there and live a little. Maybe even a little of Stefani pumping herself up for going solo (sorry, the English Literature degree in me made me pay some attention to even these lyrics).

Then we get “Rich Girl” which I wanted to hate, since the song’s main hook is straight up stolen from Fiddler on the Roof’s “If I Were a Rich Man.” Only, I couldn’t. It’s a pretty great hook, and Stefani dresses it up nicely. Also the bridge where hip hopper Eve drops a bar or two of dope raps is a lot of fun. Like most great pop songs, it has a bunch of cool sounds, strung together in a way that makes you like it on the first listen, and then like it even more in the anticipation the third or fourth listen. Is Stefani tricking us here with some empty bubble gum? Reader, she is, but you won’t mind. Shut up and dance.

And then, rounding out our trilogy of underpriced and gaudily packaged goods at the front of the store we get… “Hollaback Girl” – another club banger, built to chant along with friends, while pointing with two fingers on the downbeat and showing off your sexiest sneer. Stefani goes to the deepest well in vacuous but fun pop music with hand claps and foot stomps. Visceral and rhythmic? Sign me up.

But even three songs in, the cracks are starting to show. “Hollaback Girl” opens with empty lyrics that are fun but things start feeling forced. Is this song just playing off Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”? No – actually you’ll find references to other Queen songs in there as well (I felt a distinctive Highlander vibe, but that’s just me).

I should like it just for that, and I do, but following so directly after our fiddler-adjacency I started to feel a little…empty. Like I’d found a stash of delicious candy and overindulged, and now my mouth felt dry from the sugar dust and my stomach hurt.

After one more hit that I just didn’t like to pad the multi-platinum landing zone (“Cool”) it was a steep cliff to…filler town.

The rest of this record is just a bunch of dance beats strung together with all the artistry of Emily Gilmore on a shopping spree – ruthlessly efficient but lacking all joy.

Sure, Stefani tries on a lot of different versions of vacuous beats but they all just bounce around restlessly, like background beats that clear a dance floor while the DJ takes a bathroom break. A good time to get a drink, or more likely to wish you had left earlier when the buses were still running.

These songs go on without respite or purpose. At each turn you’ll realize Stefani is “paying homage’ to a dance style of yesteryear, but she doesn’t add anything to the experience. The bright and brilliant star of those first three tracks are like a sparkler. Fun at first, and good to move around with, but then later just a burned-out memory that melts the garbage bag when you try to throw it away.

I’m not mad at Stefani. If anything I regret all this late-review shade I’m throwing, which virtually guarantees I will not get invited to the amazing parties I imagine she throws on a regular basis (album aside – Stefani is cool).

But I gotta keep it real, and this record is fast food – good at first, but not good for you. I’m glad I got it on a discount and will be providing the same opportunity to someone else very soon.

Best tracks: What You Waiting For?, Rich Girl, Hollaback Girl

CD Odyssey Disc 1901: Carolyn Mark

Due to the random nature of my album selection, it’s been almost five years (Disc 1484)  since I reviewed an album by this next artist, but she’s always been in my heart.

Disc 1901 is… Nothing is Free

Artist: Carolyn Mark

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? This is one of the best album covers in my collection, so kudos to artist Kelly Haigh, who is also a singer I plan to learn more about…

Here we have our heroine, chained up on the outskirts of town and apparently intended as an offering for a demonic badger. Badgers don’t usually behave this way, but the skulls in the foreground suggest this one didn’t get the memo.

In the distance we have some industrial development pumping pollution into the dusky sky. Was it some nefarious Captains of Industry, bent on silencing our pesky folk singer by throwing her to the badgers? Will our chanteuse enchant the creature with her guitar playing and narrow-corseted waist, or will she disappear without a trace?

Well, not without a trace. Again, the skulls.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Carolyn Mark for a long time (first introduced to her by my friend Casey). This was a record I found on one of my innumerable searches through the CD stacks. I knew any Carolyn Mark album would be good, but let’s be honest – I would’ve bought this one for the cover alone.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Carolyn Mark albums, and “Nothing is Free” comes in at #1. I know the early stuff will always gain a glory for being first, but this record is simply lovely.

Ratings: 4 stars

A Carolyn Mark record is sure to feature some great folk songs, and likely a few chuckles as well. “Nothing is Free” has plenty of both, with Mark’s songwriting prowess on full display.

The musical structures are pure Canadiana folk, with touches of fiddle and mandolin filling in the space between Mark’s relaxed guitar strumming. The songs lilt along somewhere in the no-man’s land between weary and content. It’s a fine time exploring themes that are heartfelt, with a helping of brazen and a touch of naughty.

Mark’s vocals suit the space well, with a healthy handful of gravel in her tone, but a light sweetness in her high head voice. She deploys the tension well, a girl who’ll give you a sweet smile and then tip your macchiato into your lap for fun. It isn’t cruel or malicious, just playful. Besides you had it coming dragging your macchiato-sipping ass into the imaginary gin joint a Carolyn Mark song calls home.

A great example, these opening lines from “The One That Got Away (with it)”:

“There’s 2 kinds of women you let in your life
Exciting New Mistress and Boring Old Wife
There’s the 1 that got away
And the 1 that’s here to stay
I just want to be the 1 that got away with it.”

