Elton John's The Diving Board

Smoky, somber, and a little sad, Elton John's latest album in seven years exceeds expectations with a collection of powerful and varied tunes 

John's latest album in quite a few years, The Diving Board was something I was looking forward to. I had (and still do) loved The Captain & the Kid, and had mostly enjoyed his "return to form albums": Peachtree Road, Songs From the West Coast, and Too Low for Zero. The Diving Board, however, is very different from Captain, and is really most similar to earlier records like Tumbleweed Connection and Madman Across the Water.

First off, it's mostly just John, his piano, and the band's light accompaniment on these tracks -- it might help to think of it as an acoustic record (because it basically is). Most of the songs are slow-rolling ballad-types with an emphasis on atmosphere over accessibility (hey, kinda like the new Opeth record!), and they're mostly all good. There are some more adventurous pieces sprinkled in as well - "Take This Dirty Water" is a great gospel-ish tune, and "A Town Called Jubilee" recalls the days of Tumbleweed Connection in a way that isn't cheap or boring. Honestly, it's hard to talk about standout tracks because the songs are so consistently good here. "New Fever Waltz" is the worst, but even so, it isn't really "bad" - just really boring. "Can't Stay Alone Tonight" and "Voyeur" are my personal favorites, though.

In addition to the fantastic songs, the production on this album is crazy good. There's a heady atmosphere of melancholy maturity to The Diving Board, and John hasn't sounded this good in a long, long time. T-Bone Burnett deserves props for his excellent work here (and for his ridiculous stage name).

If you're a fan of Elton John or just want a break from your usual musical diet, I can't recommend The Diving Board highly enough.

Opeth's Pale Communion

A meandering, somber record that's heavy on atmosphere at the expense of hooks

Well, here's another one to put into the "really wanted to like but just can't" category. Coming in directly after their folk/prog thing Heritage (which I also do not like), it seemed like a return to form for a band that seemed to be in an awkward transitional stage. And it is, in the sense that it's much better than Heritage -- the band's progressive tendencies have fully crystallized on this disc. Right from the opening keyboard swirls on the first song (and one of the better ones), "Eternal Rains Will Come", the sound is darker and more melodic, and that emphasis on melody is carried along throughout the whole record.

It's tough to do a track-by-track breakdown of an Opeth record, and Pale Communion continues that tradition. The songs aren't all super long (which is how I remembered them until looking up their lengths for this) but they do all sound similar -- its a lot like Damnation, but with atmosphere instead of hooks. The only standout I remember is the "epic" of the lot: "Moon Above, Sun Below", which has some cool lyrics and interesting instrumentation. 

That isn't to say it isn't worth a spin or two -- it definitely is. It just didn't click with me.

Fallujah's The Flesh Prevails

Aggressive and atmospheric, progressive yet restrained, Fallujah deliver a brilliant record of icy beauty

One of the most exciting parts of following a band is the privilege of being there as they change and grow -- and its hard to think of another band that has leveraged changing influences and artistic ambition with as much success as Fallujah has with this latest record. Stitching together the progressive threads spun by other groups (the influence of Cynic here is clear), the band has crafted a collection of songs that are more intertwined than usual, with certain songs recalling others (most easily noticed on Levitation and Alone With You) or sharing elements.

If that sounds a bit too proggy for you, don't worry -- Carstairs and the boys keep things firmly rooted in riffy, blast-beat laden death metal the vast majority of the time. What's really impressive, though, is the way the band mixes that brutality with lighter touches: ambient keyboard touches, airy synths, and breathy female vocals -- not exactly staple features of the genre (the vocals were provided by electro-pop singer Roniit). This split between heavy and heartfelt is the album's biggest strength, as it effectively balances the progressive elements of the bands' sound (most audible on "Chemical Cave", "Sapphire", and "Allure") with the depressive ("Carved From Stone", "The Night Reveals"). 

Bottom Line: With a well-crafted mix of technical death metal and atmospheric ambiance, The Flesh Prevails is an excellent record for fans of both metal and electronic music, and a great introductory point for people new to either genre.