First Listen: Chinese Democracy

For years, my friends and I would make fun of the fact that Chinese Democracy seemed to be perpetually delayed, and at times seemed like it would never come out. We made jokes like: I bet the Lions win a super bowl before Chinese Democracy comes out. Well, now it is out, and in spirit of the album's many delays, I too have delayed listening to it...I have heard bits of the title track on the radio, but never any full songs. So, here at Battle Hymns, I will listen to Chinese Democracy for the first time, and blog about each song as I do so. Enjoy!

Track 1: Chinese Democracy: The opening riff strikes me as very unGNR-esque. Axl is harmonizing with himself on the verses...it is almost too much Axl. Now that I am in the thick of it, this song seems to be cranked right out of the GNR hit machine. I know it isn't Slash on guitars, but whoever is playing on this song is doing a pretty damn good imitation.

Track 2: Shackler's Revenge: Sweet song title. Axl's voice sounds like it has had some serious auto-tune tweaking...he kinda sounds robotic. Stylistically, this song is a lot different than Chinese Democracy...not necessarily a good thing. The solos sound like they would fit better in a techno song.

Track 3: Better: Another WAY different sounding song. Am I listening to Guns and Roses? Whoa, Axl busting out some deep throaty growls! Axl is showing off his vocal range on this song...I actually wasn't aware he had a "range" I'm waiting for his wail. There's a sweet sounding crunchy riff at the half-way point here. Now there is a splash of Mario Brothers sounding guitar...where is this song's identity?

Track 4: Street of Dreams: Axl is...crooning. I'm totally feeling the "emotion" of this song. "You know I wouldn't want to be you/now there's a hell I can't describe". DEEEEP! Damn, another epic solo. This song is lame, but that solo was pretty fly. Sometimes Axl sounds great when he wails, other times he sounds like a cat getting run over...this one is the latter.

Track 5: If the World: Spanish guitar intro, moving on to some porno sounding guitar with lots of wah pedal. I heard that during one of the songs, you can hear Axl banging one of the other GNR guy's girlfriends in the background. I feel like it might be on this song... Cant here it though. Whoa! Circular! Ending with the Spanish guitar outro.

Track 6: There was a Time: The past few songs have lacked the energy of the opening track. My theory is that you should kick the listener in the throat with the opening track, then never let the pressure off until the end of the album, much like Mastodon's Leviathan album. This isn't happening with this album so far. The "there was a time" title must refer to the time when rock/metal albums gave massive amounts of space to the guitarist for solos, because this song is like 50% guitar solo. Say what you will about Axl (he's a douche), but at least that vain fucker gives his guitarist lots of space.

Track 7: Catcher in the Rye: The Novel, Catcher in the Rye is a classic of American literature. Catcher in the Rye, the GNR song, is generic rock music fare.




Track 8: Scraped: Kickin' off the second half with a nice fast paced rockin' song. I bet this song would sound sweet live. Axl sounds like he was just scraped off a coke mirror, and fed some pork ribs. This is how I picture Axl's diet: Coke and ribs. Best song so far.

Track 9: Raid N' the Bedouins: I think the first lyric sung by Axl on most of the tracks so far is: "AHHHHH!" Wanna know how much Axl's song writing skills have improved over the years? Well, he still writes shit like: "But I don't give a fuck 'bout them/cause I'm crazy". Yep, he's still on top of his game.

Track 10: Sorry: Who's read for some Sebastian Bach? I am! ol' SB sings backups on this song. Oh, by the way, this is a ballad too. 80's/early 90's rock math: Sebastain Bach + ballad = recipe for an "epic" song. Speaking of "epic", Sebastian described this album as "epic". I'd take that statement with a grain of salt, Bach stopped being musically relevant in the early 90's. Wow, I really hate ballads. This song sucks.

Track 11: I.R.S.: The songs are starting to run together. They all seem to all fit into a very specific GNR song mold. Good for those who are nostalgic for Appetite for Destruction, but none of these songs are nearly as good. The only thing this song has going for it is Axl's longest yell of the album, it sounds like the length of the scream was extended via all those shiny dials the producer uses to make shit sound better. 3 more to go.

Track 12: Madagascar: Axl is busting out his blues voice. Think: Don't Cry or November Rain.

Track 13: This is Love: Oh brother, a piano based Axl love song, complete with generic rhymes: "there is a special light/still shining bright/and even on the darkest night/she cant deny". Yay, more Axl harmonizing with Axl. Got some orchestral arrangements too. Twice as nice. Tack on a smoky/searing guitar solo and you've got another crappy song. When was this shit recored? 1991? According to this song, Axl will never say goodbye. Great.

Track 14: Prostitute: The last song on the Album. So far, the song sounds nothing like you'd expect a song called "prostitute" to sound. I expected more "rock". Slowly, this song is gaining momentum. Axl's voice is gaining too, I expect some sort of classic Axl screech where he climbs that vocal mountain and hovers at the precipice of shattering your ears...I've been waiting all album. And I'm still waiting...

