Big Business - Here Come The Waterworks (Hydra Head Industries)

I knew this shit was gonna blow my mind after about 2 seconds. Rarely does an artist knock you down with the sheer down-tuned immediacy that Big Business does with opening track Just As the Day Was Dawning from 2007's Here Come the Waterworks, their second for Hydra Head Industries. Let me be the first to tell you, kiddies, that it's a dire portent. The duo of Jared Warren and Coady Willis (who also moonlight as 50% of the Melvins) build an unhealthy, black steam until the plodding, eerie cadence of Another Fourth of July...Ruined, the militaristic bastard son of Big Black and The Sword. Truth be told, it's a rather anti-climatic monument in an album full of insane, over-the-top slabs of granite. That's the only negative point on this record; the sequencing is a touch off. One thing you WILL NOT hear me complain about is a lack of originality. The word "crossover" is bandied about so frivolously these days, it's lost any real sense of meaning as applied to a musical format. Not so with Here Come the Waterworks. It's an excellent illustration of what happens to a band that refuses to be constricted by genre tags. Is it metal, punk, industrial, grunge, noise rock, etc? Nope, it's just Big Business.


-C. Kolakowski

The Birthday Massacre - Violet (Metropolis)

Do you remember the first time you heard your favorite band? Chances are that it was an unforgettable experience, thus becoming your favorite artist for a reason. That was what happened to me when I first heard the almighty Alice In Chains in the summer of 1990. Such was the case for me a second time when I was introduced to the sweet, sweet nectar that is The Birthday Massacre. While I really liked the sound, I sort of dismissed them as a Deadsy ripoff; a heavily distorted, synthesizer-rich, retro industrial sound that really catches you with it's groove like a sonic fish hook. Although not their official debut release, Violet was their first on a formidable label and it really shows in the production. I'd even go so far as to say that it's almost over-produced. Almost, but not quite. Something about the feel of the record screams "80's" to me - a something not necessarily just in the sound. Frontwoman Chibi, aside from having the sweetest voice this side of the Heavenly Choir, has the schtick down pat: Catholic school uniform, pigtails, and patent-leather chunky shit-kickers. The rest of the band provide a boulder-solid foundation for her to give you chills with the enigmatic and spooky Blue, the robotic stomp of Horror Show, and every other track on this disc. There is absolutely NO filler at all. I mean, you COULD just sit there and listen to your old 80's records, or you could fall in love for the first time: again.


-C. Kolakowski

Conjure One - S/T (Nettwerk)

Canadian maestro Rhys Fulber is a busy man. Since the early 80's, he's firmly entrenched himself into the world of electronic/industrial acts like Frontline Assembly, Delerium, and Fear Factory, among others. And that's not even counting his production credits. I don't know how the man finds time to sleep!! It's a good thing he doesn't, though, or the world may never have been introduced to the sheer genius that is Conjure One. Fulber spawned the project some time in mid-1999 after traversing the world on a self-financed musical odyssey, intending to absorb as much world music as was possible. The debut album finds Fulber incorporating more of those world beat sounds, often foregoing the pulse rhythms of FLA for more lush meadows. As is often the case in Delerium, Rhys employs the use of Marie Claire D'Ubaldo, Sinead O'Connor, and Joanna Stevens to compliment his haunting aural dimensions, much to the benefit of the album. This album would makes an excellent romantic mood enhancement, driving music, or just settling in after a long day at the office. Every time is the right time for Conjure One.



-C. Kolakowski