Scotland has been known for its highlands, but this Scottish band has been notorious for ‘highs’ of a variety not exactly physical, but chemical. Having been around for almost a quarter of a century, they had been binging on copious amounts of edible and injectable material in their heyday to bring about an altered sense of perception, which not surprisingly was the period during which they came out with their mainstream breakthrough work Screamadelica. And just like its almost impossible to get the same level of a ‘hit’ after ‘shooting up’ for the first time, they have been finding it a bit difficult to attain that level, despite some mediocre attainment of success in between. It seems that their latest release Beautiful Future doesn’t really hold much of a promise either (which is probably why they prophetically named their album in the hope of something) while it floats around in a space which neither works on the extreme raw nature of altronica displayed in Screamadelica (Vanishing Point to some extent too) nor is it in the league of cutting edge dance. There are points during the album which do go on to show that the flame still lives on, it’s just that by then the surroundings grow so dark, that the spark doesn’t really have the desired effect.
It feels quite disconcerting when you realize the period of the extended hiatus imposed by Zack de la Rocha upon himself, specially taking this in context with the recent global socio political climate which has nothing but dark clouds hovering above, a bleak environment which ironically works out to be the most fertile for someone of his caliber when it comes to spewing trademark vitriolic outbursts in the form of vocal Molotov cocktails. The recent reunion of RATM comes as some relief, and the silver lining gets a bit brighter in the form of the release of the eponymous EP by his side project named on an iconic picture with a much more iconic caption. Teaming with ex Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore, the duo manage to put together a work of socio politic art form finding an expression in the shape of poetry which leaves no stone unturned when it comes to blasting the foundations of a heartless capitalist social order. Poetry which when accompanied by the stick wielding and skin thrashing prowess of Theodore results in a bandwagon of energy, which probably makes you miss out the absence of Morello for a split second, until you start craving for his signature riffs. And if this 5 track EP feels a tad short as far as duration is concerned, trust me, it looks like you don’t know what WMDs are.
It’s been close to two decades that this group came together in Boston to weave together a mélange of musical influences and styles to create a sound which couldn’t have boasted of soaring vocal harmonies and shredding guitar riffs in a louder format during the short span of around seven years they were together, after which they opted for the usual rock band ending. Thirteen years hence, they have come out with a scorcher of an album containing thirteen tracks (is that portentous in some manner?), and it feels though most may have given up on hope, there couldn’t have been a more satiating burst of monsoon this season to overwhelm parched spirits. This album is everything that Extreme has ever been, and even after that gap they still manage to put together the same absolutely insane amount of energy with which they packed their earlier works. Some might say that a comeback after more than a decade warrants at least some change in the sound and format, but then who gives a damn when you get to sooth your aural senses with unadulterated melodic noise. Cherone and Bettencourt work together as tight as ever to produce some of the most heartwrenching harmonies in their patent Funk Metal style, and Badger provides some monster chords on the four stringer. This is the first album for their new drummer, Figueiredo who blends in well, which is something which speaks volumes about his talent. Very very nostalgic rock music, but then that’s what Saudades de Rock loosely translates itself into from Portuguese.
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