ALBUM REVIEW: The Flaming Lips - The Terror

by Robby Beck



In a way the musical trajectory of The Flaming Lips closely matches that of one of their greatest influences, Pink Floyd. Both bands started out making noisy, druggy psych rock with loads of dark eccentricities. As both bands gained exposure their material became more dense, complex, and concept-oriented. They were crafting symphonies with their rock music rather than just writing songs. Even as both of these bands grew to become household names, their music and experiments just became more complex in the process. There aren't many bands that can gain such substantial notoriety while keeping their ever-expanding artistic vision intact. In Pink Floyd's heyday, they could do whatever they wanted and retain their success, and The Flaming Lips have been in that camp for years.

Ever since The Flaming Lips' 2009 double album Embryonic this band has just been piling on experiment after experiment and basking in their too-big-to-lose status. Among these include releasing at least one song every month in 2011, collaborations with the likes of Lightning Bolt, Neon Indian, Yoko Ono, and Ke$ha (of all people), and a 24-hour song. Yep. But all this seems to have been in place of putting out a new full length album, rather than in preparation of one. We got a fairly cohesive collaborative album on Record Store Day last year, but The Terror is the first proper studio LP we're getting from the Lips since 2009's Embryonic. Before you consider anything else, just bet on this: this band is not done reinventing themselves with every single album.

A press release that frontman Wayne Coyne put out with the album's announcement states the album's concept:

We want, or wanted, to believe that without love we would disappear, that love, somehow, would save us that, yeah, if we have love, give love and know love, we are truly alive and if there is no love, there would be no life. The Terror is, we know now, that even without love, life goes on... we just go on… there is no mercy killing.

This feeling is integral to your understanding of The Terror. Vast landscapes of nothingness, loneliness, desolation. The Terror has been called a nightmarish album, but the nightmare here is that you are alone, you are nothing but nothing and the world is full of you.

This album is easily the band's biggest embrace of ambient and drone music, in fact an LP this reminded me of right at the get-go was Tim Hecker's Ravedeath, 1972. The Terror evokes the same kinds of apocalyptic and desolate musical tropes that that LP does so strongly. This album starts off with "Look... the Sun is Rising" which is one of the most fleshed out segments on the album as far as instrumentals. There are live drums, which only appear in a couple other instances, and while many of the electronics and effects on this record mesh together and become an all encompassing atmosphere, there is a singular synth line on this track that is somewhat catchy. That is once you get past how unsettling it can be. Wayne's voice doesn't really shine out on this track though, where it does start making an impression is "Be Free, A Way". Wayne's voice is usually on the forefront of many of this band's releases, but the way it's utilized on The Terror is extremely unique; it's clearly his voice, but it's put through a set of delay effects that bring an eerie echo to his voice that reverberates throughout everything else in the music. This strange effect and the echo it creates symbolizes the sheer emptiness of the world this record exists in, with Wayne's voice calling out to anything that can listen but his voice just bounces off of every inanimate object and remains unheard. If a tree falls in the forest, and no one's there to hear it, did it really make a sound?

"Try to Explain" is the one soaring, passionate moment on the record, with Wayne's vocal melody perhaps reaching a height that is almost blissful and beautiful before being pulled back into the darkness and nothingness around it. The truly demented nature of The Terror comes out in droves on its 13 minute centerpiece "You Lust". It is one of the most repetitive moments of the record, but while it's not exactly a loud song it is unrelenting in its tortured and harrowing nature. The harsh electronics interjecting near the end of "Turning Violent" further go on to convey the harshness of this environment. The final track in a way ends off where the album began; live drums make another appearance, the instrumental wells up in a more rock-style manner, and Wayne is singing about how this dread and monotony he is going through is "always there."

The Terror is one of the darkest records The Flaming Lips have ever made, and it is also their most fully realized piece of work since The Soft Bulletin. I haven't spoken on many of the musical ideas of a number of tracks, but that's because to do so would almost be pointless; The Terror is an experience you must invest yourself into and only then will you reap the twisted rewards. A lot of great albums create a dense world that listeners can actively explore and find new pieces of wonderment with in every listen. The Terror creates a universe that is no less dense but exploring it leads only to pain, death, loneliness, desolation, grueling monotony. The true Terror is that with every new listen, you'll find a new piece of this empty, unbearable purgatory.

"We don't control the controls."

Score: lite to decent 9

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HEAVY FRIENDS ALBUM ROUNDUP: Nails / Cult of Luna / Seven Sisters of Sleep

(Heavy Friends is the segment on YPOIW where Robby talks about new music in the world of underground metal and hardcore. Sometimes album reviews are done on this segment, but today we're gonna try something different: I will be doing short, but substantive reviews of three recent metal/hardcore releases - a three-for-one, basically. We'll see how this goes!)

