Ian Anderson
Thick as a Brick 2
EMI (2012)
If there's anything movies have taught us, it's that sequels almost always suck in comparison to the original. While there aren't nearly as many sequels in the musical world, occasionally an artist will go back and revisit one of the ideas that made them famous in the first place. In almost all of these cases, such as with Mike Oldfield's endless Tubular Bells reinterpretations, the final product winds up, for lack of a better term, blowing. It languishes as a pale imitation of the original, merely a failed attempt to recapture one's own past greatness. But then, on that rare occasion, an artist will not only create a sequel that doesn't suck, but a sequel that holds up well in comparison to the original, and, even more rarely, a beautiful album in its own right. Folks, Ian Anderson's Thick as a Brick 2, a direct sequel to his band Jethro Tull's 1972 hit Thick as a Brick forty years on, is one such an album.There are many musical references to the original album, but what makes this album great is that none of them feel forced. All of the musical references within the body of the music are subtle and … Read more
Looking for an Answer
Eterno Treblinka
Relapse (2011)
Spain's Looking For An Answer have been around long enough that to play grind is generally to be compared to … Read more
Old Man Gloom
No
Hydra Head (2012)
“THEY PLAYED ‘ZOZOBRA’! THEY PLAYED ‘ZOZOBRA’!” Thank you for allowing me to get that out of my system as the … Read more
Various Artists
As We Draw/Euglena/Hexis
Throatruiner (2011)
Split albums generally feature artists at their best, and when they feature artists from a strong label like Throatruiner, there's … Read more
