The Journey Towards the Paths of Light - The Oracles

So, given certain circumstances wherein I have temporarily lost the ability to play guitar, I have decided to start reviewing bands based on albums/random recordings and whatnot. In this post, I will be reviewing “The Journey Towards the Paths of Light” which is an EP by the progressive-metal band The Oracles.

The band’s line-up consists of Chris Nuelle on vocals and guitar, George McKenzie on guitar, James Pearce (also a member of Stone Circle) on bass, James Stewart (also a member Vader and Divine Chaos) on drums and more recently (not featured on the EP) Alan Webb (also a member of Ancient Ascendant) on keyboards. This 5 song EP is

Fading:

This opening track starts off with some mild keyboards, vocals and guitar (I’m assuming there’s an Ebow being used here) building up to a slower paced track that serves as an intro to the album, it keeps this slow pace with some mildly distorted guitars which builds up to a slightly heavier version of the same riff (chords instead of notes) all the while with the bass shining through clearly, keeping everything in line. At the 2:50 mark there is a nice and smooth changeup to a slightly faster riff, this song is clearly influenced by Opeth and Enslaved respectively (very Akerfeldt-like clean vocals, with simple yet crisp, driving guitars like Yvar). The track ends with a guttural-vocal segue into the next track

The Journey:

One can tell Nuelle was heavily influenced by Opeth and Enslaved by this track alone. His guttural vocals are definitely an intricate mix of both the bands, his lows much more like Akerfeldt’s and his mids highly reminiscent of Grutle. I must say The drumming on this track is not so impressive; it keeps a simple beat, with an almost constant double-kick pattern throughout. The guitar-work on this track is very mixed as well; when there is a pattern of palm-muted chords it has a distinct Enslaved feeling, while alternatively whenever there are individual notes that ring through, they are very distinctively Opeth-like. This song is definitely a contender for my favourite on the EP, as it is very high energy and really makes me want to move around and head-bang my way through the ages.

Towards the Paths of Light:

Right off the bat this song goes straight to the point, opting for the ever-appropriate heavy build-up starting with palm-muted notes, moving onto the same notes left to ring out. When the vocals kick in at 0:45, even though there is a drop in the energy, you can tell something big is coming. At 1:00, it has arrived. Hands down this is my favourite song on the EP if only for that riff alone (which gladly returns with slight alterations). It is Nuelle’s guitar-work like this that make this EP what it is: a wondrous work of art. By no means is this riff entirely complicated or technical, but the genius lies within its simplistic beauty. The midpoint of the song, at 2:40, is an interesting use of a drop in energy, because it previously had such energy, dropped it all, started raising it back up then completely dropped it by the 3:30 mark, when Nuelle comes back in with his clean vocals, which are not at their strongest at this point on the EP (a bit like Akercocke at times, though still infinitely better than Jason Mendonca’s clean vocals) but they pick back up again after another crushing riff at the 5 minute mark. The closing of this song really gets me pumped, when Nuelle’s vocals kick back in you can really feel the urge to sing along to this little British boy’s crooning.

The Dawn:

Porcupine Tree… Porcupine Tree, Porcupine Tree, Porcupine Tree. I don’t care what you say; this song starts off sounding like Porcupine Tree with heavier guitars. Stewart’s drumming really picks up in this track, not quite as technical and all over the place as Gavin Harrison, but enough to make sure that you know he’s there, and knows what he’s doing. At the 2:00 minute mark it definitely changes, no longer sounds anything like Porcupine Tree, much more like, once again, Opeth. The solo at 2:58 really feels genuine, you can feel the emotion in the bends, and it does not go the path that so many solos do: pointless wankery. This is a good example of the guitarist letting the solo lead him along, even though it is short, it is more powerful and satisfying than any solo I have heard any guitarist in the same vein as Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) has done, for he takes it and runs as fast as he can, never stopping to savour any of it, or seeing where it could go. The ending of this track hits its peak, and then drops completely, save for a small amount of keys ringing through to the final track.

Faded:

Starting with a yell (not quite as impressive as Tom Araya of Slayer in “Angel of Death”), this track drives the album home quite nicely. The vocals are very much Opeth like once again, complete with a slight voice crack. In fact this entire track is very reminiscent of Opeth in their glory days (My Arms, Your Hearse. Still Life.); it is filled with crushing riff after crushing riff with a good mix of clean and guttural vocals. The most brutal, death-metal like part on this entire EP lasts but ten seconds, between 3:50 – 4:00, and it is one of the few riffs that really makes me want to get up and throw down in a mosh pit (which I never do). The song then plays out to a very light, “Weakness”-like keyboard progression.

My final thoughts on this EP are that it is truly a work of art. The way every song flows smoothly into one another, every riff, the way it has been masterfully mixed and mastered, everything about it rings true to what progressive-metal should be. This is definitely a band to keep an eye out for; you can order the EP HERE. Hopefully, after Stewart finishes touring with Vader, The Oracles can come around and do a world tour so that I can see them live here in Canada and so that the world can hear these tunes.

TV on the Radio and Lissy Trullie

NOTICE:

I have just been informed that at the show, TV on the Radio was not playing with Gerard Smith, they had a stand in for the last few shows, as he was battling lung cancer and just recently passed away. You can read more information on this Here

So yesterday, on a whim, I went to the TV on the Radio show and I still feel pumped with it fresh in my mind. So I figured I should just get off my lazy ass and write my review. Firstly, I feel that I should mention that before seeing them, this was not a band I was super into nor did I really know anything about them aside from the fact that I had heard and enjoyed a couple of their songs here and there. It was really a random decision to go, my friend Mike (from Relic) was going and asked if I wanted to come, I said sure and bought my ticket like a week before the show, and his sister decided last minute to come with us as well. For some reason we decided to get to the venue early, and hang around with a super empty floor, which was actually a pretty good blessing, because throughout the show we were dead center, right at the fence.

