DAY 7: BLACK SABBATH - BLACK SABBATH (1970) - 7 Days of Halloween in Music

 Happy Halloween!

As with all the spooky albums I’ve covered this week, Black Sabbath’s debut is a brutally haunting affair as it takes no liberties in using it’s sound to give you a terrifyingly unique experience. However, Black Sabbath’s sound does not completely rely on cheap attempts to frighten the listener. From front to back, each and every song on this album holds a gloomy and uncompromising quality which perfectly displays a genre of music at its boiling point, immediately before it would go on to influence rock music for the next 50 years.

The eponymous opening track instantaneously hits you with a statement of Black Sabbath’s atmosphere. After opening with the sound of rain and a bell chime, you’re given three notes, of which come together to create one of the most unsettling riffs you’ll ever pay witness to. It moans and wails of impending doom, making careful use of subduing the riff during the verses in order to emphasise its intensity when it kicks back in. Vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, with his barebones singing ability at the time, comes in to gloom his voice over the track, with his dreary and hopeless style only further adding to the song’s dark mystique. To add further to the uncanniness, there is no chorus to be heard in the track, making it not only an incredibly unique display of 70s rock, but one in which it’s norms are shifted in order to give you an unsettling experience.

Accompanying the title track’s tritone riff are a plethora of memorable songs and classics amongst Sabbath’s discography; the harmonica-inflected stoner rock of “The Wizard”, the instantaneously catchy power chord riff of “N.I.B.” and the unsettling atmosphere of “Sleeping Village”. All of these tracks would become staples of Black Sabbath’s sound and helped define them as one of the key bands in classic rock.

However I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of metal nerds worship this album to no ends, and so I’ll go where no man has gone before and actually give it some criticism. With the album being a product of 70s rock music, most of the songs are built off blues chords and scales. Whilst this is one of the key components in the album’s gloomy sound, it can make it a somewhat tiresome experience in an age when blues music has been returned to and forgotten about multiple times over the past 50 years. For example the track “Warning”, whilst an incredible track in its own right, contains a lengthy guitar jam section which makes the number just over 10 minutes long. Whilst these are not glaring issues with the album, it’s easy to see how modern audiences could be turned off due to many aspects that were derivative of the time the album was released.

In retrospect however, Black Sabbath’s debut is the Godfather of all gloomy British music. It signified the death of the flower power generation, and the introduction of a generation that was marred by the horrors of the Vietnam war and the fear of Satanic panic. Along with Sabbath’s second album, Paranoid, released the same year, it would not only go on to create the genre we know as heavy metal, but also influence numerous musicians for decades, even those from outside the rock genre. Black Sabbath is a behemoth in classic rock music, and for that reason you should give these tracks a spin this Halloween:


BLACK SABBATH

THE WIZARD

N.I.B.

WICKED WORLD

DAY 6: JACULA - IN CAUDA SEMPER STAT VENENUM (1969) - 7 Days of Halloween in Music

 

Jacula’s apocalyptic debut is something seldom seen amongst the deeper cuts of late 60s progressive rock. Hailing from Italy and devised by multi-instrumentalist Antonia Barocetti, their debut album initially consisted of organs, piano and other foreboding sound effects. However, the re-release of In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum in 2001 saw the band superimposing heavy metal guitars over many of the organ sections, causing the album to lose much of its original obscurity. Despite this, the album still holds an enjoyable mystique in its grandiose displays of hellish prog rock, recorded intermittently between practices of mediumship, in which the band members spoke to demonic spirits.

Separated into 6 tracks (the subtlety shouldn’t be lost on you there), In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum’s sound foreshadows the coming apocalypse. The first of two 10 minute tracks “Magister Dixit”, which translates to “The Teacher Has Said It”, seems to transcribe a warning of this coming apocalypse that the album focuses on. The piece pushes it’s monumental organ chords on you as it progresses further into intensity, with the last segment of the song constantly changing key in a way that feels completely unsettling, as a familiar organ sound is played in a completely unfamiliar way. It’s a strong example of how the album taps into the occult themes that were prevalent around some experimental rock bands at the time. Where bands like Coven portrayed their Satanic themes through an approach similar to a campy 60s horror soundtrack, Jacula does so without compromising any of the haunting qualities of their themes. As such, it’s a shame that many of the album’s organ sections were tainted with distorted guitar overdubs.

