Vintage Review: Will Kimbrough’s Americanitis (2006)

Will Kimbrough is one of Nashville’s best-kept secrets. An in-demand guitarist that has worked with folks like Rodney Crowell, Jimmy Buffet, and Todd Snider, among others, the Americana Music Association chose Kimbrough as “2004 Instrumentalist of the Year.” The biggest secret, however, isn’t Kimbrough’s talents as a musician (which are well documented at this point), but rather his little-known skills as a singer, songwriter, and performer. Nowhere is this more apparent than with Americanitis, Kimbrough’s third and most personal solo album yet.

Americanitis is Kimbrough’s reaction to the social and political aftermath of 9-11 and the Iraq War, his politically-charged lyrics delivered with intelligence and humility and an infectious musical mix of Beatlesque pop, roots rock and country twang. Kimbrough tempers the commentary of thoughtful songs like “I Lie,” “Pride” and the brilliantly subversive, Britpop-styled “Less Polite” with explorations of love and human relationships. Whereas “Act Like Nothing’s Wrong” offers some timely advice and the Okie blues of “Wind Blowing Change” heralds stormy weather for America, the spry “Enemy” is a rollicking apology to romance gone wrong while “Another Train” is a raucous showcase of Kimbrough’s six-string mastery.

Kimbrough has delivered his most fully realized album yet with Americanitis, pulling off a tight-wire act that would send lesser artists over the edge: balancing social commentary with romantic observations and making both equally entertaining. (Daphne Records, released 2006)

Review originally published by Country Standard Time magazine

Vintage Review: Todd Snider's Peace, Love and Anarchy (2007)

Singer/songwriter, humorist, social commentator, and minor genius, Todd Snider is, perhaps, a man out of time. His effortless mix of rock, folk, country, and blues would not have sounded out of place, say, during the 1965-75 acoustic songwriter-oriented era. Much like his former label boss John Prine, Snider tends to mix words, emotions, and the occasional “big thought” all together on his lyrical palette, setting it all down on a musical canvas with broad strokes.

Unfortunately, while Snider’s approach might have worked during a time when Dylan-inspired wandering troubadours as musically diverse as Prine, Warren Zevon, Bob Frank, Jackson Browne, Arlo Guthrie, and Eric Anderson could successfully record for a major label, these days the bar is set a little higher. You have to move “product” to keep a deal, and Todd Snider is a little too original, a little too eclectic to stick around the majors for long.

Todd Snider’s Peace, Love and Anarchy

During the ‘90s, Snider recorded three albums for Jimmy Buffet’s MCA-distributed boutique label, Margaritaville. Although these albums displayed moments of staggering brilliance (songs like “You Think You No Somebody” or “Rocket Fuel”) and great humor (“Alright Guy,” “My Generation, Pt. 2”), when Snider’s sales failed to exceed his critical acclaim, he found himself out on the street. Those MCA-era albums have been distilled into That Was Me: The Best Of Todd Snider 1994-1998, a fine introduction for those unfamiliar with vintage Todd.

At the dawn of the new century, Snider found a kindred spirit in John Prine and signed with Prine’s label, Oh Boy Records. During this decade, we’ve watched as Snider’s art has matured and deepened over the course of three solid studio albums for Oh Boy, and although the acclaim has gotten louder and Snider’s audience has gradually increased (albeit at a snail’s pace), the artist himself, maybe driven by ambition, decided to leave a comfortable indie home to once again climb onto the lower rungs of the major label game, releasing The Devil You Know in 2006 for Universal’s New Door Records imprint.

As such, Snider’s Peace, Love and Anarchy is the obligatory departing collection of “rarities, B-sides and demos,” culled from his time at Oh Boy Records. Although there are few revelations here – and sparse liner notes offer little in the way of documentation – there are a few gems hidden just beneath the surface. An acoustic version of “Nashville,” seemingly a demo from Snider’s East Nashville Skyline, works perfectly well without full instrumentation, while “Missing You,” a demo from 2000’s Happy To Be Here, is a little too rough around the edges to fit comfortably.

