Archives for January 17, 2005

Voodoo Glow Skulls – Adiccion, Tradicion, Revolucion

January 17, 2005 by Rich Leave a Comment

This is the latest offering from prestigious American Skacore legends Voodoo Glow Skulls. The band have been around for some time now, but on this new album they show no signs of slowing down and are still creating the amazing music they always were. There are 14 tracks on display here and none will disappoint. It may be argued by some that the band have produced greater albums in the past, but when you are a band with a string of amazing albums then it’s always going to be hard to live up to people’s expectations. Personally I think the band have done well here and come up with another fine album of Skacore greatness. I have always been a huge fan of the band and this album certainly doesn’t rock my faith in any way, shape, or form.

This is a truly amazing album and I actually can’t name a track on the CD that I don’t like. When I received the CD and read the press pack I was surprised to see that the band had chosen to do a cover of Guns ‘n’ Roses ‘Used to Love Her,’ however the band have pulled off this cover really well and made a fine tune. It really does sound good placed at the end of the album and rounds the CD off nicely. This turned out to be one of the surprise highlights of the album for me, with other stand out tracks for me being ‘DD Don’t Like Ska,’ ‘Cochino,’ ‘Ghettoblaster,’ and ‘Eville.’ That’s just picking songs at random really though because there’s nothing here that doesn’t appeal to me, and I think that the band have successfully produced another truly astonishing album of Skacore genius. The thing I love about the Voodoo Glow Skulls is their silky smooth horn section as it always sounds amazing – I find a lot of Skacore bands seem to fall short on their horn section skill but VGS horns always sound superb, slick, and sexy.

I strongly suggest that you invest in this album if you are a fan of Ska, Skacore, Hardcore, or Punk as there will definitely be some pleasing material on here for you that you will truly love. I really can’t praise this band enough – they are just one of the greatest Skacore bands ever and even after all this time are stilly churning out some quality albums.

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Rich

UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.

Sonic Boom Six – Sounds To Consume

January 17, 2005 by Rich Leave a Comment

No matter how hard I try, I just can’t get into this CD properly. Sure, ‘Rape of Punk to Come’ is a good tune, and ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do’ is catchy, but technically is nothing special and lyrically awful. The other two new tracks on display here ‘Let the Children Play,’ and ‘Safe European Home’ just seem pretty average to me and really don’t tickle my taste buds. I love the first EP, so seeing the tracks from the first EP put on the end for those that don’t own the first CD was good but then again I do have the first CD so there’s nothing to be gained there for me.

When the bands first EP came out, they provided an innovative new take and on the done and dusted Ska Punk genre, and they came out trumps. This time around however, their Hip Hop tinged Reggae Punk Ska just doesn’t do it for me. It seems like they ran out of ideas on this CD and therefore what should be a rich feast of a CD is tasteless and unfulfilling. It is quite disappointing to listen to the new tunes as the talent is clearly there, but they just don’t use it at all on the four new songs here and as a result the new material just doesn’t sound very good. I still love the old tracks, and think that they are far better than the new ones – hopefully the next Sonic Boom Six CD will see a return to form.

As much as I’d love to sing this CDs praises I just cant because quite frankly there’s not a lot here to praise. I do really like CD opener ‘Rape of Punk to Come’ and when this track kicked off I thought that I was to be in for a treat but sadly this just wasn’t the case. I once had great respect for Sonic Boom Six and the way they were changing the face of the UK scene but I really think they have had their time now and its time for another band to take their place and fill their shoes. No band have really shaken the scene since Capdown with their ‘Civil Disobedients’ album, but I really did think that Sonic Boom Six would be the band to do it – maybe they still will be, just not with CDs like this. The potential is there for this band to do great things – for some reason however they just don’t produce the goods on the four new tracks on display here.

Rating:

Rich

UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.