One of the most intriguing aspects of discovering Jacula is the way in which they played their Satanic themes completely straight, with organs and pianos giving the listener a truly haunting demonic experience. However, the guitar overdubs playing what sounds like rejected Celtic Frost riffs only end up making the album a far campier affair. Part of the mystique of Jacula is that they had all these intense and apocalyptic musical ideas before early black metal bands such as the aforementioned Celtic Frost we're bringing them into the kitschy side of 80s metal. It seems that in adding these guitar superimpositions, In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum loses much of its initial intrigue.

Despite the liberties that the album re-release takes, Jacula’s debut is still absolutely worth checking out. There was no other musical project like it at the time, as it seems to take the pretentiousness of progressive rock and fill it with a completely taboo theme, of which the album uses its genre’s prestige to provide the listener with a truly haunting affair that foretells the coming of Satan himself. Added to this is the fact that the album was recorded in between sessions of the band members speaking to spirits through use of a medium, as well as the fact that the album was never kept up to date in a back catalogue, makes In Cauda Semper Stat Venenum an intriguing and wholly unique record, especially for it’s time. It holds all the mystique that 90s black metal bands would eventually attempt to emulate, before Jacula was even rediscovered through the internet. For that reason I think you should give these tracks a listen:


MAGISTER DIXIT

TRIUMPHATUS SAD

IN CAUDA SEMPER

DAY 5: THEE OH SEES - GRAVE BLOCKERS (2006) - 7 Days of Halloween in Music

The sound of Thee Oh Sees’s debut couldn’t be further removed from the band’s sonic qualities of today. 14 years following this EP, they’ve consolidated themselves as one of the most prolific garage rock bands of the 21st century, with a discography of energetic highs and mind-numbingly repetitive lows. The band has even mustered up three releases during the covid pandemic. Disregarding their monstrous discography however, I thought I’d take a look at the band’s creepy lo-fi folk inception as though it may not be some of their most groundbreaking material, it’s beautifully terrifying vibe makes it a unique gem.

Grave Blockers is essentially a skeletal collection of tracks that would make up much of the sound of Thee Oh Sees following this EP. Though their usual ear-splitting garage sound is nowhere to be found here, I’d argue that's what makes it such a unique release. The opening track “I Agree” has a similar sort of sound to what the band would explore on one of their most popular tracks “The Axis”. It’s eerie folk chords creep you into a track drenched in reverb and delay. Whilst the lyrics ironically contradict each other between the two sets of verses, vocalist John Dwyer uses the reverb and muffled effects on his voice to give the track an almost alien-like personality. Overall the track holds an eerie tone between its cold folk chords and minimalistic percussion, making it a unique deep cut in the band’s lengthy discography.

Complementing the album’s gothic folk numbers are a collection of disjointed and unorthodox tracks which make up the latter half of the EP. Songs like the moody psych folk piece “I Am Slow”, with it’s sampled seagull wails, and the album’s two electronic drone tracks, fittingly titled “Drone #3” and “Drone #4” are all examples of the early experimentation that the band would dabble in. The band would eventually return to some of their minimalistic droning sounds throughout their career, with last year’s release “The 12” Synth” continuing some of these ideas. Overall, the album upholds it’s eerie tone throughout it’s unnatural track listing, making it an enjoyable underrated gem to delve into.

Whilst it surely isn’t the most groundbreaking EP you will ever hear, and certainly isn’t the most groundbreaking release in The Oh Sees discography, Grave Blockers holds a uniquely haunting sound, making it a standout amongst the band’s releases. The folk tracks provide enough wholesome eeriness to give Kurt Vile a run for his money and the album’s wider experimentation into drone should give long time fans something to reflect on, as Grave Blockers is only the beginning of a 21-album career that has spanned 16 years. Give these tracks a try this Halloween:


I AGREE

BURNING BRIDGES

I AM SLOW

DAY 4: ROB ZOMBIE - HELLBILLY DELUXE (1998) - 7 Days of Halloween In Music

 Or as Rob Zombie himself would like you to call it: "13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside The Spookshow International".

