Gothic Metal

Scuzz Sundays: Soil – “Halo”

September 20, 2020 — Leave a comment

Someone’s been adding more soil to my lawn… The plot thickens. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Ryan McCombs (Lead Vocals), Adam Zadel (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Tim King (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and T.J. Taylor (Drums) (in Apr. 2019) (Photo provided by The Firmament)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Today is Scuzz Sunday, and that means it’s finally time to dig out another late-1990’s to mid-2000’s Emo-Rock or Pop-Punk relic to see how it holds up in the present day! Often stylized as SOiL by the US group themselves, Soil are an American Hard-Rock band that are currently enjoying the pleasure of selling over two million records globally. Soil were formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1997 and were signed to J Records, a now-defunct indie imprint label of Sony Records. “Halo” was the lead single from “Scars”, their second full-length album release, which was released in September 2001, and it was their first major record label release. This gave Soil a decent amount of attention from the press, and it also gave the band a hefty degree of commercial success, still being pin-pointed as the reference point to the band’s mainstream success to this day. Let’s have a look back at their hit single “Halo” below.

“Halo” may sadly have nothing at all to do with Beyoncé’s mainstream hit track of the same name, but it is still listed as the top track by Soil on iTunes. “Halo” starts off with a poetic verse that McCombs delivers over the top of a Post-Grunge set of heavy guitar riffs, exclaiming: “I’m the man, I’m the king, I’m the one, that’s pure inside” to a violent and aggressive delivery. A catchy, rhythmic chorus follows up on this, as McCombs delivers a memorable line of “I will stone you, stone you, My little halo” at a breakneck pace above the crescendo of heavy guitar riffs, with a slight Synth bassline to provide for a quick breather afterwards. The single is frantically paced, with a musically dense interlude of hulking electric guitar riffs and the delayed pedal effect on the bass guitar line, following the highly reverberated lead vocal effects. The drum signature pattern is very fast, as expected. We get a breakdown near the end, with a Nu-Metal feel to the melodicism of the reverb effects, and a few repeats of the chorus aim to leave us in a very mosh pit-ready mood. For me personally, it all feels a bit treadmill. I feel it’s a decent effort from the band and there’s some punchy, rhythmic hooks to the lead vocals and guitar riffs, but there just isn’t enough of anything surprising or intriguing for it to leave too much of a lasting impression on me. The lyrics are a bit ambiguous, but they never feel as though they’re playing with many conventions of the Nu-Metal genre. Instead, the guitar rhythms and drum patterns feel steady and crowd-pleasing, but never capturing a unique essence to take things to the next level. To conclude, I think that “Halo” is still rather catchy and the lead vocals complement the melodic Hard Rock/Post-Grunge crossover sound reasonably well, but it is lacking in a certain extra fuel to the fire. It’s all just nicely above-average.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Scars” (Album/LP) (Released on September 11th, 2020) (via J Records)

Thank you very much for reading this week’s edition of my Scuzz Sundays series on the blog. As per usual, I will be back at it again tomorrow, with an in-depth look at the brand new single from a British Synthpop duo, mainly known for their work in the 1980’s and 1990’s, particularly popular with the LGBT community, who recently performed a half-hour live session for BBC Radio 2’s Live At Home virtual festival performance weekend. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Drowning Pool – “Bodies”

August 9, 2020 — Leave a comment

Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the FL-OOOOOOOOR! It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Sinner” (Released on June 5th, 2001) (via Wind-Up Entertainment Ltd.)

You know what time it is! Good Morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! It is Scuzz Sunday, which means it’s time for us to dig out an Emo-Rock or Pop-Punk relic from between the late-1990’s to the mid-2000’s to see if it can live up to modern standards, named in tribute to the defunct Scuzz TV channel. “Bodies” was an absolute staple of the “Scuzz” rock era. The track was credited to Drowning Pool, an American Heavy Metal band from Texas, and the track was the lead single from their debut album, “Sinner”, released in 2001. “Bodies” is the track that Drowning Pool are primarily known for, and bizarrely, it has been featured in plenty of TV shows, commercials and films. An interesting, fun fact about “Bodies” is that despite it’s growing popularity in the mainstream at the time of it’s release, the track was banned from radio airplay, being taken off radio stations, in light of the 9/11 attacks because it was considered to be “Inappropriate” in the wake of the terrorist events – Let the bodies hit the floor below.

