#americanrock — Public Fediverse posts

“#小沢健二 #犬は吠えるがキャラバンは進む #ozkn #americanrock #soul #funk” / “小沢健二『犬は吠えるがキャラバンは進む』元ネタmix” (1 user) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9EaVDcnv58

Upon making landfall on the shores of AMG, Southern goth rock outfit Wailin Storms stirred up strong sentiments in our esteemed staff. Madam X praised this Texas-turned-North Carolina quartet’s One Foot in the Flesh Grave (2015) for its ‘oddly dark and tricksy’ swirl of Danzig and 16 Horsepower. Since this (Great) debut, subsequent squalls have been weaker but still potent. Cherd found Rattle (2020) a moving, if unvaried, gust of ‘dark psychedelic twang,’ while The Silver Snake Unfolds (2022) blew fresh air into the band’s ‘fire-and-brimstone snake handling speaking in tongues nightmare music.’ 1 In the Year of Our Lord 2026, Wailin Storms play The Arsonist on their new home, Season of Mist. Conjuring a conflagration for their fifth album, these Durham doom-punk goth rockers may once again set fire to the Score Safety Counter.

The Arsonist stokes the shift Wailin Storms started around Rattle. There, the band refined their swampy pastiche into a more measured fusion of their influences. Past outings in this idiom suffered from songwriting redundancy and sore-thumb tracks. The Arsonist, however, proceeds as a dynamically-sequenced, organically-produced dance between barn burners and smoldering pits. “Dead End” ignites the album with the darkly driving guitar enmeshments of Justin Storms and Ben Melton. Meanwhile, “You Never Answered” bursts with spasmodic rhythms from drummer Mark Oates and bassist Steve Stanczyk. Even when the fires abate, Wailin Storms bring the heat. “Heart of Mine” and “The Arsonist” excel at slow-burn setups with sizzling sendoffs, singeing the skin from within. Whether in the energetic or meditative category, the songs consistently hit the spot, feeling wrought to just the right degree. At 45 minutes, The Arsonist breathes when it needs to and scorches when it wants to.

The apex of this blaze are the vocals of Justin Storms, who mightily impresses with his range. Storms’s wail has recalled Glenn Danzig since Flesh Grave, and it continues to power some affecting choruses (“You Never Answered,” “The Arsonist”). Subsequent releases, however, have seen the frontman branch out beyond the Shirtless Wonder. On The Arsonist, Storms incorporates stylings akin to the silky mid-range of Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) and the alien warbling of Thom Yorke (Radiohead). On that latter reference: Storms’s voice, at its most tender and brittle, brilliantly inflects somber material that wouldn’t sound out of place on Hail to the Thief (“Heart of Mine,” “It’s All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used to Be”). He even dips into some down n’ dirty blues moans, mixed with a flitting falsetto (“Saved”). Storms is not the only voice on The Arsonist, though; Melton melts faces with aggro shouts, imbuing the blues rock with a noisy edge (“Dead End,” “Never Rest”).2 As thrilling a display as I’ve heard in 2026, The Arsonist stands as a surefire frontrunner for Vocal Performance o’ the Year.3

Criticisms of The Arsonist are minimal and wispy, affording opportunities for further praise. Lighting a spark and growing into a flashover, The Arsonist does falter a tad in its pre-decay transition. “Patient Night” pleases with fun, shaker-fueled shimmies, but it’s a bit simplistic and truncated, comparatively speaking. Following this tune is “The Wind,” a more expansive number possessing sweet pseudo-metal punctuations. Its subdued ending, however, feels like a slightly redundant transition into the excellent closing piano ballad (“It’s All Dark Now…”). Another nitpick concerns lyrics. The Arsonist excels at marrying emotional realism with surrealist imagery. But one moment always sticks out: the punk ending of “Never Rest,” where Storms snarls an equally punk rallying cry (‘Fuck your fucking war…Fuck your fucking war’). I’m no puritan when it comes to profanity, and I like a good protest song as much as the next guy. Alas, something about these lyrics momentarily takes me out of the album’s arrestingly eerie aura.