Lissy Trullie

This was an interesting band; they were alright though not entirely my preferred style of music. They were very much an indie rock band and you could see the influences of a whole bunch of different bands (mainly 80s style) here and there, such as The Church (from the Donnie Darko soundtrack), and The Smiths (especially in the use of guitar effects & noises). While they did not hold my attention 100%, their upbeat songs were undeniably catchy and much better than their slower, more melodramatic songs. This group of four from New York were not too shabby, though Lissy, the frontman singer guitarist, was obviously nervous and should have slowed down her talking a bit; I had to search Google to find out what the band name was, as she said it once, very quietly and quickly. I don’t know how far they’ll make it, but if you’re into a lot of indie rock (I’m super picky about it) you should definitely give them a listen. (Though after listening to their recorded tracks, their live shows are much better and differentiate a fair amount in the use of tones, effects etc).

TV on the Radio

These guys really blew my mind. Being dead center was glorious for these guys because the crowd was not too rough (I’m used to the metal crowds), so I didn’t have to hold myself back from the bouncing crowd too much, though my back is sore from a shorter girl constantly punching my back when jumping around during the second half of the show. They opened their set with “Young Liars,” a good track to start with, as it builds up and starts to bring the audience into the groove.

They played through a relatively short set, most likely due to the fact that the singer, Tunde Adebimpe, mentioned that his voice was “broken” (most likely sick). Regardless of that, one could not tell that he was sick or had a broken voice (as far as I could tell, no real screw-ups), because the entire night went off without a hitch, leaving the crowd more than pleased, but not overly tired (they ended a bit before 11:00). They played for a little under an hour and a half, playing four tracks from their new album “Nine Types of Light” which was released April 12th 2011. The two guitarists: Kyp Malone and Dave Sitek, along with Tunde, kept the crowd full of energy throughout, with such great stage presence that I have only otherwise seen with The Mars Volta, with Tunde dancing around the stage, Kyp hopping all around and Dave all over the place, sometimes with a wind-chime attached to the head of his guitar (which I have not seen before). Another noteworthy member is Gerard for his catchy-as-all-hell bass lines, keeping everything groovy and funky, once in a while putting his bass down to play some keys (though Sitek at times would be playing 2-3 instruments at once; bells, guitar and keys). There was no real crowd/band interaction, but that was fine, because when a band gets the crowd moving around this much there’s no real need for that, aside from the obligatory compliments to our wonderful city of course. To any of you interested, the set was:

I managed to grab a set list after the show, as did Mike.

I’ve been listening to their tracks all day today and they have songs for all occasions, though everything feels very upbeat and happy, I always feel like bobbing along, I’ve been in a good mood all day thanks to these guys. This is definitely a band to check out live if you ever get the chance, very happy, very bouncy, and very good.


-All pictures in this post were taken by Mike and his fancypants iPhone-

A bit late

So I’m now officially done school for the summer, I might as well get back to writing here.

The last show I went to was the Protest the Hero show with TesseracT, Veridian Cityscape and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.

There was another band, but I can’t remember their name and was not impressed enough to care, no offense if anyone knows/likes them. Their sound was terrible, as was their music. If you want to be taken seriously, don’t “hardcore dance” on stage with a keytar.

Veridian Cityscape

I actually bought my second ticket to the show from one of this band’s vocalists, Cody. A very impressive, high energy band that’s great for some heavy times. Not entirely a run-of-the-mill metalcore band, as they have some interesting ideas in their music, but still a brutal metalcoreband. Definitely worth a listen if you like the style, or if you’re in the mood for some energetic and heavy stuff.

TesseracT

I don’t really know what else to say other than I love this band. I first saw them with Devin Townsend last year and they blew me away then, even moreso now that I’ve had a chance to really get to know their music. These guys are really talented all around, with crazy riffs that leave your jaw on the floor. Really nice guys as well, very down to earth, as they were just sitting behind the merchandise area before and after their set, selling their wares and talking to the fans. If you ever get a chance to see these guys: do it. You won’t regret it. These guys really need to go out and do a headlining tour of their own, they deserve it.

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster

Honestly, I was not overly impressed with this band either. Their lead guitarist looks like a surfer douche from the 70s. He came out wearing aviators and a wife-beater. Musically these guys are not too shabby, with an interesting southern-rock/metal quality to it, they do keep you interested. That being said, the singer detracts entirely from it and almost kills it entirely. If they got rid of their singer and added someone decent I would definitely keep listening to this band. Being as they are now, I can’t listen to a song for very long without having to turn it off out of annoyance.

Protest the Hero

I’ve liked this band for a while, their album Kezia ranking quite high for a while. Though I was fairly unimpressed overall with the quality of their show. It appeared as though they came out completely wasted, as they were stumbling a bit, and were making a fair amount of sloppy errors while playing the songs (at least I hope the sloppiness was because of drinking, otherwise their albums are nothing but lies). The sound was also very unbalanced, as majority of the time I could hear vocals and drums, but no bass or guitar. The singer came out with a wig on his head, making him look like Zach Galifianakis from The Hangover. Though they did play some great songs that rang out clearly, such as Bloodmeat and Heretics & Killers.

I guess that’s all I really have to say about that show… As a whole it was not the greatest I’ve been to, but seeing TesseracT was more than worth it, as well as the novelty of seeing Protest the Hero, a band I’ve listened to for ages.

In any case, there will be more shows coming up, especially looking forward to seeing the Deftones with Dillinger Escape Plan.