Melissa Auf Der Maur -- 'Auf Der Maur' [review]

Melissa Auf Der Maur
"Auf Der Maur"
Capitol Records


It's hard for a musician to shed the restraints of their band and blossom into a full-fledged solo artist after handling mainly instrumental duties in a band.

Dave Grohl went on to front Foo Fighters after drumming for Nirvana.

Phil Collins started off as the drummer for Genesis before fronting said band and eventually going solo.

Jerry Cantrell was the guitarist for Alice in Chains before trying his hand at a solo career,

And now, after a nearly two year wait, Melissa Auf Der Maur's debut album is finally seeing the light of day.

Moving to the United States in 1994, Auf Der Maur played bass in Hole for 5 years and followed that up with a final album and farewell tour with Smashing Pumpkins. There were hints -- most notably her backing vocals during the time in Hole -- that there was more to Auf Der Maur than just a bass player and a pretty face. So in 2001, the musician began the process of putting together her first solo-album.

According to Auf Der Maur (via her Web site), "The songwriting took place over the last decade. For creative reasons, it was important for me to do this on my own, before even entertaining the thought of a record company. So I got a plan together and spent every penny I've made. I just needed to make my album with no thought of how it would get out there."

Auf Der Maur collaborated with many other musicians throughout the recording, most notably Eric Erlandson (formerly of Hole), James Iha (formerly of Smashing Pumpkins), Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and Brandt Bjork (formerly of QotSA and Kyuss).

As for the recording of each track, Auf Der Maur laid a foundation down with a drummer (recording bass, guitar and vocals herself) and then invited other musicians to build upon each song in specific areas.

So, is Auf Der Maur's "Auf Der Maur" a success? Well, kind of.

The album is an eclectic collection of songs, sounding familiar to everything from Sonic Youth to Veruca Salt to the musician's former bands. Vocally, Auf Der Maur seems very gifted, which has been apparent since her backup vocals during Hole's "MTV Unplugged" performance and cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Gold Woman" (off the "Crow: City of Angels" soundtrack) outshined the band's frontwoman.

Most of the tracks on "Auf Der Maur" suck you in in a hypnotizing fashion. The album's lead-off single, "Followed the Waves," chugs along repetitively, lulling the listener with it's stoner-rock murkiness. Homme and Bjork work great together, but it's Auf Der Maur's almost-melancholic voice and amazing vocal range that is the true star here.

The track's follow-up, "Real a Lie," keeps the sludgy (yet upbeat) undertone, but is a better song if only for the simple yet catchy chorus reminiscent of a band like Lush or Magnapop.

The rest of the disc is a mix of flavors: the sexually-charged "Taste You" was obviously born out of the Auf Der Maur's time in Hole; "Beast of Honor" has an opening closely resembling a water-logged Nirvana; "My Foggy Notion" is a great QotSA-inspired rocker; "I Need I Want I Will" and "My Foggy Notion" have an subtle, interesting middle-eastern flavor flowing through them.

The problem here is that, as good as songs like "Followed the Waves" and "Real a Lie" are, there's just too much slow filler here that, at times, just sounds boring. Despite Auf Der Maur's strong vocals the songs are lyrically weak, bordering on triteness most of the time. And the eclectic element surrounding the album as a whole actually weakens the overall product -- Auf Der Maur swings from stoner-rock to alternative pop to hollow, pseudo-jazz cum rocker tracks (like "I'll Be Anything You Want") so if you like a couple of songs, there's the possiblity you might not like others.

Despite the album's short-comings, Auf Der Maur's vocals and musical sensibility is compelling enough to warrant a listen. The album does a great job of showcasing Auf Der Maur's fantastic voice but is hit or miss on the song-crafting end of things. This album was a sort of labor of love for Auf Der Maur, so hopefully it will do a good job of getting her foot back in the door of the music scene.

Seemless -- Self-Titled [review]

Seemless
Self-titled
(Losing Face Records)


Seemless is a band many of you have probably never heard of.