Extinguishing these critical flamelets reveals a Safety Counter set ablaze. After three attempts, I didn’t think Wailin Storms would ever again produce an album as great as One Foot in the Flesh Grave. The Arsonist proved me wrong, though it’s greatness is of a different kind. Whereas Flesh Grave grounds its twists and turns in Danzigian blues rock/metal, The Arsonist enchants with its seamless shifts between combustible laments and fiery bangers. Arson may be a crime, but missing out on The Arsonist—whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer to Wailin Storms—would be the real crime.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: Official | Instagram | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: July 10th, 2026

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Vinylsamstag: @mc5alive - Kick Out The Jams! 1966–1970 (2012) 🇺🇸

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I remember when you could stop-a-clock...
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Chat Pile – Cool World Review

By Cherd

Two years ago, I named Chat Pile’s debut full-length God’s Country my Album o’ the Year, at considerable risk to myself. You see, the senior partners at AMG and Sons, LLC have no love for the Pile or for the greasy noise rock/post-hardcore/sludge these Oklahoman’s produce. After submitting my year-end list, I endured all manner of verbal abuse, which would have been fine had it not been followed closely by physical abuse. A hulking ape branded a large “P” on my chest, after which a gang of masked n00bs beat me senseless. I like to think they were forced to do this, but a couple clearly enjoyed themselves. Then came the waterboarding. This wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t played Alestorm on loop as I struggled for air. Finally, I spent a month in The Hole, and when I emerged again shaking and moist with sweat, they warned me against such folly in the future. Two years have passed, and Chat Pile’s sophomore release Cool World has arrived. Wounds I thought had healed ache as if new, and I fear exposing myself once again to the roving Eye of Sauron, but I just can’t deny my love for this band. Will I risk another month in The Hole for Cool World?

For the uninitiated, Chat Pile draw their sound from the darker, weirder corners of the 90s. Over their first EPs, it would be fair to say they were a mix of The Jesus Lizard and Deadguy with Korn riffs smattered on top. God’s Country saw them get heavier and angrier, with a sludgy heft adding to their sound and lyrics laser-focused on Middle American misery. Cool World is their heaviest work to date and continues to draw from 90s noise and post-hardcore. The first time I heard lead single “Masc,” I noted the influence of Helmet. Meanwhile, cuts like “The New World” channel Red Medicine era Fugazi. There’s a more uniform sound across the album than on previous outings, one that relies on sustained rhythmic grooves and repetition. If you’re familiar with God’s Country, it’s like they dedicated the better part of Cool World to what they were doing on “Slaughterhouse.” There’s also a subtle commitment to melody and despondent vocal harmonies that cut through the harshness on songs like “Shame” and “Milk of Human Kindness.”

Cool World’s focus on hypnotic, oily grooves combined with vocalist Raygun Busch’s shell-shocked talk-singing and raging shouts pays huge dividends if you like your noise metal gnarly and apoplectic. The best material comes in the form of two song couplets, the first being “Frownland”/”Funny Man,” and the second “The New World”/”Masc.” As “Frownland” demonstrates, the punch in these songs comes partly from scraping slabs of ugly bass courtesy of four-string slinger Stin and from a production job that gives Cap’n Ron’s drums plenty of low-end. Then there’s Busch’s reliably unhinged delivery of lines like “Big world, small change, outside there’s no mercy and not everyone can hide” from “Funny Man.” It’s the kind of delivery that lets you know there’s no mercy inside, either. “The New World” finds Chat Pile firing on all cylinders as Busch shrieks “Most are dragged kicking and screaming out into the new world.” It’s the ugliest, heaviest, and best song the band has ever written. By following this with the much more melodic but no less cynical “Masc,” Cool World gives us the best one-two punch you could ask for. Busch’s lyrics have moved from the micro to the macro of human suffering, and the shift to bigger rhythms and harder grooves supports this well.

This, however, means some of the idiosyncrasies that have served Chat Pile well over the years are missing. It’s all as bleak and off-kilter as ever, but there are no truly weird left-field detours here like the humorous “Rainbow Meat” or the starkly disturbing “Dallas Beltway” from the EPs or the humorous and starkly disturbing “grimace_smoking_weed.jpg” from God’s Country. The variety in Cool World comes mostly from the melodic tracks “Shame,” “Masc,” and the gloomy “Milk of Human Kindness.” There’s even a death metal vocals segment late in “Shame” that gets the blood pumping, but I miss the songs that make you go “What did I just listen to?” This could of course mean the band will widen their audience with Cool World, since a song like “Why?” proved divisive in the past. Cool World is a really good record, but for the first time, it sounds like a record some other band could have made.