Nails - Abandon All Life


Nails certainly proved just how far they were willing to take the extremity of metallic hardcore in 2010 with Unsilent Death. Being that I was new to the world of underground hardcore at the time, it was a huge shell shock to me personally. But even as I've acclimated myself to this genre more and more over the years since then, that album, and Nails in general, still seem so ahead of the curve when it comes to finding that new peak of intensity and volume in heavy music. Even though Unsilent Death is only a 13 minute long album, Nails had a hell of a lot to live up to in whatever they would bring to the table for a follow up.

With all that being said, I'm ecstatic and almost surprised at just how painfully well Abandon All Life turned out. That "peak" that Unsilent Death established in sound, volume, and brutality -- yeah, all of that is just about null and void because Abandon All Life is bar none one of the loudest albums I've ever heard. The guitar tone is perfect for what Nails is doing, it's extremely thick and beefy without being muddy at all and it avoids the stereotypical "buzzsaw" guitar tone that every Entombed-worshiping hardcore band is using nowadays. And the way the guitars are mixed, they sound so loud they might as well be making static and feedback while they're thrashing about. Frontman Todd Jones is also sporting a slightly different vocal style on this LP, it's slightly more mid-high pitched than his guttural roar on Unsilent Death. I think it adds a slightly more distinctive color to his voice, and suits his music just as well.

Alot of what makes this album continuously entertaining to listen to is Kurt Ballou's magnificent-as-usual production. Whenever this guy gets behind the boards you just know you're gonna get a great sounding record, but Abandon All Life has easily one of the grittiest, heaviest sounds he's ever crafted for a band. And the songwriting is pretty great to match, with a couple exceptions these tracks almost never stagnate on any single section or riff. Most of the time they are everchanging like "God's Cold Hands", which goes from an intense buildup to a pissed the fuck off d-beat roar, brings itself to a grindcore-like flourish, and soon comes the obligatory, but tasteful, breakdown. When this band does choose to take things at a mid or slow pace, it's equally winning; "Wide Open Wound" has the most instantly catchy riff, and hell might be the best song overall on the whole album; and the whopping 5-minute closer "Suum Cuique", while being maybe the most monotonous song on the album, really takes advantage of its heaviness and becomes the closest thing to sludge or doom metal this band has gotten to. It's an extremely winning point on the album, and a hell of a way to close it out.

Abandon All Life, while being a brisk 17 minutes, manages to pack in everything that made its predecessor great and throw in so much more. And the end result is a much more potent, consistently engaging, and innovative album. When I say it's "innovative", I'm not trying to say Nails is reinventing the wheel or anything; what I am saying is that they are pushing hardcore and metal to its deepest and darkest limits in such a way that they stand out from all of their peers and make more worthwhile music too. I have no idea how Nails are going to push this genre any more forward next time, but for now the bar is raised, and Nails are right there on top.
Score: lite 9

Cult of Luna - Vertikal


Cult of Luna is a name as established as the likes of bands like Isis and Pelican in the discussion of atmospheric sludge metal, or as some would call it "post-metal". This subgenre of metal has paved the grounds for some of the most artful, and to me some of the best music that underground metal has to offer. And Cult of Luna certainly aren't rejected from this, they've definitely made their mark in this sound with albums like Salvation and Somewhere Along the Highway being highly regarded pieces of music for fans of this kind of stuff. After five years since their last album, people were expecting something huge from Cult of Luna in 2013, and for some that hope was definitely realized with Vertikal. For me though, it's just a different story altogether.

For me Vertikal just does not advance this genre from the likes of what many bands before them have already done, and it doesn't advance the band beyond what they've already done either with albums like Somewhere Along the Highway. And I wouldn't even say it's for a lack of trying, Vertikal does come out of the gate with some additions including some electronics on a number of tracks, and this band's longest piece of music yet at nearly 19 minutes. Unfortunately that track, "Vicarious Redemption", just does not have the substance and lengthy ideas to justify such a hefty run time in my opinion, and the inclusions of electronics on this album are just silly at best. It's truthfully so cringeworthy I don't even want to explain it.

