Tag Archives: Folk

Black Metal, Classic Rock, Death Metal, Genre, Hard Rock, HMO Diary, Progressive Rock

HMO Diary: 12th January 2025

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I had me a real good time recently, getting 2025 off to fun start by listening to lots of The Faces and Van Halen.

The Faces At The BBC is one of the best box sets I’ve bought for a while, I’ve been enjoying it immensely. The fact that The Faces were ace live isn’t exactly news because the Five Guys Walk Into A Bar… box set already did a great job of documenting that, but these BBC recordings are a soulful, rocking revelation all the same.

You don’t need me to tell you how good the first two Van Halen albums are, but I’ve been listening to them cause I’ve been enjoying Alex Van Halen’s Brothers book. Actually it’s the audiobook I’ve been enjoying because I liked the idea of hearing him reading it. It’s a thoughtful, detailed and moving memoir and Alex hasn’t been an outspoken figure for many years so it’s a treat to hear him reading the story.

All this brings me to the topic of my plan for 2025: I want to read more.
Continue reading HMO Diary: 12th January 2025 →

Classic Rock, Genre, Song Reviews

Bert Jansch – Alice’s Wonderland (Song Review)

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Many of my favourite instrumentals come from the world of acoustic folk/traditional guitarists. The mid-60s was a golden era for the genre, with many major artists releasing albums of groundbreaking creativity and virtuosity. Today’s pick comes from one of these albums: it’s Alice’s Wonderland from Bert Jansch’s 1965 debut. Recorded live in a kitchen on a borrowed guitar, the lo-fi recording puts you right in the room with Jansch as he picks dreamily through an array of beautiful chords and timings, only settling down briefly for a sublime, swinging vamp. It seems loose and improvised but the repeating passages and the way the chords all lead into one another suggests otherwise. It’s an extraordinary piece from a magical era, musical genius of the most unassuming and laid-back kind.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Song Reviews

Robert Plant – Come Into My Life (Song Review)

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“Hopes drift in higher places”

On Come Into My Life, well-chosen guest musicians sprinkle tasteful, but magical, fairy dust over a great song and turn it into a sublime one. Taken from Robert Plant’s excellent 1993 album Fate Of Nations, this is a passionate celtic rock song with gentle, shimmering verses and a fully Ledded big chord chorus. But because Boaby is the kind of guy (I imagine) that can just pick up the phone and get anyone he wants, Clannad’s Máire Brennan adds her beautiful ethereal voice and folk-rock giant Richard Thompson adds his distinctive, delicate guitar bends making Come Into My Life even more elemental and sumptuous than it already was. Ideal dreamy listening for a hot summer’s day.

Classic Rock, Genre, Hard Rock, Song Reviews

Led Zeppelin – Babe I’m Gonna Leave You (Song Review)

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“Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, baby, baby”

I didn’t mention Babe I’m Gonna Leave You when I reviewed Led Zep’s debut platter. It didn’t swing my verdict one way or the other. It’s not the best song on the album and it’s not the worst. But I was listening to Led Zeppelin again today and a lot of the album’s characteristics are summed up in this one song. It’s a great example of the album’s light and shade, folk and rock. A lovely acoustic part alternates with a cool heavy part where Boaby “Robert” Plant lets rip with roaring vocals. But it’s also a great example of why I got so bored of the album so quickly. The light and heavy parts both have the same chord progression which means this overlong song doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere. And neither does the narrator. By the end of the tune, no-one has left anyone. After the 17th-or-so “baby” I’m the one getting itchy feet.

Album Reviews, Classic Rock, Doom Metal, Genre, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Demon Head – Hellfire Ocean Void (Album Review)

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Demon Head – Hellfire Ocean Void (Released 22nd Feb 2019)

Remember when bands used to “get it together in the country”? Demon Head do. In the winter of 2017-18 they headed out to a remote recording studio in the Danish countryside to record their third album. But this is no bucolic, hippy, communing with nature type affair. More a “getting lost in the woods, people with strange animal masks, ‘it’s time for your appointment with The Wicker Danzig’” situation. The creepy rural seclusion approach has worked: Demon Head have definitely got it together on Hellfire Ocean Void.

The Night Is Yours and In The Hour Of The Wolf are the standout tracks: occult, old-fashioned metal that will appeal to fans of Tribulation and In Solitude. There are also lots of rustic interludes and mystical ambience which, combined with the band’s Pentagram-style proto-doom, gives the album a folk horror allure. The guitar work is much improved, some exciting NWOBHM-esque workouts and solos here, and Ferriera Larsen is finding his own voice: shaking off the Bobby Leibling/Fonzig comparisons of old.

As with previous albums, there’s a tendency to meander which means it takes a few listens to grab you. But it’s their most thoughtful, consistent and well-crafted effort yet with depth and atmosphere in abundance. It builds on the promise of their earlier work and suggests exciting ways forward. Fan of pagan, old-school metal? It’s time for your appointment with Demon Head.