I Feel Like I’m Falling In Love

A talented songwriter with a penchant for clever phrasing, Snider has had several of his songs recorded by other singers, and a few of these are represented by Snider’s demo versions of the songs on Peace, Love and Anarchy. Personally, I’d like to see what Snider’s longtime musical foil Will Kimbrough could do in the studio with a full band version of “I Feel Like I’m Falling In Love,” originally recorded by Jack Ingram. Ingram also recorded Snider’s “Barbie Doll,” a bluesy song that displays Snider’s intelligent wordplay. The demo for “Deja Blues,” recorded by legendary country outlaw Billy Joe Shaver, is a twangy acoustic number that would also sound good with a full band behind it.  

As with any collection of this sort, Peace, Love and Anarchy includes a couple of clunkers in the mix. Snider’s cover of Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Stoney” is so lifeless that it barely registers, and it sadly includes accompaniment by not one, but two local Nashville journalists – Peter Cooper and Nicole Keiper. Cooper’s fingerprints are also all over “Some Things Are,” a decent song and a better performance, but with listing vocals that range from a folkie whisper to a bluesy growl, it’s not one of Snider’s better moments. Now I don’t begrudge Cooper, the Nashville Tennessean newspaper’s frontline music journalist, his opportunities as a musician, but as the overall producer for Peace, Love and Anarchy, surely he could have found some Todd Snider songs in the vault that didn’t involve his own (unremarkable) performances?    

It is with the musical “rarities” and not with the demos, however, that the treasures of Peace, Love and Anarchy are revealed. “Old Friend” is a fine country-flavored duet, of sorts, between Snider and Jack Ingram, with traditional country instrumentation (dobro, mandolin, steel guitar) provided by Peter Holsapple (The dB’s). Holsapple also appears on “Combover Blues,” a humorous song that should become an anthem for middle aged rockers everywhere. “East Nashville Skyline” is a love letter to Snider’s adopted neighborhood that should have been included on the album of the same name, while the mostly spoken-word “From A Roof Top” offers non-natives a bird’s-eye view of historic East Nashville.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Closing the album, “Cheatham Street Warehouse” is a full-blown rocker, the kind of highly-personalized story-song that Snider does as well, if not better, than anybody. With a band featuring Tommy Womack on guitar, drummer Craig Wright, and pedal steel wizard Lloyd Green, the song is a lo-fi delight, Snider’s soulful vocals barely struggling above the mix while the band bashes and crashes with ramshackle delight. Overall, the good and grand here outweighs the simply mediocre, making Peace, Love and Anarchy a solid collection with many songs that will appeal to Snider’s loyal fans. For newcomers, however, I’d recommend any one of Snider’s Oh Boy albums as the place to start familiarizing yourself with this talented and underrated performer. (Oh Boy Records, released February 15, 2007)

Review originally published by the Trademark of Quality (TMQ) blog, 2007

Vintage Review: Webb Wilder's Born To Be Wilder (2008)

Webb Wilder deserves better than he’s gotten from the music biz. During a ten-year period circa 1986-96, the larger-then-life performer delivered five simply brilliant albums that combined roots-rock, rockabilly, hillbilly, honky-tonk, surf-rock, and rockin-blues. Although WW developed a cult following stateside, along with a significant European fan base, Wilder never got the break that would have broken him to a larger mainstream U.S. audience. Instead, much of his back catalog lies wrapped up in legal contradictions and label politics, with only Wilder’s indie-label-released debut, It Came From Nashville, re-purposed for the digital age.  

