ASHES dIVIDE – Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright

arg. don’t you hate it when heroes from your youth aren’t as appealing as they once were? i actually die a little inside when i have to type ASHES dIVIDE (that typeface is something that billy howerdel insisted on. gross.). i die a little more when i listen to this record. i can’t believe how boring it sounds. it’s full of songs like “too late” which don’t challenge the listener in any way with their cushy, cliché, bleeding-heart lyrics and instrumentals that further draw from a cure-meets-ozzy-osbourne pallett (that also served as source-material for a perfect circle, but source-material that they openly mocked themselves for. here, billy’s taking it far too seriously). it’s even more cringe-worthy of a listen when one compares keep telling myself it’s alright to any of APC’s output. “enemies,” the most memorable song from the record, is also the song that sounds closest to howerdel’s work with maynard. howerdel’s singing is intense, the guitars and bass are relentless, and josh freese’s drumming ignites the song with a life and fervor not present on any of the others.

sure, you could argue that it’s unfair to compare this record to howerdel’s previous band’s efforts, but this project begs for comparison to APC because of the people involved. names like danny lohner, josh freese, paz lenchantin and even maynard’s son devo, pop up all over the liner notes, even though howerdel claims to want to distance ASHES dIVIDE from what he’s done before. keep telling myself it’s alright is glaring evidence to the contrary. billy howerdel needs to find a new bag of tricks in order to make his music and songwriting distinct and unique to himself.

Filed under: Album Review , 2008, ASHES dIVIDE, billy howerdel, danny lohner, josh freese, Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, maynard james keenan, paz lenchantin

Puscifer – V is for Viagra

a good reason not to like remix albums. i’m all for artists collaborating and trying new things, but i don’t like being sold the same thing twice. most of the songs here are needlessly longer, and just repeat/reflect upon a single theme/idea the whole time. remixes of “REV 22:20″ and “the undertaker” are noticeably absent and rightly so, since the album versions on v is for vagina were remixes themselves. but seriously, do i really need an industrial version of “cuntry boner”?? no. sorry, troy van leeuwen. isn’t the whole essence of that song in it’s humor? the fact that the original had maynard singing a country tune is where most of the laughs come from and once you strip the song of its twang, it becomes boring and purposeless. i’m a bit conflicted though, because although these mixes are completely unnecessary, some do flesh out certain aspects of the songs that were lacking on the original. joey jordison of slipknot was one of the few remixers who really took the opportunity to contribute something unique and original to one of maynard’s tunes, adding his own silly rap on top of keenan’s on the “hungover and hostile in hannover mix” of “drunk with power;” while aaron turner spins “trekka” on its head, stripping it of its shuffle and distorting keenan’s gutteral calls to make the song sound even more twisted; and as usual, danny lohner’s contribution was a solid one, further cementing in my mind that v is for vagina should have been more of a collaboration between him and keenan. this album interesting to listen to, but not one that will warrant multiple listens.

Filed under: Album Review , 2008, aaron turner, danny lohner, joey jordison, maynard james keenan, puscifer, v is for vagina, v is for viagra