Mutation (Ginger Wildheart) - I - The Frankenstien Effect (Re-mastered) (2017)

Genre - Hard Rock / Noise / Alternative

Label - Round Records

Track listing:

01 - Powderland
02 - Rats
03 - Friday Night Drugs
04 - Schadenfreuden
05 - Compass Point
06 - Lively Boy
07 - Gruntwhore
08 - On Poking Dogs
09 - Wham City
10 - Carion Blue

Following hot on the heels of III - Dark Black is the re-mastered release of the first album to emerge under the Mutation banner, The Frankenstein Effect.
Once again re-mastered by the man with the magic ear, Dave Draper, this album now sounds even more impressive. the Frankenstein Effect was always the most acessable of the three Mutation albums, but now everything sounds that much clearer and sharper. In fact this album sounds absolutely awesome!
The Mutation project is about as far removed musically from the 555% and Hey! Hello! projects as you could possibly get!
Imagine the more extreme, heavier, off the wall tracks that the Wildhearts have ever put out, then multiply that by a thousand and you may get an idea of what we are dealing with here.
That's not to say that its all intensity, there are some great melodies interwoven with the immense riffs. If you like your music on the heavy side then you really should check this out, very much in the vein of Pulled Apart By Horses and Exit International (who feature, along with Random Jon Poole and Chris Catalyst to name a few), The Frankenstien Effect is an album that shows Ginger is just as cutting edge and relevent today as he has ever been.

A great album!

Unfortunately it looks like this re-master will only be available digitally with no physical cd available at the moment.

Rating - 10/10

Mutation (Ginger Wildheart) - 1 - The Frankenstien Effect

Genre - Hard Rock / Metal / Experimental / Extreme / Alternative
Label - Pledge Music (exclusive at the moment!)

Track Listing -

01 - Powderland
02 - Rats
03 - Friday Night Drugs
04 - Schadenfreuden
05 - Compass Point
06 - Lively Boy
07 - Gruntwhore
08 - On Poking Dogs
09 - Wham City
10 - Carion Blue

The Frankenstien Project, the first of two Mutation albums, and the fifth albums worth of material released in an eight month period!. The Mutation project is about as far removed musically from the 555% and Hey! Hello! projects as you could possibly get, and this the first of the two, The Frankenstien Effect, is the mellowest of the two and the more accessable of the pair.
Imagine the more extreme, heavier, off the wall tracks that the Wildhearts have ever put out, then multiply that by a thousand and you may get an idea of what we are dealing with here.
Thats not to say that its all intensity, there are some great melodies interwoven with the imense riffs. If you like your music on the heavy side then you really should check this out, very much in the vein of Pulled Apart By Horses and Exit International (who feature, along with Random Jon Poole and Chris Catalyst to name a few), The Frankenstien Effect is an album that shows Ginger is just as cutting edge and relevent today as he has ever been.
A great album, with ten stunningly heavy tracks, and possibly only ever to be made available through this Pledge campaign as it now looks like the second album, Error 500, will be made available commercially in its entirity.

Rating - 10/10

KingBathmat - Truth Button Review (2013)

KingBathmat - Truth Button Review (2013)

(released via stereohead records)

Track listing:
01 - Behind The Wall
02 - Abintra
03 - Book Of Faces
04 - The End Of Evolution
05 - Dives and Pauper
06 - Coming To Terms With Mortality In The face Of Insurmountable Odds


KingBathmat are a 3 piece progressive / alternative rock band band hailing from Hastings England. Truth Button is their sixth album to date. Coming across as the almost perfect blend of early Black Sabbath and Jellyfish, KingBathmat really could be the natural heirs to the 70's prog rock crown. Magnificent songs, twisting and turning through a labrynth of tempo changes and atmospheric textures. Lush guitar work and some great vocals and harmonies to boot, make Truth Button possibly the best album in this genre that I have listened to in years. featuring only six tracks yet clocking in at a whopping 51 minutes long Truth Button really is an album to sink your teeth into. Despite the length of the tracks they seem to pass by in a flash, never feeling over indulgent or too long, just twisting and turning through their various soundscapes as mentioned earlier. Powerful, quirky, melodic, spacey, stunning, I just cant find enough superlatives to describe this album!

