Gallantly Streaming: The Company Band, Toadies Give The Dog Days Of Summer Some Bite

-
Stream The Company Band's Pros And Cons here courtesy AOL Music.

Fans impatiently awaiting a new record by Clutch can have their appetites partially sated by The Company Band's second EP Pros And Cons.

Neil Fallon's distinctive voice has the power to make just about anything sound like Clutch; good thing, since most of the EP's five tracks bear little to no musical resemblance to Fallon's day job.

We've already heard lead track House of Capricorn, and it's the closest we're coming to a true Clutch vibe.  Black Light Fever has Nuge-sized swagger, Kill Screen picks up the pace and rocks in the same vein as Zombie Barricades, the highlight of their self-titled debut album.  Loc Nar brings some menacing, doom-and-gloomy chug-a-chug, and closer El Dorado is what would have to be considered a Company Band power ballad, complete with the heart-tugging line "I'm so sorry I had to cannibalize you".

At a meager five songs, of course it ends too soon.  But it's a nice, light snack to tide us over for Clutch's next album.  Let's hope Fallon gets his nose to the grindstone and the three-year-plus wait ends sooner rather than later.

Stream Toadies' Play.Rock.Music in its entirety here courtesy Spinner.

You'd be forgiven for not recognizing Toadies.  The bulk of their success was in America, where Rubberneck spawned five singles and went platinum back in 1995 (a feat that sounds incredible now, but was much more commonplace back in the day).  A glaring example of record company stupidity, their sophomore album was shelved by their label, who eventually released Hell Below/Stars Above a full six years after Rubberneck to ensure they'd faded from public conscience.  It's a horrible and infuriating tale of stifled glory, one that's worth reading up on.

Anyway, Toadies have soldiered on; their fourth official album Play.Rock.Music rocks with the fury of that aforementioned second album while packing some of the power pop chops of Rubberneck. Even if you don't remember Possum Kingdom, a lot of that passion and spirit is on display here.  They'll never go platinum again, but to fade into obscurity is a gross disservice to a band whose 90's rock achievements have had their legacy shadowed by far worse bands.

Pros And Cons and Play.Rock.Music both see release tomorrow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IN REVIEW: Surf Curse - "Magic Hour"

-
Image
  After a slow ascent that saw them self-release their first three albums over the course of six years, Surf Curse found fame in the way that so many young and hungry bands do in this modern age; Freaks , written in 2011 and originally released on their debut Buds in 2013, found itself a sudden smash after soundtracking memes on TikTok in 2020, eventually garnering over 200 million streams and earning the group a major label contract.  The first album following their breakthrough, Magic Hour finds plenty of changes in store for fans; now expanded to a four-piece, this album immediately sets itself apart from previous releases based on the fuller sound in the songs alone. Couple that with a step away from the lo-fi aesthetic that played a part in earlier releases and this is obviously going to be a different experience than people may have hyped themselves up for. That said, the crunchy, energized Arrow and the lush, dreamy Cathy combine for a very strong start even as they fly in the
Read more

Gallantly Streaming: Avenged Sevenfold Go Full On 90's With Familiar, Stunning Results

-
Image
Stream Avenged Sevenfold's Hail To The King here , courtesy iTunes. As uncool and un-hipsterish as it may be for me to admit on a blog, I'm a fan of Avenged Sevenfold. Their breakthrough album City of Evil and its blistering lead single Bat Country sucked me in, and their varied, multiple era sprawling attack kept me around waiting for more. Their 2007 self titled effort was just as strong in its shameless genre hopping, planting their feet firmly in the technical metal that endeared them to so many while reaching out to explore new sounds. With that said, I felt 2010's Nightmare was a step back; while it had some genuinely thrilling moments, it overall lacked some of the adventurousness that made them so interesting. Upon listening to Hail To The King 's title track for the first time, I was admittedly disappointed by its trite lyrics and (mostly) simplistic musicianship. However, repeated exposure has helped the track age well; once you get past the lyrics
Read more

Year in Rock 2023: Honorable Mentions

-
Image
  Well, well, well. If it isn't Sound Bites temporarily coming back to life, suspiciously close to the end of the year. That must only mean one thing; well, aside from the author being supremely lazy and neglectful to his blog yet again. Yes, dear reader, it's time for Year in Rock. Look, I'm out of excuses as to why I can turn from cranking out content at a record pace to a full year of radio silence; suffice to say, this blog certainly isn't a priority in my life (which I have been rebuilding since my last post, but that's all personal stuff I have no desire to steal bandwidth from more deserving and important things). Sound Bites will continue to exist as a mausoleum for my personal music tastes, but it's not pivoting into self-help territory, nor is it roaring back to full-time status. I'll check in periodically, so as to say when there's something worth sharing. It might be once a year, it might be more frequently, but I definitely won't be gett
Read more