STACK July 2017 Issue 153

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20 JUNE 2017
visit MUSIC REVIEWS
Batpiss
Rest in Piss
Batpiss’ third album follows the
familiar haunting, dissonant path
forged by the Collingwood Kings
on the previous Biomass and
Nuclear Winter. The imposing
opening of instrumental Black
Paint illustrates the trio's bleak
sense of dystopia. The politically
pointed Paralysed follows;
frontman Thomy Sloane doesn’t
say much, but gets his point
across; painting a dire picture of
our bigoted national Government
landscape. His lyrical output
throughout mirrors the brutal
bass line he provides on Golden
Handshake. What follows is blunt
social commentary anchored by
an instrumental performance that
grows a voice of its own. The
confrontational Weatherboard Man
and Bells For the Victorian stand
out as highlights.
(Poison City) Tim Lambert
Iced Earth
Incorruptible
Iced Earth have worked tirelessly
to become one the most respected
names in heavy metal. Through
the many high and lows, guitarist
Jon Schaffer has staunchly honed
his craft, and Incorruptible is the
end result. Compared to 2014's
Plagues Of Babylon, Incorruptible
is sharper and heavier. Vocalist Stu
Block delivers another outstanding
performance, one that I believe
surpasses former lead vocalist
Matt Barlow’s – a fan favourite.
Much has been said of who will
lead the genre, when Iron Maiden,
Judas Priest et al, retire. With
bands such as Iced Earth releasing
albums as strong as Incorruptible,
heavy metal is in safe hands.
(Century Media/Universal)
Simon Lukic
Alestorm
No Grave But the Sea
No Grave But The Sea displays
all of Alestorm’s charm and
Scottish wit. As expected, the
music is epic and overblown.
As for the lyrics? Let's say
Disney won’t be welcoming the
band into the fold. Alestorm are
nothing but fun – their live shows
are brimming with good times,
but they do take the craft
seriously. After a decade, the
band has certainty excelled as
musicians and this experience
finds them moving from some
intensely heavy moments to
sea shanty-like themes without
missing a beat. No Grave But The
Sea is entertaining, and that’s not
a bad thing.
(Napalm/Rocket) Simon Lukic
Shabazz Palaces Quazarz Born on a Gangster
Star/ Quazarz vs The Jealous Machines
"We be to rap what key be to lock" - a powerful phrase
taken from Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat). It earned
Ismael Butler's Digable Planets a Grammy in 1992, but
the line still rings true years later. Butler continues to open
doors with Shabazz Palaces. Black Up and Lese Majesty
are masterworks: bold, strange, dense with ideas and
compelling. Now, we're gifted with not one, but two new
records. Suddenly the universe feels larger again, with the
turning of more keys in locks. Digable Planets' debut was
Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space). The phrase borrows from
Jorge Luis Borges, an Argentinian author who penned many mind-expanding
essays, including Nueva refutación del tiempo ("A New Refutation of Time").
His short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius also echoes in the work of Shabazz
Palaces, a fascinating tale of a fabricated world written in precise academic
detail. Quazarz vs The Jealous Machines and Quazarz: Born On A Gangster
Star merge imagined and material planes. Infused with jazz, soul and funk, the
albums arrive from a fictive future, chronicles of a sentient entity (Quazarz) sent
from "elsewhere" to document the land of 'Amurderca'. What does Quazarz
find? Brutality, captivity and transient truth. A full report is revealed, with a slow
turning key, across both records. (SimonWinkler) Sub Pop/Inertia
B Boys
Dada
Are all left-leaning articulate white
middle-class males with a skerrick
of irony this pissed off? I hope
so – the music's great. Seems
post-Trump capitalist angst is
good for something. Hailing from
Brooklyn NYC, this trio's reference
points are obvious – motherlodes
of Wire, echoes of jauntier Joy
Division, flashes of KIlling Joke or
The Fall flail by too. But this over-
heated and overwrought emotional
mess is all rather thrilling: over-
energised to the point of burnout.
Indeed, Energy is a fuzz fuelled
rant. Nakedly emotional tirades
with guitar: they never go out of
fashion do they? Forgive the odd
derivative moment – there are too
many thrills here to ignore.
(Remote Control/Inertia)
Jonathan Alley
Brightness Teething
Now back in the homeland after
half a decade across the pond,
Brightness A.K.A Alex Knight
has released his debut, Teething.
Part observant wallflower and
part intimate journal entry, every
sprawling, scuzzed-out half-strum
of his guitar is met with an equal
contrasting measure of heartening,
intimate lyricism. Opener Oblivion
epitomises this most, while Waltz
is an instantly endearing acoustic
lullaby - recorded on a ¼” reel-to-
reel single microphone - and Talk To
Me takes comfort in not knowing.
It’s hard to put your finger on the
narrative of the record at times;
there are moments of both hope and
hopelessness, fleeting feelings of
frustration and of life’s uncertainties.
Musically, the record drifts from
between contrasting sounds (Knight
plays nearly every instrument here) –
Teething is a time capsule entry into
Brightness’ introverted world.
(I OHYOU)Tim Lambert
Big Boi
Boomiverse
Sir Luscious Leftfoot came out
swinging, mapping Big Boi as
just as fierce a rapper as he was
in Outkast. Vicious Lies saw him
busting genres, unsteady on new
territory but a commendable
experiment. Boomiverse brings
the overriding sensibilities of those
two records together: eclectic
production (Mic Jack ) and vintage
jams (Order of Operations) carried
by the unmistakeable flow of
Atlanta’s greatest. He even finds
time for feelgood rap (All Night)
only to get melancholy two tracks
later (Overthunk). Big Boi might
never return to the electric vigour
of his debut solo record, but for
an era of rap where all traditions
are up for debate, Boomiverse
commands the floor.
(Sony) Jake Cleland