THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY: A QUICK LOOK AT NEW ALBUMS FROM MADE OUT OF BABIES, MOTLEY CRUE, AND ABORTED
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 3:12pm by Axl RosenbergThere’s some interesting releases coming out today, and I’ve been meaning to write about a few of them; unfortunately, life got in the way. So without further adieu, I just wanna toss in my two cents…
THE GOOD: MADE OUT OF BABIES, THE RUINER
I’ve had this album for at least a month, and I’ve spent that entire time trying to write a review that would do it justice. But I just can’t find the words; there’s nothing I can write that’s as elegant as what Made Out of Babies have accomplished with this disc.
So let’s simply say this: I love this fucking album. And if you like good music, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
Julie Christmas’ vocals are brimming with emotion and are unusually expressive, not just for metal, but for pretty much any genre, and the music feels stripped-down without sounding like the band had no budget whatsoever. I’d call it “garage rock” but I don’t want anyone confusing it with The Strokes, The Hives, or any of the other overrated bands generally associated with that genre. These are catchy as fuck, punky, poppy hard rock songs that will absolutely ruin your fucking life, as you’ll want to spend little time doing anything other than listening to them (the epic yet intimate “Invisible Ink,” which features the best repetitious refrain this side of “Hey Jude,” has particularly consumed me).
So look: I apologize that this review is so slapdash. Just go buy this fucking album. You won’t regret it.
And by the way, Made Out of Babies are playing a CD release party tonight at Union Pool in Brooklyn (484 Union Ave.). Doors are at 8, The Austerity Program and Dianogah are also playing, and tickets are a whopping eight bucks. If Vince and I don’t see at least a few of you there, we will feel deeply, deeply ashamed.
(four and a half out of five horns)
THE BAD: MOTLEY CRUE, SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES
The question shouldn’t be “Do I only like old Motley Crue albums out of some sense of nostalgia?” The question should be “If this album had been released instead of Too Fast for Love or Theatre of Pain or Dr. Feelgood, would the band still be where they are today?”
And the answer is, “no.” Saints of Los Angeles isn’t the total car wreck I assumed it would be, but it’s a lot closer to Dr. Feels Sort of Okay than I would have hoped.
Look, give Nikki Sixx this much: unlike most of his peers, he never lost his ability to write catchy pop-metal anthems. The Heroin Diaries proved it – not that there really should have been any doubt. Even Generation Swine had some good hooks buried beneath all the musical “experimentation” that pretty much ruined that album.
The problem with SOLA, then, isn’t that the songs are bad, just so much as they’re not nearly as memorable as vintage Crue. I don’t mind the absence of any “Home Sweet Home”-esque power ballads, but I do mind what seems like a bizarre lack of proper Mick Mars solos (although that might be a side effect of the fact the Mars is slowly turning into a human statue), and even if most of the songs are catchy, I couldn’t really hum any of the hooks back to you. The best songs, like the title track, still just feel like direct rip-offs of some of the band’s better riffs, and even if Sixx was never a poet, the fact that he’s abandoned being a Sunset Strip Studs Turkel dealing in scuzzy little slices of street life in favor of indulging his own narcissistic nostalgia (we wanted to be rock stars, they told us we’d never be rock stars, now we’re rock stars, hoo-ray) makes every track feel like a real drag.
In 1999, Def Leppard released Euphoria, an album that looked, felt, and sounded akin to their 80s trademark releases. Motley Crue basically followed suit a year later with the Tommy Lee-less, Mike Clink-produced New Tattoo. Those albums are cheesy, but at least they played to the bands’ strengths. I know that these groups can re-capture their glory days if they just put in a little elbow grease.
(two horns out of five)
THE UGLY: ABORTED, STRYCHNINE.213
Wow. Didn’t really know Aborted before this and wasn’t really expecting much, but this album slays. Like The Black Dahlia Murder, Aborted probably owe some royalty checks to the dudes in Carcass; but since there’s about 10 million bands that owe royalty checks to Carcass and most of them aren’t making anything nearly as heavy-yet-infectious as this album, I’m inclined to give Aborted a pass.
Eric Rachel’s killer production is typically crisp-yet-monstrous, and do the songs – which are somehow crushing, catchy, and cinematic all at once – an incredible service. Aborted haven’t exactly reinvented the wheel, but then, I don’t think they’re trying to. They’ve made one of the more fun melodic death metal albums I’ve heard this year, and not only do I highly recommend it, but I like it enough to admit that I will now check out the rest of the band’s discography.
