IN REVIEW: Moist - "Glory Under Dangerous Skies"

Longtime lovers of rock and alternative music in Canada have to be feeling a little weird these days. More and more major Canadian alt bands from the '90s that went gently into the night have resurfaced in recent years (see: Headstones, Big Wreck, the Grapes of Wrath, etc.), armed not just with reunion tours but also with new material. So when Moist announced their return amid The Tea Party's unveiling of their first new music in a decade, there simply wasn't enough thunder to go around, and I sadly approached Moist's fourth album with a little less excitement than I normally would have.

One of the first things you'll notice about Glory Under Dangerous Skies is the abundance of guitars. This is surely at least partially due to production duties being handled by lead guitarist Mark Makoway; far be it for me to complain about guitars being present on a rock album, but they're a lot more prevalent here than on Moist's original trinity of albums. Indeed, the songs by and large bear a harder edge, marking Glory Under Dangerous Skies far and away Moist's most out-and-out rock record.

This is great news for anyone who enjoyed Moist in the '90s and fondly remembers the uniquely melodic brand of rock they brought to the table. There are plenty of reminders here; Broken cross pollinates two of their biggest singles (Push and Resurrection) to create something simultaneously familiar and refreshing. Comes The Sun recalls Leave It Alone briefly en route to a soaring chorus. Of course, Moist were just as well known for their heart wrenching ballads, and we get a couple of those too in the form of Still I Won't Look Down and the title track (which reminds me somewhat vividly of Ebb Away by ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, but I'm sure I'm the only one).

There are some signs of new ground being broken as well; take Morning Dies Here, which proves The Killers are more influential than I could ever bear to give them credit for. Current single Black Roses comes in on a fuzzed out bass riff and charges hard into HIM territory, and the results are more thrilling than you think. God Is In The White Rice carries after effects of an acid trip George Harrison took in '67, and the song doesn't attempt to overpower, content to simply wash over you and melt away. It's a much different look for the band, but it works in its own way.

Your enjoyment of Glory Under Dangerous Skies doesn't hinge on whether or not you were on board for Moist's original run, but fond memories of their early records (especially Silver and Creature) will certainly help you along. That said, there is much to appreciate here, in both the nostalgic sense and the purely musical. It doesn't dethrone Creature as my favourite Moist record, but it earns its place alongside it, and is as good a reason as any to dust the original albums off and go back to a time when being a Canadian rock fan was more thrilling than it had ever been before or would be again.

October 7, 2014 • Universal

Highlights Broken • Black Roses • God Is in the White Rice

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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