Music review: Unholy music for those craving for it

You may not be able to play them loud, but if you’ve had enough of contemplation and love heavy music, then these new releases are worth the blood in your ears.   CLUTCH Earth Rocker Weathermaker Music Truly, the secret to longevity is the herb. Clutch’s newest effort is stoner metal at its finest, with nods to classic rock and much raising of the bong for joyful toasts.   Space rock is the overarcing sound that infects this 10th studio album and easy faves are the opening title track, “Unto the Breach” (gets you revved up in the morning!), and “The Face” (gets you trippy even without the bud!) which features the signature rollicking Clutch sound we know and love. But, and this is the enjoyable but, there’s mondo experimentation going on here from the epic riffs of “Book, Saddle, and Go,” to the Latin percs on “DC Sound Attack.” Nothing too fancy or too bombastic, as there’s nary a song that clock above five minutes.   You can count on Clutch for workmanlike songs, but “Earth Rocker” does prove they can, every so often, play out of their comfort zone with blunt firmly in hand.   Just check out the psychedelic strains of “Cyborg Bette” where Neil Fallon screams the chorus “Superior firepowah!” with as much zest as Flash Gordon decimating his enemies.   DEFTONES Koi No Yokan Reprise Records Released late last year, Deftones continue their experimentation through strange lands and even stranger textures. Something that took definitive front and center in 2010’s “Diamond Eyes.”   And there IS something less metal and more new wave or electronic noize in mind set about this that I can’t quite put my finger on. It lurks inside the relentless attack of “Leathers,” you can come at it sideways through the crashing waves of “Tempest,” and in “Rosemary” where the delay is put to good use painting aquamarine colors.   Was this Sergio Vega’s (the new bassist who replaced the tragic Chi Cheng) influence? Or keyboardist Frank Delgado’s? Not up there for me with the bigger trees of their discography (“White Pony” ftw, still), but artistic expansionism and ambition have never bothered me in the least.   The title means "Premonition of Love" (In Japanese, duh) but if you think the Tones are getting all mushy and soft then simply check out “Gauze” or “Swerve City” and you’ll be back screaming with Chino as he dives from the stage and into the front row of Pasay’s World Trade Center – by the by, they’ll be back on tour this year to play Manila.       HANGING GARDEN At Every Door Lifeforce Records This one was a surprising, delightful discovery. Like the Americans of 40 Watt Sun, these Finnish guys have an obsession with morose (sometimes crackling black metal) vocals and guitars that vacillate from sparkly to somber. A few of these songs even veer into the post-rock and shoegaze territory.   These doom metal dudes have highly melodic, mid-tempo sensibilities that translate well for contemplative moods. “At Every Door” is actually their third record! So where have these guys been all my life? From the 10-minute-plus opus of “10,000 Cranes” to the atmosphere and bluster of “Evenfall,” these guys know how to bake gloom just right with a core base of miserabilism, icing made of woe, garnished with the tears of ex-lovers.   I know, too much obfuscation right? But Nino Hynninen’s meandering keyboards and Toni Toivonen tortured singing brings all that to life. By far my fave is the grandiose and apocalyptic “To End All Ages” where the fall of man was never so exquisite to hear.     These guys cite the fusion of Cult of Luna and Sigur Ros as their guiding torches and, the great thing is, they actually pull off this strange, alchemic, unlikely fusion with total sincerity. Respect, brothers, respect.    HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS Welcome Oblivion Null Corp/Columbia Records If the guy from Nine Inch Nails and his wife from West Indian Girl combined, ehem, forces to make stunning aggressive music with machines, and named themselves after a 1984 Coil single, can we still call it industrial?   Maybe post-industrial is a more apt term. Especially with the way the songs on this album choose subtlety over heavy handedness. Still, there’s enough of NIN and enough of the frolicking pop of WIG that’s processed through Atticus Ross’s EBM and punk approach.   Much like how you can always hear some garnish of Tool in A Perfect Circle. Even if there are some tracks that can arguably be on a NIN disc (hello “Too Late, All Gone”).   My God, though, but can Mrs Reznor sing! From the cloying, whispering strains of “Keep It Together,” the calculated hysteria of “Welcome Oblivion,” and the playful satire and absurdity of the ukulele-fueled (or is that a synth mimicking a ukulele?) “Ice Age,” Maandig delivers range AND power. Little wonder Trent let the missus take the lead in singing here.   I tell you, HTDA deserve nothing less than your full listening attention. There’s meaning and masterful execution at work here. This album represents the birth of a major new voice in the genre.     With the re-formation and upcoming tour dates of NIN, we may well expect a performance of HTDA with them. After all, there’s nothing like being band mates with your bride, and taking her on the road might just be what the doctor ordered.   BAD RELIGION True North Epitaph Records What is punk? People have argued that it’s a blank flag to rally under and color with your own rage. Others make of it the manifestation of the politics of disenfranchisement given an aegis.   Whatever it is, everybody agrees you can’t hold it in your hands. But with Bad Religion, you can sure listen to it. And more than three decades later, there’s no doubt that without Greg Dulli and Co., our modern idea of punk would have never been this intelligent, articulate, or in a rhyme scheme worthy of T. S. Eliot.   While my fave BR LPs will always be “Against the Grain” (1989’s “No Control” comes a close second) last year’s “Dissent of Man” and this year’s “True North” are real contenders for top shelf status. These 40-somethings show absolutely no signs of slowing down or taking it easy on the brutes that need eviscerating with sharp tongues.     And, in a miraculous event, this one even managed to crack number 18 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. This means that the 21st century digital boys have a first ever top-20 album in their entire 34 years of existence. Not bad for an album that clocks in at less than half an hour. So how’s that for a career peak?   In terms of subject matter and sound, there’s nothing new here, just the same blitzkrieg attack, the same three (or four) chords, the same people being called out (and called on) for their bull. “Robin Hood in Reverse,” the title track, and the no punches pulled “F^$k You” are all clarion calls for being pissed off at the way the world is.   Don’t think they can get any more hardcore? “Vanity” is worthy of any Black Flag or Minor Threat mosh pit, and it’ll get you smashing into your comrades faster than its “1:01” running time. —KG, GMA News