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Category: Rock

Other Lives – Sound of Violence

Other Lives – Sound of Violence

Other Lives plays a highly stylized, very literate form of rock that is layered in melancholy and meticulously measured misery which is uncharacteristically moving for the genre. If John Steinbeck had been a rocker, he might have joined these lyrical Greats of Wrath.

Sound of Violence is supposedly inspired by a passage from Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, which explains the use of reverse World War II-era footage in the song’s corresponding video (a reference to the book’s flashbacks to the bombing of Dresden). The images present a stark contrast to the song’s soaring strings and sweeping soliloquy.

Hailing originally from Stillwater, Oklahoma, Other Lives assembled material for their fourth full-length release at their own Cooper Mountain Sound studio in rural Oregon. It was the perfect place to find the respite and rejuvenation needed to record the beautifully lush and ornate songs that would result in the ten-track collection, For Their Love.

Having met the band after one of their Midwest shows during their tour supporting their previous record, Rituals, I can attest that these are very modest and humble musicians who are dedicated to their craft. For true artistry in rock today, it’s hard to top Other Lives.

Countless Thousands – Lazar Wolf

Countless Thousands – Lazar Wolf

If there is one thing missing from music these days, it’s a sense of humor. Countless Thousands is a band of playful punks who are unafraid to tickle the funny bone while others just tickle the ivories.

Lazar Wolf is the band’s unhinged version of kosher kookiness. Their Fiddler on the Goof offers a riotous recipe of musical matzah that comes fresh and unleavened in its screw-loose silliness. Of course, one would expect nothing less from a group that has created a musical decoupage of demented ditties during its decade-long existence under the radar of radio (and most of the Internet).

This, after all, is the group from Glendale, California, that has set the words of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump sycophant Lindsey Graham to music, the same band of mirthful merrymakers who penned a rather enthusiastic jam about Space Nazis.

While their anthemic antics may not be for everyone, their everyman tales of rebellious jocularity are sure to put a smile on the faces of most. Check out their old video for Gang Fight for further proof.

Countless Thousands is a band that seems hard to ignore. Perhaps something funny is to blame.

Sunstorm – Swan Song

Sunstorm – Swan Song

A great voice can carry a band, especially in the world of hard rock, where autotune and other enhancers are the unequivocal kiss of death for listeners accustomed to singers with the talent of Jimi Jamison or Ronnie James Dio.

Sunstorm is a music project originally created by Frontiers Records for singer Joe Lynn Turner, best known for his work with Rainbow and Deep Purple. The band released five albums before Turner exited the enterprise, leaving a void recently filled by Ronnie Romero, a Chilean singer noted for his associations with numerous bands, including Rainbow, the Michael Schenker Group, Lords of Black, and Vandenberg, among others.

Swan Song is a strong showcase for Romero, who sings with all the necessary passion and power. It’s a fittingly sturdy melodic rock number that fits nicely in the Sunstorm catalog. And it doesn’t hurt that Romeo is backed by a solid band, including guitarist Simone Mularoni from the Italian metal band DGM.

Some longtime Sunstorm fans are bemoaning the belief that the band is not the same without Turner’s involvement. That’s a rather unforgiving attitude. Judge the music on its own merits – not on the participation of people unavailable or missing from the recording.

Swan Song appears on the Afterlife album, which will be released on March 12, 2021.

Gösta Berlings Saga – Konkret Music

Gösta Berlings Saga – Konkret Music

Gösta Berlings Saga seems like an unusual name for a band, but these Swedish sonic adventurers are no ordinary opportunists seeking fame and fortune in the music business. Formed in the suburbs of Stockholm back not long after the arrival of the new millennium, the group has shown a willingness to evolve and embrace everything from dark symphonic to electronica to post-rock.

For a band known for its instrumental prowess, their moniker ironically owes its existence to words. The name is a nod to the debut novel of Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf, whose story famously became the film that launched the career of Greta Garbo, one of the greatest screen actresses of all time.

Konkret Music is the title track of the group’s sixth studio album, which delves deeper into the amazing amalgam of sounds, opting for an aggressive, high-energy romp that bounces Oingo-Boingo-like on speed and psychedelics. The karaoke dance on display in the video for the song is the perfect depiction of its delirious effects.

Gösta Berlings Saga is organized chaos at its best – compositional complexity that drives the music in a powerful, rhythmic way guaranteed to make you prick up your ears and get your body moving.

X – Goodbye Year, Goodbye

X – Goodbye Year, Goodbye

There are few iconic bands as resilient as the raucous X, the L.A. legends who unfortunately are often not given their true due for the role they played in defining the punk sound for the U.S.

Goodbye Year, Goodbye is the band’s audacious anthem to the longest year in recent memory, a musical middle finger to 2020 and the protests, pandemonium, and problematic pandemic that made it the year from hell. The song is a blast from the past with a nod to the now – a perfectly punk answer to a simply unforgettable year.

I had the good fortune of catching X in concert back in 1982 when the band had just signed with major label Elektra and released Under the Big Black Sun, which mixed bits of Americana into their pioneering punk oeuvre. Goodbye Year, Goodbye presents X exactly as I remember the band – raw, rebellious, and really fun.

It is comforting to know that all four original members – vocalist Exene Cervenka, vocalist-bassist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer D.J. Bonebrake – can still rock with the best. Alphabetland, the band’s eighth album but first in 27 years, shows X remains a vital force. In saying good riddance to a godforsaken year, thank goodness some things that have not changed.