Myles Kennedy – The Ides Of March (Napalm Records) [Alex Swift]
Myles Kennedy’s strides into a more stripped-back sound shouldn’t shock anyone. For while he is certainly a brilliant rock vocalist with a range that can strike you to the core yet also move you to tears, his early days in the bluegrass inspired Mayfield Four speak of his love for that style of music. Indeed, one of the most outstanding moments of an Alter Bridge show is the acoustic interlude. Indeed, while neither his main project nor his work with Slash gives him the opportunity to explore the side of his musical personality that loves folk, acoustic guitars or introspective contemplation, his first solo album Year Of The Tiger had been simmering away in the background for over a decade before its final completion. That piece was a beautiful, heartfelt, and sincere reflection on the loss of Kennedy’s father and the subsequent struggles with faith and grief that ensued following that tragic event. It’s a very isolated album, and its lyrics seem like thoughts our frontman needed to release into the world. To that end, I was surprised albeit excited when I heard there was going to be a follow up. There are of course questions about the exact route an album like this could possibly take after a project that was as revelatory and unique as the last one. That said, I can understand that Kennedy would not want to abandon this side of his musical upbringing.
Conceptually, the Ides Of March draws on similar themes from the first album, admittedly feeling a lot vaguer and more open to interpretation. Musically, there’s some intriguing developments on the ideas initially introduced there, with a fuller guitar sound more present this time around. This results in a worthy piece that excellently avoids the pitfalls that could have come from crafting a piece of this nature, but which also suffers from something of an identity crisis. Get Along is an excellent example of this conflict at play – I adore the way the complex, yet detailed country-influenced ideas adapt to the electric guitar and this is a strong opener that is both exciting and involved. However, I can’t help feeling this bears some of the faults which plague Alter Bridge – the chorus is memorable if nothing particularly moving and while I have always loved the positivity at the heart of this man’s lyrics, I can see how others would interpret them as patronising, with lines like ‘why can’t we all just get along?’ coming across as decidedly weak. In fairness, the verse material is far cleverer, and picks up on the themes of inner turmoil, detailing how far Kennedy has come while also proving reminiscent of the storytelling which defined the debut.
A Thousand Words, by contrast, is near flawless. The detailed, rich tone of the acoustics makes for a reminiscent piece, while the subtle elements from the slide guitars to the mandolins bring out the earnest, thoughtful nature of the anthem! On a more light-hearted yet no less intriguing note, the jaunty rhythms and vibrant instrumentation of In Stride commands with a feeling of liberation, that the listener can either engage with a deeper level on, or relish on a purely emotional level. Moments like Wake Me When It's Over and Moonshot simmer with the attitude of anthems destined to be performed before a rock crowd, but also bear a matured, meditative tone, inspiring in a way that later tracks like Tell It Like It Is and Wanderlust Begins fail to.
Looking beyond the musicianship to the writing, this record does not have a story in the same way as the debut had but its influence and ideas hang over this one as if to remind the listener of the notions which have informed Kennedys musings. The title track is an emotional centrepiece. “Don't let this fall apart, don't let it fall apart. Break the divide, just step away. Cool heads prevail in times of change. Remember who we are” our narrator pleads in a line that foreshadows tragedy yet pleads the listener to find the resolve to overcome. Considering the nightmare that was the past year started for many people in March of 2019, this one is discernibly and existentially chilling. Whatsmore, the epic ‘Cry of Achilles-esque’ nature of this song further aids in creating that foreboding and menacing feel. Love Rain Down is another deeply moving point at the heart of the record – it’s a pensive, gorgeous ballad that discusses “longing for answers, longing for unity, longing for solace from the dark possibilities of the day” as its writer described in one interview.
A Thousand Words, by contrast, is near flawless. The detailed, rich tone of the acoustics makes for a reminiscent piece, while the subtle elements from the slide guitars to the mandolins bring out the earnest, thoughtful nature of the anthem! On a more light-hearted yet no less intriguing note, the jaunty rhythms and vibrant instrumentation of In Stride commands with a feeling of liberation, that the listener can either engage with a deeper level on, or relish on a purely emotional level. Moments like Wake Me When It's Over and Moonshot simmer with the attitude of anthems destined to be performed before a rock crowd, but also bear a matured, meditative tone, inspiring in a way that later tracks like Tell It Like It Is and Wanderlust Begins fail to.
