The Company Band – The Company Band

(Restricted Release, 2009)

The Company Band is a rock supergroup consisting of Neil Fallon (Clutch), James Rota (Fireball Ministry), Brad Davis (Fu Manchu), Jess Margera (CKY), and Dave Bone. That alone tells you that this album is going to be pretty darn good and it doesn’t disappoint.

Fallon, a small man with a big beard and even bigger voice, sounds aggressive and disgruntled on lead track Zombie Barricades, providing the listener with an immediate wake up call. From there the mix of Fallon’s harsh, Southern vocal styles contrast with the catchy guitar hooks and fun, Californian styles of Rota and Davis. It’s a Confusing World has a real Fu Manchu feel to it while Fallon’s lyrics about quantum mechanics for Djinn and Pentatonic are more akin to the intelligent wordplay used in many Clutch songs.

The band keeps the album fairly straightforward; Rota and Bone provide guitar licks during breaks in Fallon’s raspy vocals while Margera effortlessly bangs away on the drums throughout. Inline Six reads like a Hitcher type horror movie where a man is about to get rundown by a truck, although it all seems a little inevitable rather than scary. Who Else But Us? contains the line “defibrillate 'em, sedate 'em, then kick 'em in the nuts!” which is pretty much what this song does and CDANDW, standing for “chaos, destruction, and war” sums up how this track sounds.

Love Means Never Having to Say You’re Ugly is possibly the strongest track on the album with a lift in tempo and energy. This provides a final punch for the listener before the album concludes with a slow, grandstand finish on Lethe Waters where all members have a chance to show their wares.

It seems as if the star lineup just got together, jammed, and banged out these ten tracks for The Company Band, it sounds effortless and rocks from start to finish; heavy enough to thrash around to but also restrained enough to sit back and enjoy. Fans of any one of CKY, Fireball Ministry, or Fu Manchu would definitely get a kick out of this release with Fallon’s distinctive vocals making it most appealing to fans of Clutch. 

2010 (...part 2)

More stuff from 2010 (with a little more to come):

Tub Ring – Secret Handshakes
(The End Records, 2010)

 

Tub Ring’s sound changes from album to album with Secret Handshakes continuing this trend by having a slightly electronic feel to it. The early Mr. Bungle-ish/punk feel is still there but there’s a tinge of cheesy 80’s electronic/new wave about it. This is a good thing. There’s plenty of energy and the cheesiness shines through in Gold Finger; the tongue-in-cheek cockiness from vocalist Kevin Gibson this song wouldn’t be out of place on an Eagles of Death Metal record. The electronic/cheap 80’s computer sound takes over in Touching the Enemy while Cryonic Love Song sounds like a couple of dying  computers crying out for some love before heavy crunching riffs, a few more whimpers, and an abrupt end to the song. I Shot Your Faggot Horse Bitch sounding more like it should be somewhere in Trent Reznor’s back catalogue, is strangely placed in the middle of the album before the rest of the tracks are business as usual for Tub Ring.

Throw in a brilliantly updated cover of Queen’s 1984 hit Flash and, with the exception of I Shot, it’s a action packed album from start to finish. Apparently there’s a remix album on the way too.

 Mike Patton – Mondo Cane
(Ipecac Recordings, 2010)

Everybody loves Mike Patton performing covers (except maybe Anthony Kiedis); and here’s a whole album of them! On Mondo Cane, Patton has taken his favourite Italian pop songs from the 1950’s and 1960’s and put his own, over-the-top, spin on them. In typical Patton fashion, he is backed up for a 40-odd person orchestra. It is project which had been a long time coming, inspired by the music he heard while living in Italy. Barring Deep, Deep Down it features Patton singing (yes, singing) entirely in Italian; my Italian is non-exsistent so I won’t judge how well he did here, but he is, for the most part, a perfectionist when it comes to his musical projects. He does manage to pull out a few of his famous screams for Urlo Negro, making it the standout track on the album for me.

Patton finally got around to recording the album last year after a few live performances in 2008. The recorded versions have lost a bit of the power of the live sound but it remains a solid and passionate performance from Patton. A live dvd would be a nice document of Mondo Cane but hopefully he gets back to work on more Fantomas and Tomahawk.

Fireball Ministry – Fireball Ministry
(Red Distribution, 2010)

 

Californian stoner rock group Fireball Ministry’s fourth album is perhaps their most commercial release. It seems a lot more work has gone into the production with the album sounding very polished. Gone are the deep, grunting vocals of earlier releases with vocalist James A. Rota coming across as more refined and smooth. Followed By A Fall and Common Enemy are very much like former Fireball Ministry releases, however overall there is a real Fu Manchu feel to his album. It comes as no surprise seeing it is produced by Andrew Alekel who has worked with Fu Manchu numerous times, and given Fu Manchu bassist Brad Davis spent a brief period in Fireball Ministry.

Fireball Ministry seem to fly under the radar a little, which is surprising given they have a sound comparable to Fu Manchu with hints of Queens of the Stone Age and Metallica thrown in.