If you are a fan of progressive rock music I really cant reconmend this album enough.

Rating - 10/10

Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu

Genre - Experimental

Track listing -

01. Brandenburg Gate 

02. The View 
03. Pumping Blood 
04. Mistress Dread 
05. Iced Honey
06. Cheat On Me 
07. Frustration 
08. Little Dog
09. Dragon
10. Junior Dad


Now please dont get me wrong, I love all kinds of music, I especially appreciate  when artists move out of their comfort zone and try something new and expiremental. I loved Freddie Mercurys Rock Pop Opera Cross-over album Barcelona, I love Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid with their Rap / Rock crossovers, I enjoyed Seb Bachs forays into counrty music but this, I just cant get my head around, or even see a point! I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that even the most hardcore fans of either artist are going to have trouble managing to sit all the way through this monstrousity in one sitting. Metallica have recently come out to assure fans that this is not the new Metallica record I can see why!
All that said, closing track  Junior Dad has some interesting moments, but at almost 20 minutes long you'd hope that it would.

Seriously this album is only for the completists of each artist.

Rating - 3/10

POLAR FOR THE MASSES - SILENCE

Genre - rock / punk / garage / experimental / indie

Label - Black Nutria Independent Label / Cargo

Track listing -
01. Consequences 

02. Rust 
03. DIsmembered 
04. Sailing Away 
05. U.T.W.
06. The Last Man 
07. Ignorance 
08. Guilty

"This Italian trio have been a band since 2003, pursuing an essential and minimal “ice cold” approach to their music: an eclectic and unpredictable brand of post-punk that doesn't overlook the genre’s minimal approach and essence."
With a stripped down sound, and some fairly solid songs, Polar For The Masses pretty much acheive their goal with Silence. With an almost idie grunge feel  with a punk / post punk approach these guys do offer something a little different, and rather enjoyable. All the songs are pretty solid, with Sailing Away, The Last Man and Guilty really standing out to my ears. With comparisons being made to Placebo, Brian Molko, Foo Fighters and Dave Grhol the band are getting alot of relavent attention. Silence is the bands third album, and their experience shows in the tightness of the band, but I feel the production is just a little too flat for me, robbing the songs of some of their attitude and agression.
On a whole not a bad album, worth checking out, but I would love to see what the guys could come up with, by enlisting the aid of a top producer!

Website - Polar For The Masses
rating - 8/10 

Lunar Dusk - 4 track Promotional EP

Lunar Dusk are (presently) a one man Gothic / Electronic / Alternative band formed by Ariel a former member of London based goth/industrial/dark electronic band Cryptonic Love Revival. This self produced and released promotional Ep features 4 tracks, 'Temple Of Ishtar', 'Blood and Tears', 'Saturn' and 'Tranquillity'. The songs are pretty strong, lots of keyboards, electronic piano, fuzzy guitars and Ariel seems to have a little bit of David Bowie type of croon about him places. The production is ok, a little murky at times, but for a one man show this Ep is quite impressive. Id love to see what this guy could come up with given a full band and a bigger production budget behind him!


Think Type Of Negative, Acey Slade, Plastic Toys and you wont be too far off of the mark!

website - http://www.myspace.com/lunardusk

rating 7/10

Order Of Voices - Order Of Voices

ORDER OF VOICES formed in 2009, with the express aim to create some of the most ambitious music produced by a British alternative rock band in the last 10 years.

Their debut album showcases the fact that they managed to pull it off!
Order of Voices is an ambitious album, bringing together soulful melody with some great rocking riffs and a surreal feel throughout.
You could say that there is a prog rock element to the bands music, but that maybe doing them a dis service, as everyone of the 8 songs on this album are so well constructed and thought out, yet the soul and heart of the songs remain intact. Opening with 'For Me', a classy track with plenty of tempo changes, the band let you know exactly what you are in for.
There is no set formula here that the band follow, just excellent songs performed by some amazingly talented musicians
Order of Voices are well worth checking out, you may find that you've discovered and new favourite band!

website - http://www.myspace.com/orderofvoices



rating - 10/10