To say it is self-deprecating is to miss the point. Yes she plays around with her predilection for sin, but it isn’t with shame, it’s with celebration; a common thread through her many excellent records. Relationships are hard, and rather than feeling sorry for yourself, it’s OK to celebrate the mess of it all.

While I love the song, I do not love the dodgy use of numerals in place of words that is littered throughout the liner notes on this record. I must assume Mark was listening to a lot of Prince at that time.

Mark does not have blow-the-doors-off vocal power, but that’s not necessary for these songs. Successful delivery of tunes so laden with a barrage of clever words, requires air-tight phrasing, and in that department Carolyn Mark has talent to spare. She trills lightly across the top of the instrumentation or fills in the gaps in staccato faction as the song’s structure dictates, never losing musicality or tone through all the gymnastics. You may not notice it, but that feeling like she’s always landing the perfect punchline? – that’s what it does.

Near the end of the record Mark takes a slight detour into Vaudeville with “Poisoned with Hope”. I know the rhymes in this song are designed to be strained, but I didn’t love the effect, intended or otherwise, and missed the musical trill that gives the rest of the record its easygoing charm. A minor quibble, and not enough to knock a star off – just keepin’ it real.

Otherwise, not much to complain about on this record, which showcases an artist at the height of her talent, writing timeless folk songs that make you smile, nod knowingly, and feel small shivers of discomfort in all the good ways.  

Best tracks: The Business End, Happy 2B Flying Away, 1 Thing, Pictures at 5, The 1 that Got Away (with it), Pink Moon and All the Ladies

CD Odyssey Disc 1900: The Lamp of Thoth

Sometimes to know a band, it helps to know the band they were before.

Disc 1900 is… Cauldron of Witchery

Artist: The Lamp of Thoth

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? A creepy, eldritch bit of stylized art of what I presume is a witch (because of the album title).

No cauldron in evidence, but the witch does look she has been doused with water.

How I Came To Know It: I am a big fan of the band Arkham Witch, and The Lamp of Thoth was the precursor to that band. Knowing this, when I saw a used copy last Saturday in my local record store I lost all composure, snatched it out of the miscellaneous “L” section, and carried it, giggling with glee, to the checkout.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Lamp of Thoth album – and an EP at that – so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

How serious can you take a band where the lead singer goes by the moniker “The Overtly Melancholic Lord Strange” and the drummer is “Lady Pentagram”? As serious as you like, I say. If nothing else, Lamp of Thoth is seriously heavy, and in the world of metal that’s a good place to start.

Rounding out the trio is guitarist “Randy Reaper” (who has the least fantastical name in the band) and the amount of noise and thump these three make is impressive. Say what you will about some of the dodgy production value on this record (likely made on the cheap) but these guys manage to land some serious low-end rumble.

The musical style of the Lamp of Thoth is something of a cross between Black Sabbath and Black Flag. These guys love their old school doom metal, but they also have a frantic punk sensibility that gives things a bit of snarl and snap.

The album’s opening track, the eponymous “The Lamp of Thoth” is also the record’s best, and proof that any band starting out that works hard enough has one classic song in them. “The Lamp of Thoth” is that song for this record. This tune has it all, anthemic guitar riffs that make you feel like you’re on an epic adventure, and a deliberate Bill Ward style drum thump from Lady Pentagram that lets you know said adventure will be perilous. “The Lamp of Thoth” is a true headbanger of a tune and shows off Lord Strange’s vocals. Strange (who will go on to make many a killer Arkham Witch record) hints at his future greatness here.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot to recommend on the record beyond their brilliant opener. “Sunshine” shows the band’s fealty to Black Sabbath a bit too much, with an opening devil’s brew of three chords that is two-thirds Black Sabbath’s title track, with the other third not different enough to count as special. Later in the same song they throw in an Ozzie-like “all right now” straight outta “Sweet Leaf”. It’s clearly an homage that is born of love for the original masters of reality, but I found myself wanting more.

The other great song on the record is a cover of Cirith Ungol’s “Frost and Fire” which is anything but derivative. Twice as long and just as nasty, Lamp of Thoth’s cover is an homage to the original, reimagined like it were played on an alternate earth where gravity makes things three times heavier.

Here ends the studio experience on the record, as the final two songs are both live cuts, “Blood on Satan’s Claw” and “Into the Lair of the Gorgon”. These songs land the visceral quality of a punk show, and along with it, the requisite dodgy recording quality.

I am a bit of a production snob, and so while I can’t deny the Thothers 100% committed to their punk sensibility on these tracks, I wanted it to, you know, sound better. It’s not as annoying as someone posting whatever their raised iPhone managed to record while blocking your view (nothing is). However, it does sound a bit like it was recorded through the wall of the venue so you could avoid the cover charge.

For “Blood on Satan’s Claw” in particular, I found myself wishing I had the original studio version which was recorded for their demo record released the previous year (the hilariously named “I Love the Lamp”). Something to search the record store for in future.

Whatever else, you have to love the Lamp of Thoth’s energy. I’m thankful that later they would transform into the more fully developed Arkham Witch I’ve come to know and love, but I’m also happy to have this early effort, uneven though it is, as a keepsake of their early sound.

Best tracks: The Lamp of Thoth, Frost & Fire