Better than 20 years after the release of Wilder’s breathless debut album, the singer and a modernized version of his ‘Beatnecks’ band are still spankin-and-crankin’ out the tunes. In 2005, WW and crew released About Time, their first work in almost nine years, a collection of inspired covers along with a handful of Bobby Field originals. The acclaim enjoyed by About Time would directly lead to the recording of the live album at hand, Born To Be Wilder. Captured onstage at a Birmingham, Alabama club in August 2005, the performance was also taped for a subsequent DVD release.

Webb Wilder’s Born To Be Wilder

For those of you keeping score at home, here’s the straight poop: Born To Be Wilder is, track-by-track, identical to the bonus CD that came with Wilder’s 2006 DVD release, Live In Concert. So, if you have that DVD, then Born To Be Wilder is probably unnecessary…unless you want an easier-to-transport copy of the disc in its own case to throw in your car (for those of you who haven’t given up and joined the iPod generation). To further complicate matters, this same live set was also released in Europe by Dixiefrog Records as It’s Live Time! Did all of you get that? Good.

Born To Be Wilder features fifteen songs, about a third of ‘em from About Time, the rest culled from the artist’s deep back catalog. Some of these are Wilder classics, and songs like “Tough It Out,” the rollicking “Poolside,” “How Long Can She Last” and the crowd-pleasing “One Taste of the Bait” stand up to repeated listening in any setting. They’re all just well-constructed, superbly-performed story-songs with a strong rock-n-roll heartbeat. Some of the newer material measures up well, especially the cover of obscure country vocalist (and my former neighbor) Tommy Overstreet’s honky-tonk weeper, “If You’re Looking For A Fool.”

Unfortunately, there’s something vital missing from Born To Be Wilder. The usually brilliant R.S. “Bobby” Field’s production falls short here. Whereas Field, who has worked with Wilder since high school in Mississippi, typically captures the mythical WW sound perfectly, these performances seem to have been stripped of their spontaneity, grit and muscle. The sound is too antiseptic, the recording far too slick and well-mannered to effectively convey the WW vibe.

A share of the blame should be levied on Wilder and his band as well, all of which are solid, if not usually spectacular players. The performances here are mostly all lacking the nearly-supernatural, raw rock ‘n’ roll vibe of a typical Web Wilder show; not surprisingly, the older material fares better. But simply listen to the ‘80s-era live tracks tacked onto the end of the It Came From Nashville and you’ll hear the stark difference for yourself. Although most of the songs here are road-tested, tried-and-true rockin’ foo, Born To Be Wilder simply lacks the one-shot knockout punch we’ve come to expect from Webb.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line   

In this light, I’d grade Born To Be Wilder with a reluctant ‘B’...still better than just about any other wet-behind-the-ears, roots-rock rug-rats that you’ll run across in this day and time, but a far cry from the A+ work delivered by WW on Doo Dad or Acres of Suede, or even the A- I’d award to About Time. Maybe age is catching up with the big man, maybe this was just an off night, but when you set the bar as high as Wilder has in the past, you have to be spry enough to either jump over or limbo under...and Born To Be Wilder does neither. (Released by Blind Pig Records, 2008)

Review originally published by the Trademark of Quality (TMQ) blog

Review Roulette: Stone Deep, Teen Idols, Thee Phantom 5ive, Terminal Mycosis (1990, 1996)

Stone Deep photo by Heather Lose

STONE DEEP
“Gangs and The Govt.” b/w “Mr. Sunray”
(Secession Records)
    Nashville’s Hard Corps were local heroes in their day, an ultra-popular band that played a hell of a live set and built a large and loyal Southeastern following by doing so. That their single major label album didn’t reflect the extent of their talent and energy was a true shame, and an indictment of the way that even minor league labels try to force bands into a preconceived mold. Out of the ashes of Hard Corps came Stone Deep. With the worthy addition of former Scatterbrain guitarist Glen Cummings, Stone Deep have developed an identity and following of their own that rivals that of their musical predecessor. Their first effort is another 7-incher that has been lost in our vaults, but it’s well worth looking into.
    Side one offers “Gangs and The Govt.,” which takes a unique lyrical stand by comparing villianized street gangs to the government that battles them via police S.W.A.T. teams and Federal task forces. In light of events like Waco, it’s a bold and insightful statement, a true view from streetside. The music is pure metallic funk, a hybrid of rap styling and hard rock riffs that drill the vocals home. “Mr. Sunray,” on the flip side, is a lighter, soulful bit of musical whimsy with a funky beat and some interesting vocal play. Since the release of this single, the band has only increased their popularity in the region and recorded a number of other songs. (1996)