If you hit play, then you can expect a significant amount of screaming. This track was considered to be “Drowning Pool’s finest moment” on “Sinner” by Rolling Stone, and the lyrics are often misinterpreted as being linked to the 2011 Arizona shooting of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, but it’s really just about the brotherhood of a ‘Mosh-Pit’, as the band issued in a statement. “Let the bodies hit the floor” is obviously the main hook, and it’s vocal delivery gradually increases in aggression with key changes which get telegraphed by vocalist Dave Williams as he counts up from one to four, as it reaches a dramatic conclusion. The guitar riffs feel rickety in the verses, at a high energy with an exciting tension. The vocals in the verses are fairly more clean, as Williams recites filler lines like: “Beaten why for?, Can’t take much more” and “Push me again/This is the end” over a whispered delivery above a screeching bass guitar riff and a static drum pattern, as we build up to the chorus. Speaking of the chorus, it’s loud and brash in equal measure. Williams feels broken in his lyricism, shouting “Let The Bodies Hit The Floor” to mark a contrast to the softer vocals in the verses. There’s a delayed use of a “Wah Pedal” and a harsh, rumbling drum signature, to make up the melodic structure of the heavy, unadulterated sound of the chorus. If we’re being honest, it’s incessantly cheesy and it’s inherently stupid, but, I think it’s a relatively fun song. The problem is there’s a time and a place for this kind of music, and 9:53am (at time of writing) on a Sunday Morning is not really the intended time and setting for the listening of a track like this. At least, the guitar work is energetic and Williams puts in a fun vocal performance for what it is, but the sound wares rather thin as we reach the ending stages of the piece. Sadly, it’s been relegated to silly memes in the decades since. Now, I’m off to Church – odd as that likely seems!

  • Pictured: Dave Williams (Lead Vocals), C.J. Pierce (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Stevie Benton (Bass Guitar/Rhythm Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals) and Mike Luce (Drums/Percussion) (in 2001) (via The PRP/MetalSucks.net)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with an in-depth look at the brand new single from an English Indie Rock 3-piece who are making their highly-anticipated return from an 11-year hiatus! The trio began their reunion period with a charity concert in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust at The Royal Albert Hall in London on 29th March, 2019. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Scuzz Sundays: Nightwish – “Wish I Had An Angel”

February 2, 2020 — Leave a comment

An angel would be nice, but I wish I had a clear plan for what I’m going to do after I graduate from my university course in summer! It’s time for your Scuzz Sundays post!

  • Pictured: Tarja Turunen (Lead Vocals), Marco Hietela (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar), Tuomas Holopainen (Keyboard/Piano/Synths), Emppu Vuorinen (Lead Guitar) and Jukka Nevalainen (Drums) (2004 Band lineup – taken from the official Nightwish website)

It’s the end of Dry January and another cold working week here in the UK, which also means that it’s time for your weekly emo/rock/punk 90’s or 00’s throwback track as part of the aptly titled Scuzz Sundays theme on the blog. I’m Jacob Braybrooke, as always, taking you back to the simpler times of Scuzz TV as I revisit some of the tracks that I used to listen to during the days of Scuzz TV’s existence. “Wish I Had An Angel”, by the Finnish Symphonic Metal band Nightwish, is this week’s Scuzz Sunday track. It was the second single taken from their fifth studio album, “Once”, released back in September 2004 via the Spinefarm label. The eleventh single for the band, “Wish I Had An Angel” reached #60 on the UK Singles Chart upon it’s original release, becoming the band’s most commercially successful single to date, a title which it still holds to this very day. It gained popularity in the mainstream after it was featured on the soundtrack for the 2005 film, “Alone In The Dark”, loosely based on a video game series which I’m not personally familiar with at all. Let’s revisit the music video below.

Interestingly, the video above is an alternate cut of the official music video, as the original version featured scenes taken from the “Alone In The Dark” film, which were later edited out from the video – reportedly due to the overwhelmingly negative critical response to the film. In any case, it’s still a fantastic video full of all the Gothic coats, black smeared mascara and close-up angles that you could muster. Then-vocalist Tarja Turunen and bassist Marco Hietala provide duelling vocals, extravagantly chiming: “I wish I had your angel for one moment of love/I wish I had your angel tonight” over a frantic line of heavy guitar riffs and a rough pre-orchestra instrumentation. They contemplate the pain of beauty: “Last dance, first kiss/Your touch my bliss/Beauty always comes with dark thoughts”, crooned as an operatic hook by Turnunen, along with Hietela’s sighing: “I wish I had your angel/Your Virgin Mary undone/I’m in love with my lust/Burning angel wings to dust” over a symphonic composition of techno-groove metal. The instrumentation is also very orchestral, with minimal keyboard riffs, as the sound heavily features violin strings and cello arrangements, with a choral vocal hook in the background. The overall result is a progressive dark rock anthem which functions as an operatic ballad, with the male vocals and the female vocals constantly going back and forth to tell the story of taking your lust to a very dark place in your mind and how it’s easy to fall victim to this mentality as a rival. The guitar chords are punchy and the drums sound a little bit processed, which gives off slight vibes of Evanescence, who were enjoying the peak of their popularity within the same era. Overall, the sound may be a little bit Eurovision, perhaps, with a hint of cheese overfest. However, the duet vocal performance is very engaging and the instrumentation is heavy enough to justify the heightened sense of the pacing, format, composition and songwriting. As cold as ice but as solid as a rock!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Once” (June 2004) (Spinefarm Records) (Nuclear Blast Records)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with an in-depth look at the brand new track from an animated British band, led by a former Blur member, who notably won the “Best British Group” award at the BRIT Awards in 2018! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/