(three and a half out of five horns)
-AR
I kinda want to go to this show tonight, especially since I fuckin’ LOVE The Austerity Program. (If you haven’t heard last year’s Black Madonna on Hydra Head you are really really missing out.
Unfortunately, the show is in Brooklyn which is pretty damn inconvenient for me, especially on a weeknight.
THE RUINER is a bad ass motherfucker.
Don’t know about Made Out Of Babies (yet), but for you NYC humans, you MUST check out The Sound Of Urchin (if you’re not familiar already).
Fucking rockiest rockin’ goodtimes rock this side of Rocksylvania.
Aborted are pretty fucking gruesome. Goremageddon: The Saw And The Carnage Done was the first thing I heard of theirs, so that’s probably my favorite, but those dudes kick out the goregrind jams pretty hard.
THE RUINER is a bad ass motherfucker.
Word.
Ok, yeah. I’m checking out MOoB’s tunes on their MySpace page right now, and um, yeah.
I’ll be purchasing this. Me gusta.
The “ugly” was a more positive review than the “bad”. What gives?
@ Sammy: I wondered the same.
I bought the new Motley album and while it isn’t bad by any stretch it lacks what we got from the Crue with their best releases like Feelgood and Shout at the Devil. And I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed what seemed like an astounding lack of Mick Mars solos. At least it isn’t the clusterfuck Swine was…and its better then New Tattoo. If this was another band, it’d be a good album but we expect something out of Motley that this album didn’t deliver. Maybe we should just rewind history and admit that Motley ended when they sobered up and recorded Feelgood…
Still, I’m fuckin’ pumped about Cruefest.
If only I lived in Brooklyn…
There was a whole lot of over use of the wah…and yes…the album WAS bad. I have a pretty high cheese threshold and this pushed it over the limit and made me wish I could take it all back.
Lyrics, generic
Drums, mediocre as Tommy Lee always was,
Bass, same as every album,
Guitars, typical Crue but as I stated in my review and Axl stated as well they sound like recycle riffs.
I think I’m going to go play Shout At The Devil Backwards and hope that I forget it all…
I wanted to be interested in that Made out of Babies…
but then I sampled it.
eww, gross terrible girl vocals.
“eww, gross terrible girl vocals.”
Nevermind that Julie Christmas went to Julliard.
Nice reviews, but as someone who likes both metal and garage rock I have to step in and say that The Strokes are in no way garage rock and The Hives were only on their first two (and best) albums.
The White Stripes are garage rock though, albeit a quite polished version. Check out New Bomb Turks (who recorded a split single with Entombed), Guitar Wolf and Oblivians for the real thing.
@36Thoughtless: whether or not someone went to Juiliard is irrelevant. I disagree with Andrew’s assessment (Made Out Of Babies is pretty damn good), but Julie Christmas is fronting a metal(ish) band, not a choir or other such group.
Made Out Of Babies, Aborted and Dying Fetus should really do a tour together. Call it the “Fetal Massacre” tour.
MOoB review is pretty awesome. that’s how it is, REALLY. long awaited album of 2008.
and Strychnine.213 got me too. I knew Goremageddon and it’s good, but not really memorable; this one is just epic. love the sample and the beggining of “A Murmer in Decrepit Wits”, yet “The Chyme Congeries” is the best track.
2008 it’s being a fucking badass year for extreme music.
@36Thoughtless:
I disagree that it’s irrelevant. It means that she obviously had enough vocal training/talent to make it in (she didn’t continue at Juilliard). Also, many jazz and broadway singers have arisen from Juilliard, not just classical singers.
But my observation is primarily based on my deep-rooted opinion that trained singers are better than non-trained singers, even when singing in genres where certain vocal rules can be and are broken.
Amber Valentine vs. Julie Christmas is a great example of why I believe this.
I meant to address that last post to noyokono.
[...] In celebration of the release of Made Out of Babies’ excellent new album The Ruiner (read Axl’s review) and its’ kinda hilarious cover artwork (pictured), we’re giving away five Made Out [...]
[...] Joe fourteen years ago. Not even remotely a novelty act, this band packed inventiveness into The Ruiner like so much fudge. And if you don’t like my chocolaty innuendo, you can go sit on a tack. [...]