TEEN IDOLS
Nightmares EP
(House O’ Pain Records)
    Nashville’s Teen Idols are my favorite live band on the local scene – few of the Music City’s rock pretenders and poseurs can match the energy and sincerity shown by Teen Idols on any given night. The band’s latest HO’P vinyl release, the Nightmares EP, offers solid evidence as to why. The band kicks ass through five short and sweet, hit-a-lick and hit the door punk rock tunes. There’s just enough pop mixed into the screaming guitars and frantic rhythms of songs like “I Regret It,” “Anybody Else,” or the title cut, “Nightmares,” to make it easily accessible, just enough fervor and attitude to keep it punkish. You won’t find a bad cut on the EP, no matter how hard you may try, filled as it is with infectious rock ‘n’ roll with a real edge. I expect big things from Teen Idols, who have been building a loyal regional following and solid musical reputation for over a year and across several vinyl releases now. (1996)

Thee Phantom 5ive

THEE PHANTOM 5IVE
...Lift Off To Kicksville EP
(self-produced)
    Another 7-incher that’s been sitting on the shelves since last summer waiting for its moment in print, Nashville’s Thee Phantom 5ive are rapidly becoming Nashville’s resident gods of instrumental surf music (Los Straitjackets, who are increasingly going “Hollywood,” notwithstanding). As advertised by its title, ...Lift Off To Kicksville delivers plenty of kicks, with lively surf guitar punctuating the EP’s four scorching cuts. “Pressure” and “Our Favorite Martian” grace the first side of the disc, offering cheap thrills a plenty with ringing six strings and a steady beat. Side the second starts off with the roaring “Surf Softly,” an energetic instrumental that bravely explores musical turf that others fear to tread. The lone vocal cut of ...Lift Off To Kicksville, “(We Built A) 501 (Caddy)” sets off in search of cheesy sixties-styled thrills with vicious dueling guitars and hilarious trash talk about the “biggest road car ever!” If surf rock instrumentals are your passion, then you owe it to yourself to check out Thee Phantom 5ive, the new kids on the beach. (1996)

TERMINAL MYCOSIS
Nine of Cups
(Potters Wheel Records)
    I crossed paths with this mysterious and pseudonymous recording several months ago, awestruck by its simplicity and disturbed by its dark, brooding ferocity. A cassette-only recording of eight songs, Nine of Cups explores an experimental side of music where even angels fear to tread, an industrial-styled psychotic portrait of pain containing scraps and snippets of found vocals (was that Adolph Hitler…or Ronnie Reagan?), odd instrumentation, distorted guitarwork and demented percussion. At once both fascinating and repulsive, Nine of Cups is a cacophonic cry into the abyss. The question raised by such an artistic statement, however, is whether its creator…the anonymous “Terminal Mycosis”…is mad, or is society? (The Metro, 1990)

TERMINAL MYCOSIS
None To Share
(Potters Wheel Records)
    Nashville’s Terminal Mycosis has returned with he/she/its second effort, a thick, complex and multi-layered grouping of five compositions. None To Share rests somewhere in the musical netherworld between industrial music and cyberpunk theory, blending magick and ritual with found vocals, technological sound, synthesizer-produced rhythms and odd, unidentified random instrumentation to create a dark and disturbing hybrid too heady for many folk. Fans or followers of Psychick TV, Arcane Device, or the Hafler Trio would enjoy this; many others would simply dismiss it without knowing exactly what it is: the abyss of the soul glaring back at the listener. (The Metro, 1990)

