Lords "The House That Lords Built" CD
[Initial]
I don't know how I feel about this... it's abrasive and loud as hell rock with a major acerbic and sort of chaotic edge, with hyper screamed vocals that have a weird sort of vibe going on. More rocked out or faster, energized songs like "Mouth to Mouth" and "Dead End Idea" are very cool, maintaining a gritty thread against a classic sort of punk strand, but some of the other songs are too irritating for me to really get into. I don't know, a lot of it really does sound like faster, looser, and crazier early punk rock, but only a handful of the compositions deliver it in a manner that hits me in the face as a powerful dose. I don't dislike it, but there are only two tracks that fully kick ass, and the true core of the disc is a mere 11 minutes of material! The last track is 19 minutes of blank space and backwards tracks from the CD, I think, in the left channel only, which makes little sense to me, but whatever. Recording-wise I'm not really hearing much low-end to the bass, which annoys me, but everything else sounds good for what it is. The tones are dirty and sound the way they should considering these guys weren't going for polished clarity. The guitars have their own space but are definitely raw, the percussion sounds awesome - dry yet resonant, and the vocals are mixed in against the music. The bass definitely needs more low-end to help thicken up some of those little spaces, but other than that I'd leave it alone. Killer layout here as well. Tons of unusual illustrations with lots of color and jumbled arrangements creating building landscapes out of amplifiers and using strange text arrangements. Not bad at all, I definitely enjoy the aesthetics of this one. Lyrics? "This is annihilation, Cut off all communication, This is violent pacification, This ain't no contest this is war, This is everything you bargained for (minus the kick in the teeth)..." I can live with that. It's a short spurt of music, but I like it for the most part. I'd prefer fewer dissonant little hammer-on/pull-off type notesy riffs in favor of more pissed rock ala "Mouth to Mouth" or "Dead End Idea", though. Those tracks are so good compared to the others... (6/10)
Running time - 10:51, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Mouth to Mouth, Dead End Idea]
Initial Records - http://www.initialrecords.com

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