Lines In Wax

TWELVE YEARS OF UNWANTED OPINION

Day: October 26, 2023

Slipknot – Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. (1996)
metal

Slipknot – Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. (1996)

I have a soft spot for this thing, as I do with most of the earlier Slipknot records. When I was in school, I think 13 years old, my friend Ross burned a copy of this thing off the internet for me, as well as a few other tracks from the supposed “Crowz” sessions. Some of us like to look back at the glory days of the internet as if things were actually different back then, but honestly the internet has always been a sea of misinformation. I had no fucking idea what or who I was listening to whilst incorrectly marked as “SlipKnoT”, but hey, the core MFKR album was legit at least. As many others have commented, this is a fucking weird release. I’ve gone on, perhaps unsurprisingly, to become a huge fan of stuff like Mr. Bungle and The Residents, but even now, having plumbed the depths of both musical experimentation as well as musical extremity, MFKR stands unique. Never has death metal so awkwardly mixed with jazz, lounge and fucking rap music. This isn’t Cynic folks – the lines between the genres are not blurred. The music is chunky, awkward and lurching. That being said, earlier versions of tracks that would go on to become Slipknot classics are an absolute treat to listen to here, especially “Gently” (except “Tattered & Torn”, that can get in the fucking bin). Bonus points goes to the excellent bass work on “Confessions”, which is probably my favourite song on this thing. When I was a scruffy kid with my crappy Slipknot biography that I carried everywhere (written by Joel McIver) I always felt that the band did Anders Colsefni dirty, but there is no way in hell that they would have gotten as big as they did with him as a vocalist. Nevertheless, he works well here. Also, how funny is it that the producer is called Sean McMahon. I always imagined him in my head to look like Shane McMahon lol BAAHHH GAWWWDD HE’S BROKEN IN HAALLLF!!!!

Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know (2009)
doom metal

Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know (2009)

The Devil You Know occupies an interesting space. It is – by far – the heaviest Sabbath album with Dio on vocals, with epic, doom-laden guitar playing (Geezer’s bass is off the charts here, fair play). Iommi’s relationship with Mike Exeter means of course he is at the helm here, and there can be no denying that the record sounds absolutely huge. However, my issue lies with the songwriting. When it hits, it hits, and there are some stunning performances here by all involved, primarily I would say in the first half, but there are also undeniable moments where things start to blur together, to become a plodding mush of indeterminable boredom. Thankfully, as I say, these moments are punctuating by moments of sheer brilliance; a doomy riff from Iommi here, or a particulary stunning vocal croon from Dio there. I feel that maybe a 1/3 could have been shaved from the running time here and this album would have been all the stronger for it.

Zheani – The Spiritual Meat Grinder (2023)
electronic pop

Zheani – The Spiritual Meat Grinder (2023)

I have absolutely no fucking idea how I stumbled onto Zheani’s music, but Spiritual Meat Grinder is something of an aural palate cleanser. Insane, headache-inducing electronics meet absolutely manic vocal performances from sweet singing, yelping, growling to auto-tuned warbling. It’s like witnessing some sort of aural overdose of sugar. 19 minutes later and I’m sat here like “WTF was that?” but for some reason I want to listen to it again.

Judas Priest – Stained Class (1978)
metal rock

Judas Priest – Stained Class (1978)

Man O Man is that fuckin’ cover art something, huh? I’m not sure what it is about it exactly that is so endearing to me but I really like it. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Stained Class, for as brilliant as it is, it fails to strike a chord with me as much as Sin After Sin or Sad Wings… did. Despite this, this is fantastic record with that lovely 70s rock production. It’s so warm and cozy that it comes out of my stereo and wraps around me like a blanket. Stand-out tracks for me are “Exciter” and “Invader”. Also some of the riffs in “Heroes End” are doomy as fuck.