Album Review: Then Thickens

Album Review: Then Thickens
Album: Death Cap at Anglezarke
Label: Hatch Records

Variety is the spice of life, and going from a boiler-suited nightmare trio to something erring closer to chilled-out summer rock vibes is one way for Then Thickens’ Jon-Lee Martin to reinvigorate the spirit.

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Opinion: The Ten Best Albums of 2009 [4-2]

This is part three of The Only Thing I Know For Sure’s Top Ten of 2009. Parts one and two can be found here and here respectively.

4. Kong – Snake Magnet (Brew)

Mental. Absolutely bloody mental. That is literally the only word you can use to describe this Oceansize offshoot. Five months old and it’s still completely incomprehensible, and if you picked up the copy of the album laden with DVD bonuses then you know just how mentally damaged the Kong trio could possibly be. Imagine if David Lynch decided that instead of making films, he’d go into music instead and you might be near to describing the gibberish here. Still, what they have in psychological illness they combine with an album full of off-kilter riffs and eccentric ‘singing’. Really, if you need one odd album in your collection to test your friends’ mental solitude, it’s this.

(Read the full review for Snake Magnet)

3. Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic (Epitaph)

At this point it’d be nigh on impossible to suggest that Every Time I Die can do any wrong. ‘New Junk Aesthetic’ is yet another stellar album from a stellar band. By now the basics are set in stone, but ‘NJA’ adds the extra layer of polish on the ETID sound to make it an unavoidable treat. The riffs come thick and fast, their groove matched with that sultry Southern tinge that leaves you longing for a sweaty mosh pit in Buffalo and Keith Buckley reasserts his position as one of the best metal vocalists of the decade, with the kind of delivery that can bring down mountains. A band at their zenith? Hopefully not, but at this point even a shit ETID album is better than most of the stuff that passes for rock these days.

2. Kylesa – Static Tensions (Prosthetic)

Talking about bands at their zenith, Static Tensions is the album that Kylesa have been promising to make since their 2002 self-titled debut. To anyone who baulks at the idea of girls in rock, I dare you to explain your position to the delightfully named Laura Pleasants. The fact that if you didn’t already know she was in the band you’d have no idea that you were listening to a female roar her lungs out is compliment enough to her devastating performance. But that’s not all that makes ‘Static Tensions’ one of the standout albums of the year. The furious ensemble of two drummers rumble like a herd of blood-crazed bison, and the constant evolution of every song on this album lead to a mesmerizing experience for the years. Kylesa, welcome to the big league. Girls allowed.

Live Review: A Fistful Of Fandango 3

Live Review: A Fistful Of Fandango 3 (Future Of The Left + Dinosaur Pile Up + White Belt, Yellow Tag + Kong)
Venue: 229, Great Portland Street
Date: 10/09/09

Tonight is the second event of the A Fistful of Fandango 3 indoor festival. Residing at the 229, this line-up certainly promises to be the one that will leave you going deaf, and if there’s anyone in doubt it’s evening openers Kong who give the majority of the 229’s smaller room a heavy case of tinnitus. But it’s not just an aural assault the trio give us – disguised in eerie masks and wearing scrappy red clothing gives the impression that this is a band that saw what Slipknot were doing 10 years ago and stamped an eccentric British stamp all over it. Frontman ‘Magpie’ threatens cold blooded murder with his wild eyes and grinding voice, and the songs themselves must be what it’s like to be trapped inside a psychopathic, schizophrenic serial killer’s mind. Seriously off-kilter and troubling, Kong have already cemented themselves as something you just have to see before you shuffle your mortal coil.

Live Photos: A Fistful Of Fandango 3 [10/09/09]

Here are more photos from the second night of the A Fistful Of Fandango 3 night, featuring Future Of The Left, Kong, Dinosaur Pile Up and White Belt, Yellow Tag. For a review, go here.

Kong

Album Review: Kong

Album Review: Kong
Album: Snake Magnet
Label: Brew Records

The masked troubadours of Kong, who may or may not be connected in some way to Oceansize, have finally released their debut album. Let’s get one thing clear before we delve into Snake Magnet. Kong are demented. Not bad demented, the kind where you go on a murder spree to prove to that one special person how much you love them, but the good kind. Think of them as the musical equivalent of The League Of Gentlemen, just with less cross-dressing, a sizeable chunk of vociferous vocals and a diabolical amount of tortured guitars.