Ted Leo - Tej Leo (?), Rx/Pharmacists (1999)
http://www.mediaf!re.com/?tizin3oyw1v
Because Ted Leo does kick ass, we all deserve a listen to the first Pharmacists album.
not the most favorable review, but if you're a fan and haven't heard it I'd say it's worth your time.
All Music
Breaking away from the infamous Chisel, frontman and underground pop icon Ted Leo has gone solo with his first outing, RX/ Pharmacist. But just as he has separated from his former mod-punk outfit, he has also distanced himself from his ability to write a straightforward song without tampering it with studio tricks and noises. RX/ Pharmacists features 19 songs of twisted samples, scattered tape loops, and an occasional track of tuneful, Jam-inspired punk. The only problem is that the actual songs featured here contain a wall of unnecessary noise in the background -- whether it's a distracting turntable or a recording that sounds as if it came from a warped audio cassette. Leo's energy and soulful vocals manage to barely balance out all of the "experimentation"; still, RX/ Pharmacists could have been a perfect album, if it didn't require the listener to constantly press the fast-forward button.
Now I'm not really into 'metal' all that much. I love Boris I listen to Mastadon now and then but I've really taken a shine to Wolves In The Throne Room. Not only to they have one of the most bad-ass band names in recent history (album titles as well actually) but
Wolves In The Throne Room - Diadem Of 12 Stars (2006) [188 VBR]
pt1
http://www.mediaf!re.com/?jigjgtwyt2ypt2
http://www.mediaf!re.com/?illjnzdldmj
All Music
Hailing from what's fast emerging as the American equivalent of Scandinavia (at least where heavy metal is concerned), the Pacific Northwest, Wolves in the Throne Room compose haunting black metal inspired by fog-draped forests and long, dreary, dark winters. But the imaginatively named trio is not your everyday, pagan-worshipping, blood-sucking, corpse-paint-donning black metal band, either; but rather residents of a self-sufficient commune situated outside of Olympia, WA, where frugal living conditions help dictate the band's focus on music -- not dressing up like it's Halloween all year-round. Well, maybe just the mandatory hooded cloak, but that's almost de rigueur when signing to an independent black metal label like Vendlus. Anyway, cloaks or no cloaks, the music presented by Wolves in the Throne Room on their full-length debut, Diadem of 12 Stars, is truly powerful stuff: consisting of ten-plus-minute agglomerations of alternating furious blastbeats, sweeping mournful melodies, buzzsaw riffs, and scorched earth vocal screeches. Ultimately, the music's desolate ambiance is arguably taken to extremis on the 20-minute title track, which, with its additional neo-folk elements, atmospheric quiet passages, and eerie female voices decrying lyrics about mankind's lost affinity with nature, evokes almost palpable visions of cryptic pagan rituals. Yes, the band's instrumental execution could be a little bit tighter all around, their arrangements from passage to passage more fluid, and of course there's little on offer that hasn't already been done before; but that doesn't mean Diadem of 12 Stars won't provide a stimulating listening for experienced fans of black metal.
Wolves In The Throne Room - Two Hunters (2007) [228 VBR]
http://www.mediaf!re.com/?zcnqaqmdocm
*My personal fave of theirs, it seems to have more drone, and doom elements. (I haven't quite listened to Black Cascade to tell whether I like it more just yet though)
All Music
Virtually anyone who came into contact with Wolves in the Throne Room's 2005 long-player, Diadem of 12 Stars on Vendlus, fell in love with it, and for good reason. This Olympia, WA, underground black metal trio had its own take on the music; sure, it had blastbeats, screeching vocals, and furious riffs, but there is so much more to it than that. Oh yeah, no corpse paint, either (though an occasional hooded robe is worn in caves around campfires). For starters, their title track was 20 minutes long, and it changed constantly, layered through with heavy atmospherics, dark bewitching gloomy soundscapes that evoked the sound of the rain in the foggy forests of their hometown. The entire record -- even with its furious speeds alternating with funereal dirges, gorgeously paranoid ghostly keyboard passages, and a female vocal or two -- still had more than enough howling, buzzing guitars, and distorted crunch drums amid the blazing bass throb. Most importantly, so sophisticated was their approach to this rather bleak and primitive art form that they sounded as if they'd been recording together for decades. Two Hunters, the band's debut for Southern Lord, follows the same blueprint in some ways, but furthers it exponentially. Like its predecessor, there are only four cuts over 46 minutes, ranging from six minutes to just under 20. Wolves in the Throne Room are actually composers who understand how to assemble a suite of music that maximizes dynamics, tensions, moods, and textures without ever surrendering the flip-out unglued vibe that makes black metal so special.... (truncated for length)
Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade (2009) [320kbps]
pt1
http://www.mediaf!re.com/?egjj2lm2ywtpt2
http://www.mediaf!re.com/?onzmbmdu32z
It hasn't been released yet, so my two second search yielded no decent reviews but if you enjoyed their previous work I can't see why you wouldn't want this.
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