For day 4 of this series, I really wanted to cover something ironically less grueling. Something I wouldn’t have to dig too deep into. Something a bit easy on my draining serotonin - ah yes! A late 90s crusty industrial industrial metal album! And what crustier collection of bangers is more perfect for this time of year than Rob Zombie's horror-adoring extravaganza?

With tracks that center around horror stories, movie monsters and sex with the dead, this isnt an album you should take as anything more than just being a good time. The first four tracks alone are instantaneous trademarks of Zombie's sound. It's a mix of hard hitting nu metal tracks with a slight electronic backdrop. One noteworthy track, Dragula, is almost like a dance-metal tune with a hauntingly cheesy atmosphere. It’s synths wail in the background before industrial drums kick in and soon the track edges it's way into an all out goth metal rager. The song has an instantly catchy groove, with it’s production really bringing out the pummeling industrial guitars in the mix, the likes of which make it no wonder why this track is a staple of goth clubs.

Rob Zombie's presence in general is what gives the album most of its personality. As he aims to embody your stereotypical horror b-movie monster, he growls and spits through his teeth as he commands you through each track. Many of the production techniques used, such as the overlayering of his voice, only further help to emphasise his role in taking you through a rollercoaster ride of monster movie worship.

On the surface, Hellbilly Deluxe is Rob Zombie’s love letter to classic horror. It’s a collection of fun little tracks that obsess over sex, death and video nasties. However, it’s also an assortment of instantaneously catchy and fun industrial tracks, allowing it to ascend its own period, and still give listeners lots of kitschy fun today. This is further helped by the album’s all-encompassing production. Get these crusty goth metal classics in your playlist this Halloween:


SUPERBEAST

DRAGULA

LIVING DEAD GIRL

MEET THE CREEPER

DAY 3: THE BIRTHDAY PARTY - JUNKYARD (1982) - 7 Days of Halloween in Music

 

If ever you needed the filthiest, loudest and most brutally intense post-punk record imaginable, then look no further than The Birthday Party’s Junkyard. Whilst their debut album, Prayers On Fire, was a stark statement of their experimentative sound, and their follow up EP, Mutiny, provided a more terrifyingly beautiful offering, Junkyard sits in the middle as a metaphor for the band’s haunted and decaying destructive sound.

Junkyard is raw in every sense of the word. As the title implies, the songs are scattered like broken and obsolescent piles of scrap metal, and as such Junkyard is heavy and unorthodox. Take for example the plodding rhythm of “She’s Hit”, in which the slow burning bassline ensures you with this intensely terrifying atmosphere. It almost sounds as if you’ve just come across this cursed piece of Americana blues. The same could be said for the non-album single “Release The Bats”, which bounces along with it’s gothic-sex-vampire-nightmare sort of theme. Honestly I have no idea what the song is supposed to be about but it gives an example of one of the most endearing qualities of vocalist Nick Cave’s lyrics, which at this point provided the listener with enough words and phrases to paint a picture in your mind whilst still displaying raw aggression through his incoherence.

In a way, it's the result of the band’s experimentation through this incoherence that makes Junkyard such a captivating listen. The album holds all the qualities of a tour through a decaying junkyard, and as such the band seeks only to make some noise and allow their musical qualities to come through with that. For example, guitarist Rowland S. Howard does not take the leading role that you would expect. Instead, his guitar sections burst their way into the album’s louder songs and creep their way into it’s more eerie songs. Junkyard forces you to wait and witness the intensity of his guitar playing as it adds to the album’s disjointed atmosphere, and when the pay off finally comes, it forces you to appreciate it’s raw power.

I think Junkyard is somewhat under appreciated amongst The Birthday Party’s discography, likely due to the fact that some of their biggest songs either appeared on previous releases or non-album singles, and that’s exactly why I think you should give it a listen this Halloween. It’s raw, uncompromising and it forces you to wait and appreciate it’s terrifying craft instead of allowing you to greedily take it in all at once. Give these hauntingly intense tracks a listen:


SHE’S HIT

RELEASE THE BATS

JUNKYARD

SEVERAL SINS

DAY 2: COVEN - WITCHCRAFT DESTROYS MINDS AND REAPS SOULS (1969) - 7 Days of Halloween in Music

Before Black Sabbath, there was Coven.

