SemiConscious Dot Org

It’s a red letter day here at Semiconscious Dot Org. Regular readers know that your humble author loves him some metal and some punk. Wellsir, not only is there a Dropkick Murphys/Mighty Mighty Bosstones concert tonight at the Civic Center, but last night I found out that the new Melvins album is out! I took the day off from work (cough, cough) and once Tannhauser arrives in a few hours, we’ll be heading downtown to purchase the Melvins, imbibe heavily on the patio at Novare Res, and head off to the show.

Anyhoo, here’s the new music roundup. You’re welcome.

Opeth – Watershed
For over a decade, they’ve been perfecting their unlikely mix of death metal and Pink Floyd-y prog rock. This album tilts the balance noticeably towards the latter. I can’t say it’s as magnificent as either of their two acknowledged masterpieces, 1999’s Still Life or 2005’s Ghost Reveries, because I do like the thrashin’. But it’s still damn good, more of a “headphones” album than a “point the speakers out the windows and terrify your neighbors” album.

Boris – Smile
As with Opeth, Boris is faced with the daunting task of following up their magnum opus (in their case, 2006’s Pink.) And like Opeth, they come pretty close. Much like Pink, Smile mixes the monolithic walls of guitar drone from their earlier albums with shorter tracks influenced by 70’s hard rock and punk. They sing entirely in Japanese, so I have no idea what they’re saying. But with music like this, vocals are just another instrument anyway.

The Roots – Rising Down
Am I sensing a trend here? Here’s yet another veteran band following up their career-defining album. 2006’s Game Theory might just be the best hip hop release of this entire decade. Wisely, they chose to not try and duplicate its sound on Rising Down, instead going for a harder, darker edge. But while the music may be different, the lyrical viewpoint is not: these guys are the natural heirs to Public Enemy, and their music is a call to arms.

Sigur Rós – Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Finally, a band not attempting to follow up their opus. Sigur’s best album, the awe-inspiring Ágætis Byrjun, was almost a full decade ago, and everything they’ve released since has unfortunately been boring, pretentious pablum. They obviously knew it was time to shake things up, because Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust represents the most immediate, catchy, and uptempo music they’ve ever recorded. Check out the video for “Gobbledigook” to see the new direction. (Warning: nekkid people. Lots of them.)

The Black Angels – Directions to See a Ghost
And after all the veteran bands, we conclude with a young group whose best days are presumable ahead of them. This is their second release, following 2006’s debut, Passover. Like its predecessor, it’s a mass of reverb-drenched, Velvet Underground-inspired psychedelia. Excellent stuff, and well worth picking up, but I get the feeling they’re capable of even more. There’s a masterpiece coming from this band, and soon. Maybe next time out.