Looking beyond the musicianship to the writing, this record does not have a story in the same way as the debut had but its influence and ideas hang over this one as if to remind the listener of the notions which have informed Kennedys musings. The title track is an emotional centrepiece. “Don't let this fall apart, don't let it fall apart. Break the divide, just step away. Cool heads prevail in times of change. Remember who we are” our narrator pleads in a line that foreshadows tragedy yet pleads the listener to find the resolve to overcome. Considering the nightmare that was the past year started for many people in March of 2019, this one is discernibly and existentially chilling. Whatsmore, the epic ‘Cry of Achilles-esque’ nature of this song further aids in creating that foreboding and menacing feel. Love Rain Down is another deeply moving point at the heart of the record – it’s a pensive, gorgeous ballad that discusses “longing for answers, longing for unity, longing for solace from the dark possibilities of the day” as its writer described in one interview.
Sifting through the fire lends a sense of thematic cohesion and is one of the most interesting moments as a consequence. “I guess that now we know, the citadel we thought was made of stone was not. It's crumbling, we're reckoning the very things we cannot stop” runs the opening line, remarking on how the aspects of life that feel certain, can often be fleeting and momentary. Despite this, the song has hopefulness at its heart, the uplifting melodies lifting the listener to a place of meditative contentment, not dread. We close on the soulful Worried Mind which uses its running length to lend words of comfort to the listener. It feels like the perfect way to end a project with the mission of reassuring and inspiring, without intending to particularly make or point or weave a grand narrative. It suffers from the ‘collection of songs’ flaw in that sense, yet still manages to be a stirring, often beautiful record with some great moments. 8/10
Vexed - Culling Culture (Napalm Records) [Zak Skane]
Vexed are a four piece British Modern metal band that formed in 2019. In the last two years the band have released two singles Dominate and Elite that features CJ Mcmahon (Thy Art is Murder) and have also toured Europe in this short space. So in 2021 the band brings us their debut album Culling Culture which will released via Napalm Records.
The album starts off with Ignorant which begins with this eerie soundscape track that consist of dissonant strings and samples of sirens to hint the listener of what the theme of the album is about before it comes in with this bowel rumbling low tuned riff and half time drum beat to grab the listeners attention and makes them do their best impression of the Meshuggah face. After the intro (which I can see being a great asset to opening up their live set) the band take it up a few gears making sure that the listener is engaged with their first single Hideous. Within the first seconds of the song, the vocalist Megan grabs our attention with the hook "All I See Is Hideous", which just oozes the attitude of Iowa era Slipknot mixed with the low tuned groove of Heart Of A Coward.
Vexed - Culling Culture (Napalm Records) [Zak Skane]
Vexed are a four piece British Modern metal band that formed in 2019. In the last two years the band have released two singles Dominate and Elite that features CJ Mcmahon (Thy Art is Murder) and have also toured Europe in this short space. So in 2021 the band brings us their debut album Culling Culture which will released via Napalm Records.
The album starts off with Ignorant which begins with this eerie soundscape track that consist of dissonant strings and samples of sirens to hint the listener of what the theme of the album is about before it comes in with this bowel rumbling low tuned riff and half time drum beat to grab the listeners attention and makes them do their best impression of the Meshuggah face. After the intro (which I can see being a great asset to opening up their live set) the band take it up a few gears making sure that the listener is engaged with their first single Hideous. Within the first seconds of the song, the vocalist Megan grabs our attention with the hook "All I See Is Hideous", which just oozes the attitude of Iowa era Slipknot mixed with the low tuned groove of Heart Of A Coward.
Whilst Megan is snarling at us throughout the verses the song also goes into these eastern sounding and clean sung sections, especially in bridge and choruses that reminds me old Five Finger Death Punch and Monuments which shows off the bands versatility in sound as well as Megan's vocal range. Half way through the song the band builds us up to the massive machine gun patterned breakdown section, in which I can tell is going land well with audiences in their opening and headline slots.
Once this track finishes with a low-fi sample of the main riff being accompanied by an electric drumbeat, it leads up to the second single on the album Fake. This is the heaviest and slowest song on the album, which begins with this swelling dissonant arpeggio that you from bands like Thy Art Is Murder, Black Tongue and even Korn (if you want to go old-school). With the song being low tempo it allows the guitarist and drums space to provide some sledge hammer style groove as well as the guitar parts to become more technical when it comes the Sikth style scale runs in the pre-choruses. Which then builds us up to this doom/sludge style chorus that will keep all the Beat down fans happy.
