Fabryka Industrial Rock Magazine's Blog
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Ministry - Relapse (2012) album review speed thrash metal industrial pop
Ministry - Relapse (2012)
Rating: 2 of 4
At one time in their career Ministry brought hard hitting, creative ideas into fruition. This was attractive to both fans and media. However, forcing the franchise to draw attention in todays industry climate produces music that is missing primal, real and controlled anger.
Indeed, we the fans as well as the music industry wanted the return of Ministry, but we expected the one we've known from some of their best albums that have spanned decades. Extensive use of the slogan "the fathers of industrial metal" in terms of the Relapse album is quite a stretch. This is exactly the same kind of promotional trick Filter used when they advertised their most recent and weakest album Inevitable Relapse (sic!) by comparing it to their most famous album Shortbus (which includes the hit song "Hey Man, Nice Shot").
Ministry has clearly forgotten how to make industrial metal music since this album sounds like a slop job of both pop and speed metal. They should have retired when they had the chance instead of returning with such an unoriginal and impotent album in comparison to their previous releases.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, 29/03/2012)
Extended review: http://industrialrock.net/php-files_en/articles.php?article_id=124&rowstart=7
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Mike Drazka - Angels Of War 2012 5/5 videogame soundtrack
Mike Drazka - Angels Of War (song review) |self-released, single, 2012| 5/5
Any music placed in video games or movies may have a better chance for exposure as well as recognition. It becomes memorable too, even though the composer stays in the shadows of the game at first. Similarly, music themes mixed with pictures and action bring far more vivid impressions in contrast to listening to a song without any additional multimedia content. Stunning, atmospheric music has enriched games such as Quake or Fallout which still inspire millions of gamers as well as fans of soundtracks, regardless of how old both of those games have become through time.
"Angels of War" is an instrumental song composed by American songwriter and self taught multi-instrumentalist Mike Drazka. He has already placed his music into various forms of visual media such as TV, radio and internet multimedia sources including Oxygen Network, News12 Networks, MSG Networks and The Motion Picture Association of America with the award winning documentary Flight 587. However, this list of successful achievements doesn't make him stop crafting the sound of his compositions even better.
This new song would be a good fit to an action movie trailer, TV series or advertisement, but placement in a video game would be an ideal match. First of all, Mike operates within several musical genres, from rock to metal through orchestral, acoustic and techno. "Angels of War" is a heavy track due to its looped guitar riffs and sampling, thus it tends to bring industrial rock and industrial metal music scenes into the limelight. Such heavy guitar driven music has been successfully utilized with a lot of video games because of fast rhythms and aggressive riffs that have the ability to change the rate of the human heartbeat so they become one with the sound (and action!). The same thing happens when music is designed to play a game of hide-and-seek with human brainwaves. For some this technique may work, for some it does not since we're talking about individual perceptions.
Additionally, the rhythm of "Angels of War" is dynamic, so it makes the song promising if geared for specific types of video games that include a lot of running and jumping or similar character action.
Secondly, the song has atmospheric parts in the background based on angel-esque voices and violins that are interlaced with the main theme. This makes the format not only accessible for use with PC, Mac, Xbox and mobile platforms, but even more types of multimedia.
Finally, the composition is short (lasts slightly over 2:30 minutes), sleek and tight, yet powerful at the same time which glues the guitar and drums together based on the overall arrangements. This molds the song into one wisely composed soundtrack.
If you are in search of hiring a sound designer to create some interesting themes for your documentaries, performances, presentations, computer or mobile video games, ads as well as multimedia website content, then you should contact Mike Drazka since his musical and technical skills seem to fit this position very well.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Music Magazine, May 15th, 2012)
Visit: http://www.mikedrazkamusic.com
Testimonials
Thank you so much for the great review. You really went above and beyond reviewing the song. Everything is correct in it. I have an album that I'm hoping to release in the next 3 weeks or so. I would love to have you do a review of it. It has the song "Angels of War" on it and the other songs are similar in that style. I will be sure to tell people about you, the magazine and your reviews. Thank you again. Mike Drazka | 16.05.2012 |
Tags: #videogames #quake #quakecon2012 #soundtrack #soundscape #discover #composer
This review on Fabryka Music Magazine: http://industrialrock.net/php-files_en/articles.php?article_id=425 -
Brent Pearson - Evil Serpent 4/5 song review
Brent Pearson - Evil Serpent |self-released, 2012| 4/5
Brent Pearson is a Canadian musician who has been writing guitar driven music for the past 21 years. His song "Evil Serpent" is an acoustic composition that would sound great played in an outdoor venue or utilized as part of a movie soundtrack. It is a good match to blues or even country genres which were inspirations to Brent since he grew up listening to these styles of music.