I won’t be making Cool World my Album of the Year, but it’s certainly very good and I’ll probably play it to death in the next few months. It has the best two songs the band have written so far and finds Chat Pile maturing into a sound full of gnarly grooves. That said, a touch of the old overt weirdness and humor would go a long way on such a dark record. Is all this enough to save me from another month in The Hole? I don’t know, but if I disappear for a while, you’ll know why.1

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: The Flenser
Websites: chatpile.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/chatpileband
Releases Worldwide: October 11th, 2024

#2024 #35 #AlternativeMetal #AmericanMetal #AmericanRock #ChatPile #CoolWorld #Deadguy #Fugazi #Helmet #Korn #NoiseRock #Oct24 #Review #Reviews #Sludge #TheFlenser #TheJesusLizard

Idiot Robot – Anti Pop Culture Review

By Saunders

Perusing the promo sump, I stumbled across Idiot Robot, intrigued by the grunge tag they were saddled with. Being an avid fan of the ’80’s/’90’s grunge scene, Seattle rock movement and ’90’s alt-rock in general, I’m a sucker for this shit. Hell, even 2023’s Somnuri album, which kicked endless arse, sealed my love with its earwormy grunge hooks and melodies. Under closer investigation, I realized our resident spongey friend Kenstrosity reviewed the Floridian duo’s self-titled debut album in 2020, where despite endearing elements of nostalgia, the end result was something akin to a dumpster fire. Nearly four years have passed, and everyone has room for improvement, right? Let’s dive into the weird musical dimensions of the sophomore album from these fun-loving goons, entitled Anti Pop Culture.

Where to start with describing Idiot Robot? ’90’s alternative rock is the obvious domain where the duo still operates. In the promotional materials, Idiot Robot cite prominent bands such as Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Pavement and Husker Du, along with labels including Sub Pop and Matador Records, as loves and influences. Those musical influences aren’t entirely accurate to the actual music the duo deploys across the album. Ryan Michalski (vocals, guitar, bass, synths, drums) and Clint Listing (vocals, guitar, bass) go bigger and bolder on this second opus, bumping runtime up to a hefty 50 minutes as they combine stripped-back aesthetics and a laidback, slacker charm, with fuzzy indie-pop melodies and tone that fluctuates from dreary, melancholy vibes (“Never Again,” “Waiting Around”) to snotty pop-punk and fuzzy rock angst (‘Stop,” “Gonna Cry”).

Credit where credit is due, the material comprising Anti Pop Culture feels more developed and refined compared to the bare bones, lo-fi misfires of the debut. Despite this layer of refinement, notwithstanding a rather low-quality promo file provided, Idiot Robot ensure the grittier, DIY tone is not scrubbed completely clean. Furthermore, Idiot Robot manage to project ripples of ’90’s alternative rock nostalgia and heartfelt emotion into the album. Opening single “Colors and Sounds” features decent energy and Pixies-esque shades, though a recurring issue with repetition and troublesome vocals takes the shine off. Simplistic, melancholic ballad “Never Again” has hints of a subdued Nirvana, or even Elliott Smith, done Idiot Robot style. It’s not half bad on the surface but doesn’t really liftoff, before ending abruptly. Extra vocal layers and synths adorn “Why Must I,” a song badly in need of direction and a less repetitive, irritating chorus. After a promising start, the angsty attitude of “Stop” devolves into a laughably bad “Stop/Go/Stop” chorus refrain. I don’t recommend sipping on a beverage while listening to this one. By now you probably get the picture of the album’s unfortunate flaws.

Shifting from fuzzy, buzzy rockers to acoustic-driven pop ditties with limited success, including major issues in execution and the crafting of tuneful, interesting or memorable songs, Anti Pop Culture is a tough album to like or endorse. Any endearing or redeemable elements are drowned out by the album’s misfiring songwriting, strangled melodies, and grating, frequently shoddy vocal performance. Songs like the moody, acoustic-based rock of “Waiting Around” features a solid musical foundation, undone by another ho-hum arrangement and nerve-shredding singing that again misses the mark. “Say It” rumbles with heavier guitar work and grinding distortion, before severely hampering itself with another shocker of a one-dimensional chorus that sounds like a bad parody. “Dad & Mom” features a darker tone, soft-loud dynamics, and lyrical themes of alcoholism and domestic violence. The execution is rather heavy-handed, but raw emotion and tension is effectively conveyed. Meanwhile, the jovial, melodic pop-punk of “One Night” offers a refreshing change of pace.

Idiot Robot is a duo making music for the love of making music, and I would never question their stubborn commitment to their wonky craft, or the genuine emotion, throwback vibes and likable DIY aesthetics permeating Anti Pop Culture. Despite my limited exposure to their debut, Anti Pop Culture sounds more assured, diverse and refined by comparison. Sadly, this is offset by a significantly bloated runtime, uninteresting or undeveloped arrangements, and songwriting that either goes nowhere interesting, or lacks cohesion or ear-catching moments. Throw in some rather questionable lyrics and a routinely strained vocal performance that misses the mark consistently, and Anti Pop Culture is a curious listen, but ultimately unsuccessful, deeply flawed sophomore outing.

Rating: 1.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 155 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Release
Websites: facebook.com/Idiotrobot | idiotrobot.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: March 15th, 2024

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