Album Releases: Week Commencing 08/03/10: Albums Of The Week

Jimi Hendrix - Valleys Of Neptune

"Oh wow another release from an old dead artist, why do they continuously sodomise the legacy of talented artists with these live albums and b sides" Wrong dear reader. Valleys Of Neptune contains previously unreleased studio recordings of Hendrix songs to be used on his fourth album, with all but one of the tracks being recorded in 1969 the year before his death. The album calls the tracks previously unreleased which is a slight exaggeration (live versions of a lot of the songs have been released) but this is Jimi Hendrix sounding like Jimi Hendrix with the songs sounding crisp and dare I say it "fresh" 40 years on from their original recording. In a time where the charts are filled with either sweeping bland chord fests or angular awkward indie crud, it is refreshing to hear the guitar being played with such a funky sense of joy and liveliness. There isn't a great deal of variations between the tracks but highlights include the singles Valleys of Neptune and Bleeding Heart, while Lover Man and Fire are filled with such speed and such merriment it is impossible to keep still while listening to. Hendrix guitar playing is like aural caffeine, you just want to move. Absolute highlight of the release is a studio version of Cream's classic Sunshine Of Your Love, an iconic song that Hendrix completely mashes his imprint all over. Certainly the coolest Clapton has ever sounded with the middle third in particular sounding incredible. You will already know if this is your cup of tea but listening to this release it makes you wish Hendrix had lived longer and recorded a lot more.

Top Tracks: Sunshine Of Your Love, Fire, Valleys Of Neptune
If you like this try: Clutch - Blast Tyrant

Burzum - Belus

Often an musicians baggage can overpower an album and overshadow what could be a monumental release. No one thinks about the music on a new Britney Spears album anymore, everyone is too focused on her backstory instead of what she has created and Burzum is in a similar shadow. Burzum is the solo project of Varg Vikernes, a man who many see as a founding father of Norwegian black metal, Vikernes was (and may still be) a white supremacist and a hardcore pagan, but even these sensationalist facts pale in comparison to the real story. After visiting Øystein Aarseth to discuss a contract signing the two former friends began fighting and Varg stabbed him repeatedly until Aarseth died of massive blood loss. In 1994, Varg was sentenced to 21 years for this murder (the maximum in Norway) and was also charged with four counts of church burning. 2009 saw the release of Vikernes after serving 15 years of his sentence. It's under these circumstances that Belus is released, it is Burzum's first album since Vikernes' release from prison and if black metal fans were worried jail had dulled his ability to pen high calibre black metal, they can breathe a sigh of relief. It doesn't seem as though Vikernes has been away at all, Belus is a crushing black metal opus of magnificent proportion. The guitars sound distant and gritty as ever while the blast beat drumming is simple but very effective. The production is a little murky but that just adds to the mystical immersion that this album provides. The only real difference between this album and Burzum's glory years is Varg's voice, which has naturally lost some of the power it once had. His vocals are much lower, almost growls in the distance instead of the powerful screeches and screams of yore. The other major change is that most the album is sung in Norwegian instead of English because of Varg's hatred of America who he believes "wants to be the new Roman Empire, and their Latin is English." The only real disappointment I felt was the lack of any ambient sections and deeper atmospheric parts but this doesn't ruin the album or take anything away from its splendour. Despite its flaws and the personal hatred I harbour to Varg's "activities" I really enjoyed this album and will definitely be playing it on grim nights in the frostbitten future.

Top Tracks: Morgenroede, Belus Doed
If you liked this try: Coldworld - Meloncholie