The songwriting aspect of "Evil Serpent" is peaceful, yet repetitive with occasional moments of silence between the choruses and verses. The counterpoint also matches the melodies very well.
When it comes to the arrangements, they have been written for acoustic guitar and vocals only. It seems that both male or female singers could perform this track either separately or as a duet without the complications that are typical when it comes to scales for different vocal ranges.
The atmosphere of the song carries loneliness, transcendence and reflection. An imaginative listener may imagine a sandy beach with a guitar player sitting there near a bonfire, surrounded by a circle of thoughtful friends spending a hot summer night together.
The composition lasts a bit over 4 minutes and seems to have been recorded live in real time without a lot of editing and mixing. Once the track is mastered and polished it may exhibit an additional depth that will make its natural beauty shine brighter. Moreover, human creativity should have no bounds, so Brent might consider experimenting with newer or older, better or even lesser known musical instruments. Additional woodwind or string type instruments could be used in this song to enrich its sound. A harmonica or tambourine would make the track sound more traditional, but on the contrary, any percussive tones added to the mix would bring more life into this track.
This song is recommended to those listeners who are not into headbanging all that much, but rather prefer to hear music for soothing their ears and souls. "Evil Serpent" it's Brent's first release to the public, but it is not yet available for purchase.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, May 2nd, 2012)
Song: http://www.musicxray.com/xrays/558108
This review on Google+ Music Reviews
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NeverWhas - History |self-released, History single, 2012| 5/5
NeverWhas - History |self-released, History single, 2012| 5/5
Usually a rock or metal band line-up consist of three to five musicians who are strangers. They might have known each other for years, gone to the same schools, hung out in the same neighborhood or just got hired through classifieds. In the case of NeverWhas, three brothers and a good friend of theirs complete the band. It's pretty common that a family enterprise can be difficult to run. Sometimes this is due to their specific connections, however these four young musicians seem to get along with one another very well.
Since releasing their album Solid Will Into Sacrifice in 2011, they've been working on new songs.
A yet untitled tracklist for the album will include 11 songs and "History" is one of them.
The composition as well as the arrangements sound solid, simple, understandable and can be played in most locations without stirring bad blood. Along with quite rebellious moods, NeverWhas provides over six minutes of both rock and punk music.
After an atmospheric intro created with canting guitar riffs and matching cymbals the tempo speeds up. Chris on bass along with Rick on drums make a collaborative duo that pushes the song into a well planned direction. Moreover, they both control its borders, yet let the vibe of "History" flow in a dynamic way. Additionally, enjoyable and short drums appear just before the 4th minute of the song which may steal a listener's attention.
This song is built on a few arrangements that make a space for Nik's guitar solos. The guitar sounds quite noisy and garage-esque, so the sound would match an evergreen grunge style too.
Mike's voice is self-confident. He toys with the tones and moods like a serious actor on a theatre stage floor. In fact, the vocals and guitar riffs are predominantly exposed the most in this song.
If you're willing to own this track after reading this review or listening to an on-line preview, there's good news for you. "History" has already been released as a single and it's available on iTunes. More songs will come out this year. Keep an eye on these Chicagoans website and social profiles for any important updates.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, April 13th, 2012)
http://www.neverwhas.com
http://facebook.com/pages/the-band-that-NeverWhas/42574784378
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/history-single/id518419188
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/neverwhas/from/fabryka
This review on Google+ Music Reviews
https://plus.google.com/110672807017683277156/posts/Y45DZD4Aheo
Submit a song for a review (commercial use recommended, must be rock, metal, subgenres, no black metal, must preview to accept ):
http://bit.ly/musicxray_nina (safe short link!)