Vintage Review: The Thieves' Seduced By Money (1989)

Singer/songwriter Gwil Owen of the Thieves had one foot in rock ‘n’ roll and the other in the honky-tonk sound of his adopted Nashville hometown long before such a blending of genres was codified as “alternative country.” The Thieves’ debut album pairs Owen’s Midwestern drawl and literary lyrics with guitarist Bart Weilburg’s six-string prowess and a dynamic rhythm section composed of drummer Jeff Finlin and bass player Kelley Looney, on loan to the Thieves from Steve Earle’s touring band.

Produced with a deft hand by Marshall Crenshaw in his debut behind the control board, Seduced By Money successfully mixes beefy roots-rock with power-pop and country twang. The tension between the band members’ rock ‘n’ roll leanings and their countrypolitan upbringings created a unique sound that was easily a decade ahead of its time. “When I Wake With Someone New” is heavily influenced by Crenshaw’s style of intelligent pop, while “Everything But My Heart” mixes Keith Richards-inspired guitar riffs with delicate harmonies in a tale of consumerism run amok. The country undercurrent of “From A Motel 6” foreshadows Owen’s future as the king of the truck-stop jukebox, and “Black Lipstick” shows a bristling punk attitude beneath its hard rock exterior.

The title cut of Seduced By Money stands out as the album’s masterpiece, however, Owen’s anti-greed lyrics driven by Finlin’s big drumbeat, Weilburg’s guitar spewing feedback and spitting fire. The Thieves would shake up their roster after this critically acclaimed debut, emerging as Gwil Owen & the Thieves and shopping a Gary Tallent-produced demo around to the industry with little or no luck. As such, Seduced By Money stands as the Thieves’ legacy, and as rock ‘n’ roll legacies go, it ain’t half-bad. (The Metro, 1989)

Review Roulette: Dan Baird, Marshall Chapman, David Schnaufer, Tone Patrol (1990, 1993, 1995)

DAN BAIRD
Love Songs For the Hearing Impaired
(Def American)
    Former Georgia Satellite songwriter and frontman Dan Baird “fired” himself from that band after their wonderfully complex and darkly emotional third album and struck out on his own. That he should hit the often-traveled trail of the journeyman should certainly come as no surprise; the Satellites were always just a group of inspired journeymen at heart, as loose as a pick-up band in a one-night jam session, as tight and cohesive a unit as any well-practiced bar band could be. It should not come as any surprise, then,  that Baird’s solo debut would draw upon the same influences and inspiration as did the band’s best work: the Stones, Chuck Berry, The Faces...all those musical pioneers who defied the expectations of their time and defined an art form. Love Songs For the Hearing Impaired is no-frills, straight-ahead, gut-level, guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll. A vastly underrated songwriter in a Woody Guthrie/Hank Williams “keep it simple but convey a lot of thought” vein, Baird has always had a flair for penning both lyrical and musical hooks, he provides both here in quantity. Tunes like “The One I Am,” “Jule + Lucky,” “Seriously Gone,” and the grammatically-correct “I Love You Period” are meat and potato tunes for fans who like their rock unpretentious and undiluted. From Baird, I would expect no less... (The Metro, 1993)

