Post by thesoundmonitor on Jan 6, 2004 22:46:09 GMT -5
STARCHILD
Starchild
(12th Records)
I was one of the lucky few (or was it the only?) people lucky enough to hear the Starchild 8 song promo a little while back. Well, the album is out, just under the wire for an '03 release. The sound and song order are the same, so why not dust off the review, since the album is every bit as fantastic as it was on the day I reviewed it? Why not indeed?
Hunter Thompson once said that true objective journalism is impossible. In the case of Starchild, I'm giving in to the futility of even trying for such a lofty goal by declaring that this is one of the best groups in existence, if trad. doom is your thing. Starchild produces some of the most flat-out amazing cosmic space doom ever created, on this or any planet.
Its impossible to describe how knocked out I was when I heard their three-song demo earlier this year. Actually, I was literally knocked out on painkillers, but that's another story. heh.
This new promo from Waycross, Georgia's doom overlords incorporates the three songs from the earlier demo, while adding five more. Each one is a masterpiece of riffing, spaced-out, drugged-out DOOM. The first two songs, 'The Futurist' and 'Wings' are from the earlier disc, as is the last one, 'Truth.' Each is a wonder of freshly interpreted Sabbathisms, smoked over a slow (High on) fire, then flung into outer space. The first
of the new tunes, 'Pearl' is a pretty acoustic effort, transitioning into what Starchild have to say to us this go round. Which commences in earnest with 'Freedom,' a monstrously heavy, mid-paced ode to drugged ideals that reminds me of New Zealand's best, Datura. The trademark echo vocals are there in spades, like being hit over the head with a lava lamp in slow-mo. 'Eyes of Fire' has a heavy, chugging riff with a blistering, multi-tracked guitar solo, while 'God Shaped Hole' gives us a breather with a weirdly pretty guitar/effects duet. 'First Dawn' is perhaps the most interesting tune on the whole disc. The heretofore clean vox are filtered and treated to sound that much weirder and rougher, engineered (no doubt) to give flashbacks to LSD virgins. The song's a stone burner, followed by 'Truth,' with its rhythmic changeups and excellent collapsoid ending. Unbelievable.
My copy of this demo has "2003 release on 12th Records" and "Next on 12th" written on the insert, but a quick search of the label's site reveals no information. Back when I received the first demo, I seem to remember rumors going around that the full album's release was "imminent." Well, lets hope it really is, because this is far too good to be kept
under wraps any longer."
Fortunately, 12th got on the stick and all good doomsters are the richer for it. Pick up on one of the year's best releases; no Top 10 is complete without it.
by Kevin McHugh
Label website: www.12threcords.com/
Buy this album: www.12threcords.com/order.html
Starchild
(12th Records)
I was one of the lucky few (or was it the only?) people lucky enough to hear the Starchild 8 song promo a little while back. Well, the album is out, just under the wire for an '03 release. The sound and song order are the same, so why not dust off the review, since the album is every bit as fantastic as it was on the day I reviewed it? Why not indeed?
Hunter Thompson once said that true objective journalism is impossible. In the case of Starchild, I'm giving in to the futility of even trying for such a lofty goal by declaring that this is one of the best groups in existence, if trad. doom is your thing. Starchild produces some of the most flat-out amazing cosmic space doom ever created, on this or any planet.
Its impossible to describe how knocked out I was when I heard their three-song demo earlier this year. Actually, I was literally knocked out on painkillers, but that's another story. heh.
This new promo from Waycross, Georgia's doom overlords incorporates the three songs from the earlier demo, while adding five more. Each one is a masterpiece of riffing, spaced-out, drugged-out DOOM. The first two songs, 'The Futurist' and 'Wings' are from the earlier disc, as is the last one, 'Truth.' Each is a wonder of freshly interpreted Sabbathisms, smoked over a slow (High on) fire, then flung into outer space. The first
of the new tunes, 'Pearl' is a pretty acoustic effort, transitioning into what Starchild have to say to us this go round. Which commences in earnest with 'Freedom,' a monstrously heavy, mid-paced ode to drugged ideals that reminds me of New Zealand's best, Datura. The trademark echo vocals are there in spades, like being hit over the head with a lava lamp in slow-mo. 'Eyes of Fire' has a heavy, chugging riff with a blistering, multi-tracked guitar solo, while 'God Shaped Hole' gives us a breather with a weirdly pretty guitar/effects duet. 'First Dawn' is perhaps the most interesting tune on the whole disc. The heretofore clean vox are filtered and treated to sound that much weirder and rougher, engineered (no doubt) to give flashbacks to LSD virgins. The song's a stone burner, followed by 'Truth,' with its rhythmic changeups and excellent collapsoid ending. Unbelievable.
My copy of this demo has "2003 release on 12th Records" and "Next on 12th" written on the insert, but a quick search of the label's site reveals no information. Back when I received the first demo, I seem to remember rumors going around that the full album's release was "imminent." Well, lets hope it really is, because this is far too good to be kept
under wraps any longer."
Fortunately, 12th got on the stick and all good doomsters are the richer for it. Pick up on one of the year's best releases; no Top 10 is complete without it.
by Kevin McHugh
Label website: www.12threcords.com/
Buy this album: www.12threcords.com/order.html
plz