Collectively the band is a faceless entity, but taken in it's parts, much of the band has been part of the elite hardcore/metal scene over the past few years: Vocalist Jesse David Leach, former frontman of Killswitch Engage; Drummer Derek Kerswill, formerly keeping beats with Shadows Fall; Former Medium bassist Kevin Schuler; Guitarist Pete Cortese, founding member of Overcast.

With a line-up solidly anchored in the metal community it would have been easy for Seemless to offer up a brutal release in the vein of any of the member's former bands. But instead, "Seemless" plays out more like an alternative-rock masterpiece right out of the height of the grunge era.

Throughout the band's self-titled debut, hints of early Corrosion of Conformity swim around vocals similar to something from Stone Temple Pilots or Soundgarden -- sounding like the bastard son of grunge and metal.

After a moody two-plus minute instrumental opener, the album tears open with "Something's Got to Give," with thick guitar and bass riffs tumbling over each other to a solid drum and cymbal-filled back beats. As Leach starts singing, it could really catch first-time listeners off-guard -- a mix of Ed Roland (Collective Soul), Weiland ("Core"-era STP) and Cornell (Soundgarden) -- moody, melodic and emotional all at once.

"Something's Got to Give" sets the tempo for the album as the band tears through track after track, each one in a similar vein: an alternating slow-paced or up-tempo, grunge-tinged rock song. The bluesy instrumentation juxtaposed against Leach's restrained vocals creates an interesting dynamic that can easily appeal to a plethora of listeners.

Occasionally the members' history catches up with them, especially Leach as he lets loose with a nice scream here and there. Production-wise, "Seemless" has a nice raw feel to it at times and the band has embraced an old school mentality letting loose with guitar solos from time to time.

The album is solid as a whole, with some great "moments" along the way: "The Wanderer" sounds like a cut off of Corrosion of Conformity's 1994 release "Deliverance"; "Soft Spoken Sanity" has a killer guitar solo to close it out; "Endless" is a great, slow-paced moody ballad in the vein of Alice in Chains with a nice, loud middle portion; Many of the songs have great drum-laden openings.

Seemless has offered up something completely out of left field in this day and age. If this had come out in the mid '90s, it could have been easily overlooked. Yet, with little competition in this specific genre, the band feels like a breath of fresh air. Outside its native New England, I'm not sure how much buzz Seemless has generated so far, but with a national tour looming on the horizon and the band still with a wide-open future ahead of it, the band is sure to come into its own.

Bleeding Through -- 'This is Love, This is Murderous' [review]

Bleeding Through
"This is Love, This is Murderous"
Trustkill Records


"For a few seconds, this place was Armageddon. And there was a firefight!"

From the opening riffs of "Love Lost in a Hail of Gunfire," the first track off Bleeding Through's latest offering "This is Love, This is Murderous," the band pummels the listener with blazing guitar riffs, thunderous drumming, hard-hitting bass work and seething, anger-infused vocals.

And this track (with an opening clip from the movie "The Boondock Saints"), is how Bleeding Through chooses to unleash its intricate, electronically-fused metal and hardcore styling to the masses ...

Since its inception, the band has pulled itself out of the hardcore underground to solidify a name for itself, earning a mass of fans along the way including the metal-band Lamb of God and Davey Havok, lead singer for AFI.

Fronted by former Throwdown and Eighteen Visions guitarist Brandan Schieppati, Bleeding Through have crafted a multi-layer cornucopia of sounds: traded riffing of guitarists Scott Danough and Brian Leppke, the brutal trade-offs between bassist Ryan Wombacher and drummer Derek Youngsma and subtle atmospheric keyboarding from Marta. Each of the tracks off the band's latest offering have a underlying sense of urgency and immediacy to them, with an interesting sense of old- and new-school metal meshing together.

Going back to the opening track of "This is Love..." -- "Love Lost" explodes with a "pop, pop, pop" drum attack courtesy of Youngsma, before Danough and Leppke tear through their opening riffs, Marta adding effects in the background while Youngsma goes wild behind his set. Schieppati piles on his hardcore-style vocals over verse after verse before the song breaks down with a more mid-tempo speed and strong double-bass work. By the time the second bridge comes along, the lead vocals screaming "I want to see your face. Show me your true face!" are downright chilling. Then everything takes a 180 and Schieppati starts singing "And my heart belongs to you, so save me" with classic-style guitar riffing in the background. This is definitely the band's best and most striking song to date.