Every other aspect of this album is pretty good, but honestly nothing really special or groundbreaking for the band to make the long wait for this album worth it. Even this album's best tracks like "In Awe Of" just sound like leftovers from an album like Eternal Kingdom, and there's nothing on Vertikal that even reaches the emotional heights of that album. Like I said, it's definitely not a bad piece of work, and if you're not already acclimated to atmospheric sludge and want a gateway drug into it, this album might just enthrall you. But for someone like me who's already familiar with everything this band has done before and all the other notable music in this band's genre, it's just so-so for me. It's a roller coaster I've been on dozens of times, and I know all the moves it's going to make before they're even made.
Score: lite 6

Seven Sisters of Sleep - Opium Morals

Seven Sisters of Sleep are a local (well, local to me) band that I've been following for a good while and have impressed me with their growth and their proficiency in hardcore-infused sludge. And they're really gaining a fairly big following, so much so that Opium Morals, while being their sophomore album, is their debut full length for legendary hardcore label A389 Recordings (following a self-titled EP released through them last year). That EP they dropped last year featured a tremendous boost in sound quality, production, performance, and just the overall package of what SSOS had to offer, as compared to their self-titled debut full length in 2011. I had only hoped that that EP could've been a full length, and with Opium Morals it seems like we've gotten just that. This band doesn't make the incredible leap in quality that they did from their first album to their EP, rather they have simply taken the sound and vibe of that EP and put that into a full length context.

And really, that's what I wanted in the first place, so you could say that I'm satisfied. Which I am of course, but if there is a gripe that I have with Opium Morals, it's that it is just a great, solid sludge metal/hardcore album, that it is just consistent with the quality of last year's EP. Unlike Nails, SSOS don't make the leaps and bounds to up the anti of the ferocity of their sound or performance on this LP. But like I said; it's an incredibly solid, heavy, and misanthropic piece of work, definitely a win as far as this style of music is concerned and another win for the band. I just hope that Opium Morals is more of a stepping stone towards the greatness Seven Sisters of Sleep can accomplish into the future, rather than a true culmination of their best efforts.
Score: strong 7/lite 8

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ALBUM REVIEW: Tame Impala - Lonerism

Let’s transport ourselves back to 2008. It was nearly a decade since a truly great Australian record was released. Australian music overall has experienced a slump, Nick Cave seemed to have run out of creativity, The Avalanches were in a state of limbo, and Jet and Wolfmother were ruining our reputation overseas. Then a little rock band named Tame Impala dropped their self titled EP. It was different, it was original, a mix of lo fi and early 60’s psychedelic rock, with a tinge of bluesy garage rock. The single “Half Full Glass of Wine” garnered some attention, and then they kind of just fell off about as quietly as they came.

2010 comes and Tame Impala come roaring back with the spectacular Innerspeaker. It was a huge and expansive record, which created a land of swirling guitars, rolling drums, satisfying jams and dreamy melodies which could expand and unfold over 5, 6, even 7 minutes at a time. It paid homage to everything from some of the best music of decades passed, yet also felt modern.

If you can’t tell, I absolutely loved Innerspeaker, so when I heard that Tame Impala would be releasing a new record this year; I was ecstatic, but also somewhat sceptical. Following up Innerspeaker would be no easy task, but I believe writer and (on the record) the only member Kevin Parker, has done it. Putting it out here right now, Lonerism might be one of the best records of the last 10 years for me. But let’s settle down, and actually talk about why it's so good.

First off, there are synths, synths everywhere. Tracks like “Be Above It”, “Apocalypse Dreams” and “Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control” contain huge vintage sounding synths and organs, and in the case of “Be Above It”, they even overpower the guitar. The melodies are more emotional, funkier, and, for lack of a better word, more epic sounding than on Innerspeaker. The jams and choruses of these tracks soar into the atmosphere above, think more like “Runway, Houses, Clouds, City” from Innerspeaker on ten, and some tracks have nearly brought tears to my eyes. Yet with poppier, brighter melodies, the lyrics are more morose and depressing. Kevin Parker must be the most unpopular person ever according to songs like “Why Don’t They Talk to Me” and “Apocalypse Dreams”.

The song structures are looser and jammier, with the last half of a lot of songs being devoted to guitar work outs. In particular, “Keep On Lying”, Kevin sings for just shy of a minute and a half, and spends the rest of the near 6 minute track jamming his blues away. The production is also markedly different, where Innerspeaker crisper, cleaner, and more produced, Lonerism takes on a fuzzier, warmer, and, at times, even a lo fi sound.

All of these changes add up to Lonerism’s biggest strength, on paper Lonerism is more accessible than Innerspeaker, yet on record it feels rough and bold, like the younger more immature brother of Innerspeaker. Enough guts to put in a melody that sounds like it was ripped from a cheesy 70’s pop hit, yet slathers it in messy post production effects, and puts in a bridge which extends the track for another 2 minutes. It blends pop and psychedelic rock in a way which has not been done before. Tame Impala is in a league of their own, creating music that’s instantly gratifying yet rewards more listens as the tracks open up with the amount of depth they have the more you listen to them. This is a record which allows us to peek into a world of simultaneous bliss and melancholy. We should be thankful that music like this exists and is still being made.

9.5/10

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