Coven’s debut is an oddity which at first comes off as an album that seems to be lost in time, which until the early 2000s, it sort of was, but only due to the result of the album being pulled from stores due to its dramatic presentation of occult themes. However, the resurgence of doom metal bands in the age of the internet seemed to propel Coven back into existence as people became slowly aware of this bizarre late 60s project that in terms of presentation, was quite far ahead of its time.

The album’s overt Satanic themes seem to solidify it as being outrageously dated whilst also being ahead of its time. In one breath, the constant references to Satanism played over campy, theatrical late 60s acid rock retains little of its shocking qualities after decades of pop culture’s interest in the occult following the early 70s. But in another breath, when taken into account the fact that Coven were so overly proud of their Satanic beliefs a whole year before Black Sabbath warned of Satan “coming round the bend” on their debut, and an entire decade before Venom pushed inverted crosses and pentagrams on their album covers, it makes the album seem all the more bizarrely intriguing.

Where Black Sabbath’s sound waned upon the impending doom of the early 70s with it’s heavily distorted guitar sound and Ozzy Osbourne’s desperate cries and wails, Coven’s debut is a more theatrical acid rock affair. Their sound is still tinged in the dark psychedelia of late 60s rock, one which presents the flower-power era at its breaking point. As a result, the album sounds far more theatrical and grandiose as it confidently celebrates it’s Satanic themes in tracks such as “The White Witch of Rosehall” and “Dignitaries of Hell”.

The album’s influence can even be heard in contemporary doom and stoner metal. Electric Wizard’s 2007 album Witchcult Today includes an eleven minute track named “Satanic Rituals & Perversions” in which Satanic rites are spoken over a fuzzy doom metal backdrop. In concept it isn’t too different to the 10th track on Coven’s debut, “Satanic Mass”, a thirteen minute track in which an actual satanic mass is recited in full. It proves that whilst Coven were unable to break out into any mainstream circles at the time due to their overtly Satanic themes forcing stores to pull their only release, the mystery surrounding their mere existence solidified them as a cult classic amongst doom metal veterans.

Coven’s dated sound certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but their defiance in their presentation and image as a theatrical Satanic themed rock n roll band is certainly something to marvel at in its obscurity. Oh, and they even had a song named Black Sabbath and a guy named Oz Osbourne before a couple of miserable brummies decided to take those ideas and revolutionise rock music as we know it. Give these tracks a spin this halloween:

BLACK SABBATH

WHITE WITCH OF ROSEHALL

WICKED WOMAN

SATANIC MASS

DAY 1: MISFITS - FAMOUS MONSTERS (1999) - 7 Days of Halloween in Music

The return of the misfits came off more as the return of a brand rather than a band. Following on from the band's comeback album, American Psycho, Famous Monsters, sounds more like a focus-grouped project rather than the return of one of the most celebrated bands in Punk, and that's exactly why Famous Monsters is so horribly entertaining.

All the elements of the band's original charm is there: short and catchy punk songs with morbidly romantic lyrics and a central theme influenced by 50s horror films. The band's new vocalist at the time, Michale Graves, added a more melodic inflection to the band's usual vocal style, trading much of Danzig's raw energy for something more hauntingly beautiful. It gives tracks like Saturday Night and Descending Angel a much different vibe that taps into the gothic side of the band. Given that the album had strong singles with this kind of energy it's not surprising that they influenced much of the ensuing emo pop generation.

In its quest to sell the Misfits as a product, the album does feel largely uninspired compared to the Danzig era material. However this only adds to its kitschy enjoyment. Guitars are blaringly loud and compressed, lyrical content focuses on 50s horror films because the band needed to do that rather than wanted to, and most of the deep cuts seem to lack direction in comparison to the instantaneously enjoyable pop production of the singles. If Danzig era Misfits was a "love it or hate it" sort of deal, then this era can only be typified as being "so bad it's good".

Famous Monsters is an imitation of The Misfits for the Scream era. It didn't seek to replicate the influence that the band once had but instead delivered it to a new audience. One in which horror became romanticized amongst teens and metal and punk bands were selling musuc as products rather than albums. It's a campy, overproduced product of its time and for that reason I think you should at least give these tracks a listen this Halloween:

SCREAM

SATURDAY NIGHT

SCARECROW MAN

DESCENDING ANGEL

HELENA


Thankyou for reading!

Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory 20 Years Later - Why We Need Albums Like This

 

Everyone’s music taste has to start somewhere, and the early 2000s provided a plethora of mainstream bands that filled out a certain niche or genre. Whether it was Green Day’s take on 70s punk or My Chemical Romance’s spin on 80s goth, there seemed to be a gateway band for any style of popular music. However, Linkin Park seemed to culminate several brewing musical ideas from the 90s, and put them forward in a widely-accessible album that would go on to influence an entire generation of alternative musicians.

Hybrid Theory is essentially a crafted blend of nu-metal, grunge, alternative rock and electronic styles. What makes this blend so special is that these styles had all been developing in mainstream and underground scenes throughout the 90s, with Linkin Park taking them all in and putting them forward in a radio friendly album. The notion of which I’m sure would turn some heads to scorn at. However, the difference with Hybrid Theory is that it seems constantly aware of its intended viability, and as such it treats itself accordingly by not throwing any ideas out there to change the game but instead giving a consolidated interpretation of the past decade’s most popular styles, all filtered through ear-grabbing pop production.

The result is a collection of tracks that may not have aged well in concept, but have seemingly resonated with audiences and influenced pop production since their inception. "Papercut" and "One Step Closer" are both nu metal inspired bangers, however instead of delving into the usual nu tropes of blind rage and excessive profanity, these songs take a more emotional lyrical approach. Vocalist Chester Bennington displays a hearty sense of power in his voice, as years of sex and drug abuse are channelled through his screams. Opposing the nu metal sound is the more pop oriented tracks, with In The End and Crawling being huge standouts, the latter of which was the bane of copyright-stricken Youtube videos in 2008. Both tracks work incredibly well as singles, with In The End essentially being a pop song to showcase every aspect of Linkin Park’s sound; the combination of Mike’s rapping with Chester’s chorus vocals that scream of struggle and failure, bolstered by Linkin Park’s inclusion of gritty distorted guitars and turntable scratching. In The End is as much of a surface level example of Linkin Park’s sound as you can get, with elements of the track having seemingly seeped their way into mainstream music following its success. Any top 40 rap song during the 00s had to have a cleanly-sung chorus hook as a result. Meanwhile the vocal stuttering, whilst clearly a product of its time, continues to be used in pop songs to this day. Tracks like In The End might be considered an entry-level song for Linkin Park’s sound and the genres it takes influence from, but in reality that’s the exact point of the song and the band thoroughly knew that. They do experiment slightly with their sound on tracks such as the guitar-driven “A Place For My Head” or the turntablist behemoth “Cure For The Itch” but the band never go too far outside their comfort zone to keep the album commercially viable. Linkin Park knew that people would come to this album without having an inkling of the genres of which they were influenced by, and they played their cards accordingly by giving them what they wanted and in a way, needed to hear.

In reality, what Linkin Park was doing in the US wasn’t too different to what Damon Albarn was doing with Gorillaz in the UK. Gorillaz sounded like a melting pot of the brit pop and hip hop styles of the 90s, the likes of which made the band instantly viable to younger audiences, no less helped by their visual counterpart. Personally, I would never have delved deeper into brit pop or the wider branches of indie music if it wasn’t for Gorillaz, and the same could be said about my love for Linkin Park getting me into heavier and alternative music, as well as hip hop.

Hybrid Theory completely sold me on Linkin Park when I was younger, and they soon became my favourite band as a result. For me, the album acted like a gateway towards the music I would soon get into. Metal, grunge, 90s hip hop and electronic music were all styles that I would soon discover as a result of this album’s infectiousness. So at the age of 21, when I watch videos of Mike Shinoda talk about the influences of Linkin Park, three years after Chester’s death, it comes as no surprise to hear him talk about how the Public Enemy and Anthrax 1991 tour influenced him to start blending rap and rock music. Or how the sound of Hybrid Theory was influenced by the chaos of The Refused’s “Shape of Punk To Come”, or how the stuttering effects on the album’s vocals were influenced by the glitchy electronica of Aphex Twin’s “Richard D. James Album”. These are all artists that I naturally got invested in over my years of interest in music, all of which were unknowingly the result of my love for Hybrid Theory.