The fourth track Epiphany starts to show us the bands more versatile side, starting off the song with this Jazzy chord sequence before again, it slaps us in the face with these low tuned riffs in the first verse, but don’t let that fool you because Epiphany also starts to show how the band have grown as songwriters with this combination with these Jazzy clean sung sections and these eastern sounding pre-chorus and chorus sections that will please any listeners of Monuments, Jinjer and Lacuna Coil. When is comes to the 5th and 6th tracks of the album start to become a bit a grey area for me as playing Misery and Narcissist back to back gets a bit fatiguing to the ears and starts to lose my attention due to the lack of dynamic transitions from each other.
When is comes into the seventh track Weaponize it begins with this eerie soundscape that reminds me of the soundtrack games like Silent Hill and movies like Hereditary which allows my ears to re-calibrate before the return of the those sledge hammer riffs. Purity is where the band start showing a lot more depth to their sound by writing a song in a major key but also keeping it sounding brutal and up to par with the previous tracks. Again this is another song on the album that proves that this band have grown as a songwriters and as musicians especially with Megan's vocals performing the highest notes on the entire album. Once the band have wowed us with Purity, this momentum is continued on (after the interlude track Drift) with Aurora, but this time hitting us with the feels with most moving song on the album.
With the dynamic instrumental arrangements of the clean chiming delay sounds to the distorted guitar sections accompanied with Megan's versatile vocal range this is definitely highlight on the album for me. Which brings me to the final song on the album Lazarus. So just like some of the tracks on this album it again starts with a clean dissonant guitar part before it goes back into the heavy polyrhythmic chugs, but after hearing this type of intro from the other tracks the formula starts to sound very repetitive in an album setting which puts a bit of a dampener especially with it being the closing track on the album.
Overall this is a great effort for the bands signed debut album especially with songs like Hideous, Fake, Epiphany, Weaponize, Purity and Aurora at their disposal, which is guaranteed to received well by their current followers as well as their new ones. The whole delivery of this album is well track listed, despite what I stated earlier with Misery and Narcissist and the closing track Lazarus. I also found the politically/humanitarian/mental health based lyrics were well composed due to being written with nuance which allows the individual listener to interoperate the lyrics to their own meaning. I also got complement on how well the album is produced/recorded especially for the bands debut. The drums cut through mix, the synths and string tracks filled in the gaps but also added emotion and texture to the arrangements and with the low tuned guitars and bass maintained note definition/clarity but also provided that sonic punch which complements the vocals.
Now to the bit I hate, my main criticisms for this album. To be fair there are only a few minor things I can pin out on this album, my main criticism is due to lack of dynamics on the record, I found that especially with the string/synth tracks they can a bit overbearing in some of the songs, in which as a result can undermine some of the heavier sections on some of the songs for example the break down in Weaponized, so I would suggest for future reference, before breakdown hits automate the string sections a few dBs quieter before it comes back in. Also I found that it got a bit repetitive with amount of songs that started with a dissonant clean guitar part, I understand that they were there to help transcend each song from one to the other but by the last song it just got too copy and paste.
In conclusion, this is great debut album from the British four-piece Modern Metal outfit Vexed. So if you are a fan of Heart of Coward, Jinjer and Born Of Osiris or just fan Modern Metal in general, this definitely an worth checking out. 8/10.
Overall this is a great effort for the bands signed debut album especially with songs like Hideous, Fake, Epiphany, Weaponize, Purity and Aurora at their disposal, which is guaranteed to received well by their current followers as well as their new ones. The whole delivery of this album is well track listed, despite what I stated earlier with Misery and Narcissist and the closing track Lazarus. I also found the politically/humanitarian/mental health based lyrics were well composed due to being written with nuance which allows the individual listener to interoperate the lyrics to their own meaning. I also got complement on how well the album is produced/recorded especially for the bands debut. The drums cut through mix, the synths and string tracks filled in the gaps but also added emotion and texture to the arrangements and with the low tuned guitars and bass maintained note definition/clarity but also provided that sonic punch which complements the vocals.
Now to the bit I hate, my main criticisms for this album. To be fair there are only a few minor things I can pin out on this album, my main criticism is due to lack of dynamics on the record, I found that especially with the string/synth tracks they can a bit overbearing in some of the songs, in which as a result can undermine some of the heavier sections on some of the songs for example the break down in Weaponized, so I would suggest for future reference, before breakdown hits automate the string sections a few dBs quieter before it comes back in. Also I found that it got a bit repetitive with amount of songs that started with a dissonant clean guitar part, I understand that they were there to help transcend each song from one to the other but by the last song it just got too copy and paste.
In conclusion, this is great debut album from the British four-piece Modern Metal outfit Vexed. So if you are a fan of Heart of Coward, Jinjer and Born Of Osiris or just fan Modern Metal in general, this definitely an worth checking out. 8/10.