Well, Chinese Democracy wasn't the total piece of shit I expected it to be. It wasn't great either. I guess if you are a GNR fan it might scratch that 15 year long itch for new GNR material. While it kinda sorta felt familiar and felt like a GNR album, it never once managed to capture that white leather-Paradise City-GNR that I wanted to hear.

Review: The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is most likely the most violent book I have ever read. Set in the dark ages, it follows two devout, grave robbing brothers whose foulness seems insurmountable, but they eventually stand out as the good guys when compared to their enemies.

The brothers, Hegel and Manfried are, in many ways, products of their environment. They live in dark times, (medieval Europe) and survive by any means possible while caring little for others. Often innocent lives are forfeit so that the brothers can carry on in the world. Their one goal in life is to travel to Egypt so they can gain countless riches by robbing the endless graves there.

With that simple premise, the book takes off. This novel takes no prisoners and is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach (reading this book while eating is not recommended). I must have gotten desensitized though, because I read the whole thing, and I did like it quite a bit. I got a feeling that Bullington must have researched the time period because the setting felt accurate, and the people that populated his world were believable. This is also a pretty damn funny book. A lot of the banter between the brothers is hilarious, and the way they interact with other characters was fun to read. Bullington does a great job of adding some uncommon fantasy elements that give this book a unique feel. There is one very memorable scene of demon birth that stands out as some of the best fantastical writing I've ever read.

However, this is a graphically violent novel. I feel that The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart reflects a trend that I often see in various media these days: the more violence and gore the better. I see it the most often on TV and movies; in the shitty cop dramas that glorify the process of some cop picking through the brain matter of a corpse to solve a murder. I see it on the news as I hear about local police officers gunned down while sipping coffee while the reporter stands in front of body bags. I see it in the gore-fest "horror" films, or the kill 'em all/carve 'em up action films that Hollywood cranks out. The fact that I have yet to see this trend in print is more likely due to my meager bankroll, which causes me to troll the used bookshelves instead of buying the latest releases. However, thanks to some book money, enough positive reviews, and a sprinkle of hype, I picked up The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart.

I do not regret this decision, while The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is a wickedly violent tale that often put me in a state of unease, I still found myself enjoying it for plenty of other reasons. If nothing else it at least is a novel that made me think. I am left to wonder at what Bullington intended. If it does what few other fantasy novels in recent memory do: reflect and comment on modern culture, complete with an ending that wraps up the tale as well as adding the final punctuation mark on it's modern culture commentary... Or if it is simply another example of how ultra violence is so prevalent in the mainstream culture today.

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is definitely not for the soft bellied or the queasy, but also not one to be missed.

Grade: B+

Changes

I made some cosmetic changes around here. Mainly aesthetic ones to the blog's template, but also a few other minor tweaks to the blog itself. Anyone can post comments now, you don't have to sign in to do so. I also updated the blog roll, by adding a few other blogs I read frequently. Check them out, and enjoy.

-Ryan

Review: Kashmir Pending

Kashmir Pending by Naseer Ahmed and artwork by Saurabh Singh


Kashmir Pending is a graphic novel that tells of one man's life as a freedom fighter in the contested region of Kashmir. The story is narrated by Mushtaq, the protagonist, who tells of his exploits from a jail cell. Ali, another inmate, listens as Mushtaq recounts his beginnings as a protester, which led to him becoming a freedom fighter. Mushtaq also discusses some of the history of Kashmir, while telling Ali of his past.

As a reader you never know exactly why Mustaq is in jail, as there is only a little bit of dialog, and little narration too, for that matter. Ahmed appears to be content to let Singh's fantastic artwork tell much of the story. Eventually as this graphic novel progresses, we see the events which lead to Mushtaq's inevitable capture, the very events that cause Mushtaq to commit what to many would be an unthinkable act during a time of war.


The thing that makes Kashmir Pending special is the amazing artwork done by Singh. He uses very subtle colors, a large degree of blank space, and makes fantastic use of shadows to give the narrative its own personality. Despite being so minimal in the artwork, Singh is able to carry the story with the art element. It isn't uncommon to see comic writers who crowd out the artist with too much text, leaving the artwork little room convey the story, but that is definitely not the case in Kashmir Pending as the art takes center stage.

Kashmir Pending does a lot with a little, as it is a short piece, (about 100 pages) and short on dialog and descriptive passages, but it is still able to convey a very concise, meaningful and powerful story. I think there is a lot that could be covered on the topic of Kashmir, and could make for a great graphic novel, but I appreciate what Ahmed did by keeping the story simple, and compelling. It is the simplicity of the story that sets Kashmir Pending apart from the war epic crowd. This ain't Palestine or Safe Area Gorazde but that is what makes it good.

Grade: B+

Music Break

Spinal Tap's greatest song?

Review: Safe Area Gorazde

Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco


Safe Area Gorazde (pronounced gor-ajh-DUH) is Joe Sacco's documentary style graphic novel about the Bosnian wars which occurred in the early to mid-nineties. Safe Area Gorazde reminded me of Palestine as Sacco uses the same techniques to gather information and to tell his story.

