Black Sabbath - 13

A sizeable offering of doom and dread that re-affirms Black Sabbath's position as metal musics most reliable landmark 

I don't remember hearing much about this album when it came out, which strikes me as odd now considering its relative importance. The other guys from Sabbath had been keeping relatively busy with other projects (most important to me was the excellent The Devil You Know album), but Ozzy wasn't exactly making waves with his solo stuff anymore, although truthfully he stopped releasing good albums after Randy Rhoads died. Maybe 13 came and went quietly because everyone expected a Sabbath reunion to happen at some point and we were just glad to get it over with?

The kings of dinosaur metal aren't so easily fobbed off, however -- 13 is a chunky, full-figured record, clocking in at just under an hour, not counting the bonus tracks (which I stupidly assumed were just part of the normal album unto just now). You might think it'd be a little sad to see these guys recording almost exactly the same album they've been recording for their whole lives, but Sabbath have such an honest and unassuming aura about them that if never feels like they're repeating themselves just to "sell out" or something -- they do the same thing here that they've done on every album: bury you alive in dirty, bluesy riffs while Ozzy wails about eating bread. Wait, what?

Silly lyrics aside (welcome to metal), 13 comes out of the gate strong: "End of the Beginning", "God is Dead?", and "Loner" are an amazing opening set, with "God is Dead?"'s insanely good chorus and "Loner"'s stacked chords that sound straight of 1970. The boys kind of lose steam afterwards and never manage to replicate the chunky goodness of those opening tracks, although "Damaged Soul" comes damn close. There are some quieter ballads breaking up the onslaught that are also pretty weak, and despite "Zeitgeist"'s interesting lyrics the never do more than act as intermissions for the main event -- who listens to Black Sabbath for the ballads, anyway?

The other odd thing about this album is the production, coming to us from the "Lord of the Loudness War", Rick Rubin. While most people aren't a fan of the production on 13 (and as someone who normally hates this "brickwalled" sound) I actually don't mind how this album sounds. The guitar is phat, the drums are big, and you can actually hear the bass! For Sabbath's lower-register sound I think 13 sounds mostly ok, with the weirdest instrument definitely being Ozzy -- he sounds almost too lucid, maybe a bit auto-tuned or something, although since he hasn't sung in a couple dynasties I'm not used to his voice. In any case, 13 is a disc that reassures us that the old fogeys aren't quite out of energy yet.

Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.

Steven Wilson delivers another solid album of engaging neo-prog on this latest disc, incorporating more noticeable electronic and pop influences

I have conflicted feelings about Steven Wilson. On one hand, I'm a huge fan of his work as a producer (e.g. Pale Communion) and I generally enjoy his work in Porcupine Tree and other bands. On the other hand, I've never been particularly interested in his solo stuff. Not because its bad (it isn't), it just kind of... floats by without much impact. It isn't quiet enough to be ambient and fade into the background nor is it engaging enough to make me sit up and get into it - so basically its exactly like classic '70s prog. Luckily for us, though, Hand. Cannot. Erase is enough of a blend of the poppy, atmospheric stuff he's known for with the knotty, proggy stuff he's also known for that it actually has a shot at pleasing most people.

Whereas Wilson's previous disc, The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories), was pretty solidly prog-rock leaning, Hand. Cannot. Erase. is much more of a pop album. While some of the songs are certainly long (several clocking in at 10 minutes), they act as bridges between the shorter, punchier songs rather than the other way around, which is a nice change of pace. The electronic influence is plain to hear as well -- HCE trades in the Mellotron and Hammond organs of yesteryear for drum machines and more modern-sounding keyboards, making for an interesting contrast to Wilson's previous albums. The songwriting is mostly up to par for Wilson (which is very high), although the album does drag a bit in the middle - "Routine" probably could've been a few minutes shorter, and the sequence of "Home Invasion" into "Regret #9" into "Transience" might've been a bit punchier had they been combined into a single, edited piece. The longer songs just aren't as effective at demonstrating Wilson's expertise at arranging hooky vocal lines and power-chord-y compositions, a talent that is frankly unmatched in modern progressive music besides, maybe, Leprous.

That said, Hand. Cannot. Erase. is a solidly enjoyable album with most of the strengths and weaknesses of Wilson's past work. Will it sway you if you didn't care for him before? Probably not, but you'll definitely like some of the songs. Will you like it if you already like his stuff? Yeah, you will.

Casualties of Cool - Casualties of Cool

                     
  Haunting, catchy, spacey and dark, Casualties of Cool is an intriguing blend of richly textured traditional bluegrass and out-there electronica

While its tempting to make overblown comparisons to past legends when discussing a promising release from a young group, its usually in everyone's best interest if us critics practice some restraint to avoid sending our collective hopes on a perpetual roller coaster ride. So while I don't think Devin Townsend is the Neil Young of our modern age, Casualties of Cool is just another indication of his wide musical interests (and abilities).

I'm not the first to draw a line connecting the two - while Young has had a couple decades' lead time, Townsend has released a staggeringly large amount of music in the years he has been active, including several unconventional releases that mirror Young's experimental period in the 80s. The success of those experiments is another topic, but its hard to think of another singular artist who has pursued his own musical vision with such earnest effort (and a similarly anti-industry stance).

And so here we have his latest effort, Casualties of Cool, a (trust me, I can't believe I'm writing this either) progressive bluegrass album created with help from a cadre of guest musicians - most prominently the vocal work of  Ché Dorval, who previously assisted Townsend on 2009's Ki and is featured much more prominently here (almost more than Townsend, actually).

Casualties of Cool is ostensibly a concept album - I won't "spoil" anything for you story-wise, but I wish you luck in following it, as even with the lyric sheet I wasn't sure where the actual story was. It certainly isn't Operation Mindcrime, but just the songs taken at face value are plenty strong enough. Townsend and his crew have crafted an ingenious blend of catchy foot-stompers (Daddy, The Code), spacey ballads (Flight, The Field), and strange electro-prog blends of the two (Deathscope, Mountaintop). The atmosphere is somber, and the music exudes a sense of comfort and maturity that imbues Townsend's best work, and trades in the juvenile zaniness of Ziltoid or Deconstruction for a more restrained sound with a more trance-like sound, reminiscent at times of The KLF (Deathscope) and Above and Beyond at moments (Moon).Ché Dorval's haunting and ethereal vocals are the star of the show here, giving off a breathy, noir-ish aura that is as alluring as it is chilly, with a Julee Cruise-like sense of distance. The atmospheric use of samples, audio effects, and additional instruments (including some excellent saxophone work) is just icing on the very rich cake that is Casualties of Cool. A brilliantly unassuming passion project of this quality and length is unfortunately rare, and Casualties of Cool is well worth the time invested.