MARSHALL CHAPMAN
It’s About Time...Recorded Live At The Tennessee State Prison For Women
(Margaritaville Records)
    With two decades of toiling away in the music biz under her belt, Marshall Chapman has amassed a resume of songwriting credits and major and indie label releases that would make even the most hardcore alternative rocker blush with envy. The talents of Ms. Chapman have long been overlooked by all but her loyal legion of fans, however, making her one of Nashville’s best kept musical secrets. Only time will tell if It’s About Time...Recorded Live At The Tennessee State Prison For Women will win Chapman the long overdue success that she deserves, but one thing’s for certain: she’s a hell of a performer. Chapman’s blending of country, rock, and blues tends to make her too difficult to pigeonhole into any ready-made format, and that’s just the way that it should be. Chapman’s live delivery of songs like “Real Smart Man” or “Good-Bye Little Rock & Roller,” her throaty, sensual vocals, and energetic guitar playing as gleeful and electric as they were twenty years ago proving that there really is still magic to be found in the streets of the Music City. (T-Bone, 1995)

DAVID SCHNAUFER
Dulcimer Player
(S.F.L. Records)
    Dulcimer master David Schnaufer may well be one of the Music City’s best kept secrets…’tis a shame, too, because Dulcimer Player, Schnaufer’s second album for Nashville’s S.F.L. Records, is a sheer delight. This collection of tasteful originals and inspired covers offers a Celtic-flavored romp through the dulcet tones of Schnaufer’s dulcimer, a traditional instrument making a welcome comeback. With the help of skilled session folks such as Mark O’Connor, Tone Patrol’s talented Dave Pomeroy, “Cowboy” Jack Clement, and the Cactus Brothers (also known as members of Walk The West), Schnaufer expresses pure emotion through his instrument, creating a wonderful and spirited sound which needs no words to encumber the anarchistic freedom of its soaring notes. (The Metro, April 1990)

TONE PATROL
5.19.89
(Earwave Records)
    For those of you who caught Tone Patrol’s wonderful performance at The Metro’s Second Annual Nashville Music Awards show, then you’re already familiar with this talented quintet. For those of you who sadly missed the affair, this tape – recorded live at Nashville’s Douglas Corner – would serve as an excellent introduction. Stepping out from their various roles as session players, Tone Patrol’s Dave Pomeroy, Kenny Malone, Biff Watson, Larry Chaney, and Sam Bacco placed their creative skills together to deliver an energetic and mesmerizing performance, captured here in all of its beauty and grace. Tone Patrol performs an original and unique blend of jazz, rock, and so-called “New Age” music, instrumental tapestries delicately woven by the combined skills of the musicians, played to perfection in the spirit of the performance. I’d suggest catching these guys their next time out…and after you see them live, you’ll search high and low for a copy of this tape (as well you should). It’s creative efforts such as this which serve Nashville’s image as the “Music City” best. (The Metro, April 1990)

Vintage Review: Giles Reaves' Nothing Is Lost (1988)

It may surprise you, but Nashville is rapidly gaining a reputation as a hotbed of “space music,” that ethereal art form which includes a myriad of musical styles and genres, consisting mostly of instrumental pieces and including everything from experimental jazz and esoteric classical works to aggressive noise and electronic wizardry. Creative and innovative musicians such as Anthony Rian, Kirby Shelstad, and William Linton have put the Music City on the New Age music map. The best-known of all our local creators is Giles Reaves.

Reaves, known locally for his engineering skills while associated with the Castle studio, released his first collection of space music a year ago, the brilliant and effervescent album Wunjo. Inspired by the clairvoyant Nordic runes and performed on keyboards and synthesizers with the aid of a computer, Wunjo was a highly-textured and forceful work, and captured the attention and imagination of listeners all over the globe.

As wonderful as his previous album was, Reaves’ latest, Nothing Is Lost, is a more realized work. Exploring a different reality than that on his first recording, Reaves’ new album is a masterful and introspective creation, a rare combination of artistic vision and technical proficiency. Blending traditional instrumentation with synthesizers and the computer, Reaves has created a fully-developed, cohesive collection of pieces. Nothing Is Lost draws from a more diverse sphere of influences and inspiration than Wunjo. An Asian feel pervades side one, incorporating the rhythms and syncopations of the islands to create a textured veil of sound and sensory appeal not unlike the lesser-known works of Brian Eno or the magnificent, Malaysian-influenced dream works of Jon Hassell. The second side of Nothing Is Lost is equally enjoyable, more fragile and mystically oriented than the first side.