During the 90's Sacco made several trips into the UN designated "Safe Area" Gorazde to meet the people there and to hear their stories. Bosnian Muslims were forced to fight off starvation, isolation, and enemy troops while trying to carry on some semblance of a normal life despite living in a town deep behind enemy lines.

Sacco interviews a wide variety of people in the town of Gorazde, but for me, the most gripping parts occurred when Sacco interviewed various soldiers of the town who had fought on the front lines and told him stories of the brutal fighting happening often only a few kilometers away. The brutality and the tactics used by the Chetnik soldiers against the townsfolk of Gorazde, who were outgunned, outnumbered and virtually defenseless often left me feeling ill and shaken.

Sacco does a good job of giving the reader a bit of the historical backdrop as well as the politics involved. I learned as I read, because even though this war occurred while I was a teen, I didn't remember many of the details, and certain aspects were completely new to me.

There were many times while I was reading Safe Area Gorazde that I caught myself comparing it to Palestine. I caught myself comparing the severity of the two struggles, the suffering of the people involved, trying to decide which situation was worse until I eventually realized that trying to make that judgement isn't fair. It isn't fair for me to judge one tragedy against another. There isn't a measuring stick for human tragedy, and the circumstances that took place in Gorazde and Palestine are downright terrible regardless. Sacco makes this abundantly clear. Not only is it clear from the first hand accounts he collects from his interviews, but also with the artwork on the pages.

Sacco uses black and white artwork with incredible detail to help tell the story.
Safe Area Gorazde is a graphic novel that sticks, and the art has a lot to do with that. I think that with just words, the story loses the impact that Sacco is able to convey by including art work that takes no prisoners and shows (often with lurid detail) the brutality the people of Gorazde faced. Sacco doesn't pull any punches, and Safe Area Gorazde does a great job of detailing the Bosnian war from one forgotten town's perspective.

Grade: A-

Battle Hymns has been cranking out a fair amount of Joe Sacco related material lately, as Palestine was my favorite graphic novel from 2009, and I also saw Sacco this past week at an author event. Safe Area Gorazde should wrap up my Joe Sacco binge however. Expect to see more Graphic Novel related material here in the future, eventually covering some different styles in the meduim.

Review: Pandemonium

Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory

I recently completed my first fantasy novel of the year, a debut title by Daryl Gregory called Pandemonium. The events in Pandemonium take place in a world very much like ours with one slight difference...ever since around the 1950's, seemingly random acts of demon possession occur. These possessions can target men, women, and children and the demonic entities themselves seem to be spawned from pop-culture archetypes. There are eight such demons; the Truth, who is a cloaked avenger of lies, with dual pistols ready to send liars to their grave, the Captain, a heroic demon who possesses soldiers, the Little Angel, who possesses little curly haired girls and delivers kisses of death to terminally ill hospital patients, Smokestack Johnny, a railroad demon, Kamikaze, a demon you don't want possessing your airplane pilot, the painter, who creates pastoral images out of whatever is handy, Boy Marvel, another hero type, and the Hellion, who possesses little boys and makes sometimes deadly mischief.

Del, the story's protagonist was possessed by the Hellion at a young age, but with psychiatric help, a loving family and an exorcism, the demon was forced out. Or so we are made to think. One night Del has a terrible car crash, and while waiting in his overturned car for help, Del feels the Hellion inside him again, trapped, and clamoring to get out.

Del is written as your average guy, but with some deep rooted psychological issues, which are worsening as the demon inside him struggles to break free. Fearing what kind of destruction the Hellion would reap given control of an adult body, Del seeks help to purge the demon once again. His journey leads him to a scientific convention on the topic of possession where Del seeks out the aid of a brilliant doctor. Along the way he meets Valis, a demon controlling the body of the Sci-fi writer formerly know as Phillip K. Dick, and Mother Mariette, a rocker-nun who specializes in exorcism. Many people believe that Del holds the secret to stopping demon possession once and for all, but the "best" cure for Del isn't exactly one he is willing to commit to.

Pandemonium is easily the best fantasy book I've read in some time. Gregory set the bar pretty high for himself with such a solid debut. The character building, while not the best, was still very strong, and as I read, I definitely cared strongly about what the outcome would be for Del. Gregory kept the story rolling throughout, and I once I reached the halfway point, I couldn't stop myself, and I finished the second half off in one, albeit long, sitting. I think the thing that impressed me the most was just how economic the story was. Basically everything that happens in Pandemonium means something, and it likely doesn't mean what you initially thought it would. Gregory peppers the overall narrative with short "Demonology" chapters where short vignettes give you back story on the nature of various demons in the pantheon. Add some twists, some I saw coming and others I didn't, and what you get is a great novel.

It felt really good to read something so well conceived, constructed, and implemented. The idea of demon possession is a good one, but could have easily turned out to be campy. Gregory instead delivers a gritty, adult novel that I loved. Pandemonium is a book I would recommend to most anyone, as I feel it would be enjoyed by non fantasy genre readers as well.

I look forward to reading more from Gregory in the future, his follow up novel, Devils Alphabet is on my list of books to read.

grade: A