NeuroKoan's Journal: New CD's

NP: Conjure One- Tears from the Moon

Alright, so I went to go buy the new issue of RallyXS down in Sacramento. It just went to news stands in Europe last week, but I thought a boy could hope that some of the bigger chains might have it. Borders, Barnes and Noble and Tower all had the previous issue in stock, as I somewhat suspected, but I didn't want to make the trip a total bust. Glancing through the lastest issue of the on-and-off paper publication of Industrial Nation, I found out that Rhys Fulber finally released a solo album. I picked it up, along with Pig's Genuine American Monster; reviews follow with some other interesting tid bits I picked up.

Pig- Genuine American Monster (1999)

Released after 1996's Sinsation, its good to see the experimental Raymond Watts back. Don't get me wrong, I think Sinsation is great, but I miss the old experimentalism of Black Mambo and most of the stuff of a Poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Ray's love of consonance is back three times with Prayer, Praise & Profit, Riot, Religion & Righteousness, and Disrupt Degrade & Devestate. All are great songs, but I'm really getting tired of this naming scheme. Apart from minor quibbles, the greatest thing about this album is that it is exactly where the current crop of rage-rock seems to want to be. Gringing hardcore guitars with electronic beats. I guess tomorrow we can all see if Linkin Park has finally caught up to where Watts was in 1999.

There is a fine line between sex appeal and charisma. That said, Ray is once again, one of the most charismatic artists in industrial music today. And this album is no exception; its another very strong outing from industrial's most famous Brit.

Conjure One- Conjure One (2002)

What can one say about Rhys Fulber, the man is a serious musician. He has brought us, arguably, the best albums from Front Line Assembly, Delerium and produced and/or remixed Fear Factory's best outings (thank god Burton C. Bell has left Fear Factory). So, what do we expect from this man's first solo album? Hard, soft, experimental, ambient? The cover states that there are guest vocals from Sinead O'Connor, Marie Clair D'Ubaldo and Poe. Okay, so he's probably going to be pulling more from his Delerium/Sarah McLauchlin style, that fine he's really good at it. But then I see that Junkie XL helped produce it. Junkie XL is one of the only (if not only) electronic acts on the typically metal Roadrunner Records, a good friend of Dino Cazeras (again the Fear Factory connection, and probably the reason why he's on Roadrunner Records), and the remixer of the critically panned new Elvis song (its actually pretty good, in my opinion).

Pop it in, what do I get, the softer edge of Rhys and a damn fine album. Tears from the Moon with Sinead O'Connor is just plain beautiful. If you are expecting something as hard as FLA or Fear Factory, do yourself a favor and pass this album by (and perhaps grow up a little). Else, its brilliant. I can't really say much more, except that its really, really good. Expect Karma-era Delerium updated to sound more organic and modern.

Other music news that I recently dug up:

Although Tyler has only been able to force one Tarmvred song down my throat, I am dutifly excited that they are touring and will be in Hollywood towards the end of April. Also, Kush looks like it might be an interesting project rising from the breakup of Fear Factory. Raymond Herrera and Christian Olde Wolbers from Fear Factory are teaming up with Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones, and B-Real of Cyprus Hill. Could be good, but has plenty of potential to be quite awful. Junkie XL is going to be coming out with his third studio album (the second one never made it to the states if I remember correctly). With guest like Gary Numan, Chuck D, Robert Smith and Safron (Republica) showing up, it could get interesting. But then we have guest artists like Tiesto and Sasha (from Sasha & Digweed) that make me wonder if the album is really going to be as strong as I hope. Nothing agains Tiesto or Sasha, its just I would like to keep my Trance influences to a minimum. I guess I'll have to hear it before I judge.