Reaves deserves any success or accolade heaped upon him and I, for one, hope that he continues to follow this particular muse in creating further works of this nature. Space Music composers are often ridiculed and patronized by lesser talents in other fields as mere panderers to spiritual muzak. But at their best, they are our generation’s equivalent to the classical composers of centuries past. Nothing Is Lost is no mere New Age snooze, but an intelligent and demanding work of art. It deserves to be listened to, judged and appreciated on these lofty terms of sophistication. It requires nothing less. (The Metro, 1988)

Vintage Review: The Cactus Brothers' The Cactus Brothers (1993)

The Nashville rock ‘n’ roll scene of the mid-’80s was an exciting and invigorating tonic of youthful innocence and energy, with unbridled creativity matched by awkward inexperience. One the many bands working to define this scene and garner world-wide critical acclaim (albeit without commercial success) was Walk The West. One of the area’s most popular outfits, these country-influenced rockers hung up their spurs at decade’s end. Their achievements included an excellent self-titled album for Capital (which has become a bona-fide collector’s item) and the creation of an innovative hybrid of country and rock which owed as much, thematically, to Johnny Cash as to the Byrds and Gram Parsons.

The nucleus of that band has been reincarnated as the Cactus Brothers, and both sides of the rock/country equation are much better for it. Their self-titled Liberty Records debut manages to capture the intimacy and acoustic-oriented style which made the Cactus Brothers a live draw equally as popular as their predecessors ever were. This is a band awash in instrumental talent, from master dulcimer player David Schnaufer to dobroist Sam Poland, from the multi-talented Tramp to the Goleman Brothers, Paul Kirby, and drummer David Kennedy...and they make the most of the talent they’ve got.

The music here is a hybrid of country roots and rock spirit, with covers like Merle Travis’ “Sixteen Tons” and the Everly Brothers “The Price of Love” performed in a manner unlike any you’ve ever heard. Traditional instrumentals such as “Fisher’s Hornpipe” and “Blackberry Blossom” showcase the band’s musical abilities while the originals fall somewhere in between. Whereas singer/songwriter Paul Kirby comes across like a stone-cold country crooner on material like “Bubba Bubba” or “Crazy Heart,” songs like “Devil Wind” and “Big Train” are strongly reminiscent of Walk The West’s best stuff. All in all, The Cactus Brothers is a solid album, a fine introduction to a highly talented group of guys who have the vision, the skills, and the hard-won experience to achieve whatever they wish. (The Metro, 1993)

Vintage Review: Intruder's A Higher Form of Killing (1989)

Intruder may not have been Nashville’s first but they were definitely the city’s best-known thrash band. Veterans of various local punk and metal outfits, Intruder built upon the speed-metal sound pioneered by bands like Metallica and Megadeth, adding elements of what would later become known as “progressive metal” to their unrelenting aural attack. Fueled by the phenomenal virtuosity of guitarist Arthur Vinett, the throaty growl of vocalist James Hamilton, and the songwriting skills of drummer John Pieroni, Intruder built a large cult following across the United States and in Europe on the strength of their brutal live performances.

A Higher Form of Killing, the band’s second album and their first for Metal Blade Records, picks up the pace pretty much where Intruder had left off with their self-produced debut, Live To Die. Taking its title from the ground-breaking 1982 book on chemical and biological warfare by British journalists Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman, Pieroni’s lyrics on A Higher Form of Killing mix a high-tech doom-and-gloom world view with a science-fiction landscape that has much in common with Voivod. “The Martyr” compares Middle Eastern suicide bombers with radical Christian fundamentalists, “Genetic Genocide” touches upon DNA therapy a decade or so before its widespread use and “Killing Winds explores the use of chemical weapons on the battlefields of Europe.