I can talk all day about the appreciation I have for this album and what it showed me at such a young age, but what I really want to take away from it is the fact that we shouldn’t immediately ignore a popular album or band just because they are commercially viable. I’d argue that bands like Bring Me The Horizon have been doing a similar thing over the past ten years, with Oli Sykes even citing Linkin Park as an influence multiple times. Sure, they weren’t the first to do what they did and they might not even be the best at doing it, but they can bring that sound to a large audience and keep that audience hooked. Of course these bands and the trends that they follow will all eventually die out, but their impact at the time can bring you onto something you’ve never heard before. We can all cringe at the attempts of popular artists such as Billie Eilish and Yungblud to emulate alternative artists of the past in what seems like soulless, manufactured pop music. However, whilst I and many others do not enjoy their music, I think we should appreciate these artists for making it easier for younger audiences to get into the alternative music that influenced them, just like Linkin Park did with Hybrid Theory twenty years ago.

MGMT - CONGRATULATIONS Classic Album Review

Seeing as though it turns ten years old this year, I thought I’d put together a quick review of one of my favourite psychedelic albums. Enjoy!!

MGMT debuted with ‘Oracular Spectacular’ in 2008, a mostly commercially viable indie pop record, that spawned a multitude of hits that you’ll no doubt have heard played at literally any indie club night you’ve been to. Despite the level of critical acclaim for the album, it was clear that MGMT weren’t the most fond of being forced into making pop music to achieve success, as evidenced by the ironic lyrics of some of their biggest songs. Two years later, they released their answer to this: Congratulations, an electronic, psychedelic journey where no song could be picked for commercial airplay.

One thing MGMT nailed in their ever-growing quest to denounce their pop origins, is the ability to take you on a ride through multi-faceted songs. Some of the most popular songs on this album, such as Flash Delirium and Siberian Breaks, rely on multi-segmented structures. For the former, it almost sounds as if the band members are becoming more psychotic with each layer introduced. The song takes you through some recognisable psych-pop soundscapes, before holding things back with a choir vocal section, before finally pushing the song even further into interstellar overdrive in it’s frantic ending the likes of which you can only picture the band members' heads exploding as they finish.

Siberian Breaks on the other hand, is the perfect twelve-minute, multi-faceted example of the commercially-viable rejection that appears on Congratulations. Getting through the track feels like a journey. It introduces you with familiar territory - a folky chord progression before alleviating into a gentle, swaying psychedelic melody. Soon enough you’ll be thrust into an adventure with its dreamy highs and slower, melancholic lows. At times the music progresses through some sections with colder acoustic guitars and other sections with warmer synths that warp through the instrumentation. The song makes me feel like I’m sludging through the Siberian Alps on acid. Before you finally leave this adventure, the band gives you an outro that consists entirely of synthesisers, which only helps to emphasise and place importance upon the wide range of instrumentation and sounds that this song uses to take you on it’s adventure.

One aspect that greatly benefits the sound of Congratulations was the introduction of Spacemen 3 synthesiser maestro Pete “Sonic Boom” Kember in the production role. Almost 20 years after the success of his work with shoegaze pioneers Spacemen 3, and Kember has proved that he never really did kick the shroom addiction. Congratulations is complete with Kember’s use of tremolo, delay and layered synths that really give the album it’s warbling and colourful synthesiser setup. The glittering synths and dreamy soundscape of the title track is a definite standout for his work. 

It’s elements like the introduction of Kember that really make Congratulations what it is. MGMT wanted to shrug off their electronic pop roots and make an album that embraced their influences, so it’s no surprise that the Spacemen 3 member was placed in the production role. Adding to this are songs such as Brian Eno, and Song For Dan Treacy, both of which pay tribute to the musical icons in their title, who are evidently massive influences for the band’s mix of post-punk, psychedelia and electronic music.

As an album, Congratulations doesn’t really do anything wrong. It takes the sound of the band’s debut and pushes it in a direction that seeks to explore it. However, that exploration didn’t lead to MGMT seeking another set of smash indie-pop hits. Instead it takes risks with its attempts to take you on a psychedelic journey through MGMT’s influences, madness and attention to detail.