"On Wings of Lead" sounds oddly reminiscent of In Flames. The song feels like a perfect metal track: solid riffs, really tight bass and drum back-and-forths and vocals that are turgid with anger, yet not too abrasive. The subtle keyboards add just the right texture to the song's undercurrent of melancholy.

The disc's title-track is a perfect example of the depth apparent in Bleeding Through's music. Opening with abusive riffing, the music steadily builds up speed through its steam-roller-like force, eventually flourishing into a full metal juggernaut with massive guitar parts and superb double-bass drumming. But just below the surface there's a sense of melody, personified by the barely-there keyboards. Schieppati's vocals hold the entire piece together as he growls, screams and sings over the orchestration.

The effect of Marta's keyboards are more noticeable in songs like "City of the Condemned" (with a keyboard opening and bridge) and "Mutilation" (with more prominent keyboards throughout the track).

The only song that really seems out of place on "This is Love..." is the minute-and-a-half heavy-hitting "Sweet Vampirous." Being so short, the song really doesn't have any chance to evolve and, in turn, seems underdeveloped and repetitive.

"This is Love, This is Murderous" is a great addition to any hardcore or metal fan's collection. There are slight problems overall with the release, but it's a strong outing nonetheless.

"I'll fight you with every ounce of strength I have left. I'll seal it with a bullet and a kiss. So look at your horror."

-- From "Love Lost in a Hail of Gunfire."

Drowning Pool -- 'Desensitized' [review]

Drowning Pool
"Desensitized"
Wind Up Records


Riding high off the success of its first single, "Bodies," Drowning Pool exploded onto the metal scene in 2001 with the release of its debut album, "Sinner."

Over the next year the band would gain more and more fans and grow in popularity through constant touring. Then, the unthinkable happened as the group's frontman, Dave Williams, was found dead in a tour-bus during the 2002 Ozzfest. The remaining members -- guitarist C.J. Pierce, bassist Stevie Benton and drummer Mike Luce -- eventually decided to soldier on recruiting Jason "Gong" Jones to fill the vacant vocalist slot.

Now, with the release of "Desensitized," the band's second release on Wind Up Records, the band seems primed to recapture its momentum.

From the opening, "Desensitized" has the same feel to it as the group's debut. The disc kicks off with "Think," a thick, metal-tinged anthem akin to the last album's opener, "Sinner," and from there swings full-force into "Step Up," a sing-along anthem similar to the band's biggest hit, "Bodies."

Musically, Drowning Pool feels tighter and heavier in a sense, having polished the sonic assault the group crafted over the past few years. Jones' vocals are, at times, eerily similar to Williams (especially during the break-down screaming on "Killing Me"), yet completely different. Williams had a husky quality to his voice but could easily wail away with the best of the metal community; Jones' vocals seem more anchored and deep. The vocal nuances are subtle at times, and by the time "This Life" (track 4) is over, the listener could very easily forget they're listening to the band with a new singer. It's hard to miss that this disc is still a Drowning Pool album. "This Life" is also an interesting track as it was the first riff Pierce had written following the loss of Williams.

From end-to-end, "Desensitized" is a full-bore metal release. Even when the band tries to "slow it down" on a track like "Love and War," the bridges and choruses are still hard-hitting. Pierce really shines on all the tracks with his interesting riffing. Benton's bass work feels real thick, and plays nicely off Luce's drumming. Actually, Luce's drumming sounds a lot fuller on this album thanks to Randy Staub's mix.

Overall, Drowning Pool really pulled off an accomplishment. After the death of the band's frontman, the band's future was most definitely in doubt. At the band's Web site, Pierce points out, "This new Drowning Pool record is the most amazing work we have ever done as a rock band. Not only is this about a band continuing on and overcoming a most unfortunate situation, but it is also about personal triumph. I know our family, fans, and friends will be pleasantly surprised, amazed, stunned, and struck by the fact that this recording is heavier and deeper than our previous effort." With the addition of Jones, the band took what it started, built upon said foundation, and really crafted a solid follow-up given the circumstances.