The high point of A Higher Form of Killing, however, is a manic cover of the Monkees’ hit “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone,” the pop/rock chestnut revved up and delivered with all the subtlety of the business end of a sledge-hammer. A strong collection of chainsaw speed-metal, A Higher Form of Killing put the so-called band from “Thrashville” on the musical map alongside genre giants like Nuclear Assault. (The Metro, 1989)

Review Roulette: F.U.C.T., The Grinning Plowman, Jet Black Factory, Today Is The Day (1990, 1995)

Welcome to the first “Review Roulette”column, a collection of various short album reviews of Nashville bands that were first published by The Metro magazine and other outlets during the 1980s and ‘90s…

F.U.C.T.
Dimensional Depth Perception
(Carlyle Records)
    Nashville’s bad boys of thrash set out their first CD with the expected results: Dimensional Depth Perception is a monster of a release, a no-holds-barred leap into the abyss of otherworldly reality; thirty-plus minutes of industrial strength rock ‘n’ roll fury. Set beneath the multi-decibel mix of howling guitars, pounding drums, and throbbing bass lines, you’ll find vocalist Clay’s twisted, painful King Hell vocals kicking out some serious jams about life, morality, society and our endangered existence upon this spinning, twirling sphere that we call home. Forever Ungratical Corinaric Technikilation have a whomping good time musically, but they also have a positive message to relate to their listeners with their songs. Hear it! (The Metro, August 1990)

THE GRINNING PLOWMAN
I Play Jupiter
(Carlyle Records)
    With their long-awaited second album, Nashville’s the Grinning Plowman tread much of the same stylistic ground as their first disc, but that’s good, for there’s so much territory to explore in the musical realms that they journey through. Their sound is dark and aggressive, like a soul on fire, with the music building from a somber funeral dirge to a frenzied, dervish-like howl within the space of a few seconds. The Grinning Plowman are redefining the boundaries of music, delivering material with a Gothic feel and a vague lyrical poetry akin to Lovecraft or Crowley. This is heady stuff, exhilarating yet disquieting, and well worth the wait. (The Metro, August 1990)

JET BLACK FACTORY
House Blessing
(391 Records)
Nobody was really watching, but even though it should have come as no surprise, while everyone was involved with – and enthralled by – a dozen-and-one other bands, Nashville’s Jet Black Factory quietly became one of the more creative forces to be found in the city. On the heels of two successful and widely-acclaimed EPs, House Blessing is Jet Black Factory’s first full-length album and their most mature and engaging creative effort to date. Dave Willie’s voice has grown into a magnificent instrument: dark, haunting vocals caressing the somber, oblique poetry that is the band’s lyrical forte. Bob German’s six-string work perfectly complements the material while the remainder of the band skillfully manipulates the texture and tone of the material. Treading a stylistic ground which owes as much to the Velvet Underground as it does Joy Division or R.E.M., Jet Black Factory has delivered a debut LP, of sorts, which is sure to make the coastal trendsetters sit up and take notice. (The Metro, April 1990)

TODAY IS THE DAY
Willpower    
(Amphetamine/Reptile)
I’ve been predicting that Today Is The Day will become the "next big thing" in alternative circles for a couple of years now, and there’s nothing about Willpower, their latest, to sway me from this opinion. This Nashville-based trio knocks down an exciting, high decibel blend of cacophonic instrumentation, metal-edged rock and industrial-strength noise that will blow the listener out of their seat. With vocals that sound like the singer is undergoing a root canal without the benefit of anesthesia and harsh backing music that walks a tightrope between bludgeon-like simplicity and razor-sharp complexity, Willpower provides an appropriate soundtrack for a society in decline. Throw these guys on tour with some like-minded big name like Nine Inch Nails and they’ll walk out of the joint with the audience in their back pockets ... bet on it. (R.A.D! zine, 1995)