The Good, The Bad and the
Fugly!
Yes, It’s me antiGUY and I am here to do some
reviews for you all. Oh no. I can see the hate mail coming already. “What
does this moron know about music?”, “What gives him the right to review
bands?”, “Who in the hell would listen to this guy?”
I'm as skeptical as the next guy when it
comes to reviews. Lets face it. All that usually found in reviews is one
persons opinion. So I keep that in mind when writing these damn things.
I hate reviews myself. We have an idiot who writes the music reviews in
our local paper (Orange County Register). I can usually gage how much I
will like an album by his reviews, If this putz loves it, I’ll hate it.
If he hates it, it kicks ass. As a musician myself, I know it takes
lots of blood sweat and tears to create music. I will try to keep that
in mind when reviewing albums. On the other hand, if I think something
is a pile of dog shit I will say so. So there you have it. What follows
are my opinions. If you don’t like them, go get your own.
Nuff said - on with the show.
October 1999 - The
Good
Feature Review: Neurotica
- Living in Dog Years. 
I never heard of these guys before coming
to antiMUSIC. That changed real quick. Our managing editor, Keavin, loves
to blast Neurotica’s debut album Seed
at full
volume in the office. I admit I was hooked from the first note.
Who are these guys and why haven't I heard
of them? They are a killer heavy rock band from Florida. They had a lucky
break when none other than Brain Johnson of AC/DC discovered them.
Johnson got them a record deal and produced the bands debut. The result
“Seed” was critically acclaimed and set Neurotica
up as one of the hottest heavy bands of the 90’s. But then bad luck hit,
their indy label’s distribution company went under, so just as radio was
picking up the single and word was spreading the CD stopped dead in it’s
tracks. That didn’t discourage these guys. They went back into the
studio and recorded their follow-up which I am reviewing right here.
Think of how many bands had a kick ass
debut album. Only to release a pile of shit for a second record. Good thing
for Neurotica that didn’t happen to them. Point of fact, Living
in Dog years blows Seed away.
Although Brain Johnson wasn’t on hand this time as producer, this is an
album he could be proud of.
Note for note this album rocks, I would
go so far as to call it one of the best heavy metal records of the 90’s.
The riff heavy tunes and full throttle vocals don’t slow down one bit.
From the opening number, Ride of your Life
,
to the equally aggressive Those Dayz These Dayz,
Neurotica has found their niche and have stuck with it. The title track
is one of those songs that just gets stuck in your head and won’t go away.
Down and dirty guitar riffs by Shawn Bowen and Louis Polito, with an agro
rhythm section courtesy of G.J.Gosman (Drums) and Migwell Przybyl
(Bass), topped by theover the top vocals of Kelly Shaefer make Neurotica
THE BAND to contend with for the Gold. Not one wasted second can be found
here. If the major labels have any brains we will watch these guys
go far. Their days as independents are numbered and rightly so.
Living in Dogs years is in stores this
week. Go get your copy today, hell
click here to order it online (It's even on sale). Don't trust me?
Need some encouragement, download the MP3 for the first single, "Ride
of your Life" Check
out the rest of the songs in Real Audio at the Neurotica Web site
Did I hype this enough? Seriously this
CD kicks! Be the first on your block to discover this band before all the
posers jump on the band wagon.
Chris Cornell - Euphoria
Morning
This is not another Sound Garden album.
You won’t find the Zeppelin/black sabbath riffs here. What you do find
is some of Chris Cornell’s finest moments captured on tape. Warning, if
you are looking for the heavy stuff you are used to from Chris, better
stick to Sound Garden. If your willing to open your mind a little, you
might find that there is much more to Chris than “Black Hole Sun”. Indeed,
from the first single “ Can’t Change Me” to the sorrowful “Wave Goodbye”,
Chris lays it out for all to see. Even if you weren’t a big fan of Sound
Garden, Euphoria Morning deserves a listen on its own merits. Simply put
this album Rocks!
The Bad
Missing Persons
- Remixed hits.
What happens when you remix bad songs?
You get the same bad song in a different order. ?No surprises here,
a bunch of songs that weren’t good enough to make the charts remixed and
guess what? They still suck. Back to the 80’s exile with them,
I say.
The Fugly
Mariah Carey : Heartbreaker
5” Single
Let's see how can I stretch a single syllable
word into twelve? Enough already. Like Whitney or any of the
copy cats I just cant stand this style of vocals. What happened to melody?
You wouldn't catch the temptations over singing everything. Mariah, we
already know you can sign, stop trying to prove it! And by the way
you owe the world an apology for that horrid remake of Journey's
“Open Arms”. |
