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| STABBING WESTWARD | |||
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Album: "Darkest
Days" (1998) |
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Reviewed by: Darklight Stabbing Westward return with a very dark and emotional album full of passion and anger. The music found here sounds a lot like Tool. The vocals are typical of Christopher Hall where he sings with a slight high pitched tone both softly and with rage. It's very obvious when you hear these songs that this is indeed Stabbing Westward, but with a bit of a Nine Inch Nails and Tool edge. To my disappointment electronics and keyboards still are not used nearly as much as I would like. The band still creates commercial heavy rock music with very slight uses of electronics placed in as an afterthought. The music is mainly created with noisy guitars, bass and drums. The vocals are very important in each of these tracks as there is hardly ever a break from them. The music backs off a bit to allow the singing to take center stage. The lyrics are fairly well written which is good considering that you can hear each word crystal clear. This album is heavier than past Stabbing Westward efforts and comes off more like heavy metal than that of alternative rock. I would have to say that this is their most mature release so far. There's a lot of variety to be enjoyed here considering that there are sixteen full length songs. The best tracks to be found here include "Drugstore", "Save Yourself", "Haunting Me", "Torn Apart", "Sometimes It Hurts", "When I'm Dead", "The Thing I Hate" and "Waking Up Beside You". All of these songs feature a lot of changing emotions and variety in the music with a great deal of electronics as well. The only songs that I dislike are "Drowning", "Desperate Now" and "Goodbye". These songs are extremely slow, boring and out of place. Everything else on the album is good, but a little more typical and generic. The production here is very tight and of a high quality. Almost all of the songs feature the range where they go from melodic to aggressive to keep the listener on their toes at all times. However, the songs seem to go by fairly quickly only playing for about four minutes each. But the bottom line is that the band is definitely going in the right direction with this release. If you're a fan of more commercial guitar driven industrial music, you will want this album.
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Album: "Wither
Blister Burn + Peel" (1996) |
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Reviewed by: Darklight Each and every song on this album is fast paced and aggressive. There are heavy thrashy guitars, drum beats, electronics, and screaming mad vocals. There are mixtures of both mellow and angry moments in these songs. They usually start out slow, and then explode into anger and rage for a roller coaster ride of emotions. Each song is very catchy with melodic rhythms and beats. The singing is a mixture of harmony and screaming. Everything goes together perfectly. This album is extremely polished with a very clean sound to it. It's basically serious edged alternative rock music with electronic effects in the background. But I am especially happy with the fact that every song rocks hard-core. There are no slow songs to be found here. If you like electro rock music, this is one of the best albums available now.
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