Simone Appolloni's Album Reviews
1985's New Day Rising contains even more distorted guitar overkill, and granted the band accusations of "selling out" due to increased amount of polished sheen and Pop songwriting (if only they had known what would become of punk in the 90's!): obviously, there's no polished sheen to be found anywhere, just equalization more focused on treble frequencies and a sound possibly even more abrasive than Zen Arcade.
If Zen Arcade was an experiment in catharsis in depression and accepting the world's flaws, New Day Rising sounds like the parody of listing the world's beautiful things. The title track is just an introductory hardcore slam with repetitive, lobotomized chanting, "The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" has E-minor bass lines and riffing derived from Joy Division, and "I Apologize" is a happy-go-lucky G-major stomp with more "lucid" vocals and Country/Pop arrangements. "Folk Lore" has great lyrics about societal changes in USA society with the passing of time, "Celebrated Summer" has acoustic guitar breaks and propulsive D-major strumming that signal the birth of Emo-core, "How to Skin a Cat" is a dissonant, chromatic No Wave drone with metaphoric lyrics revolving over the flaws of cyclic economy, while "Books About UFOs" sounds purposefully terrible, having swinging C-major beats and childish, piano/vocals akin to T.Rex and 70's glam to satirize on obsession over conspiracy theories ("I'm going to turn into a lens and focus all my attention / On finding a new planet and naming it right after her").
On a vocal stance, this album has Mould at his worst performance ever, containing even more throat-shredding venom and hyper-active dynamics that destroy the album's melodic mood. When he goes soft, as on the hushed acoustic strumming of "Perfect Example" (where distorted guitar is pushed in the background) or the tempo-changed "59 Times the Pain" (where also Hart really struggles with playing), he sounds even more drunken than everywhere else, literally falling flat on the floor in emotional terms. While the album nods to increased melody and singer-songwriter route, the inconstant, imprecise performance, the shabby recording (does "Powerline" ever has vocals? 'Cause only distant echo can be heard) and the fact several of the lesser songs sound like mere variation of "Celebrated Summer" results in an inferior release with even more unfocused songwriting and containing some of the worst vocals ever recorded into a Pop/Rock album.
Highlights: "New Day Rising", "Celebrated Summer", "How to Skin a Cat".
If Zen Arcade was an experiment in catharsis in depression and accepting the world's flaws, New Day Rising sounds like the parody of listing the world's beautiful things. The title track is just an introductory hardcore slam with repetitive, lobotomized chanting, "The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" has E-minor bass lines and riffing derived from Joy Division, and "I Apologize" is a happy-go-lucky G-major stomp with more "lucid" vocals and Country/Pop arrangements. "Folk Lore" has great lyrics about societal changes in USA society with the passing of time, "Celebrated Summer" has acoustic guitar breaks and propulsive D-major strumming that signal the birth of Emo-core, "How to Skin a Cat" is a dissonant, chromatic No Wave drone with metaphoric lyrics revolving over the flaws of cyclic economy, while "Books About UFOs" sounds purposefully terrible, having swinging C-major beats and childish, piano/vocals akin to T.Rex and 70's glam to satirize on obsession over conspiracy theories ("I'm going to turn into a lens and focus all my attention / On finding a new planet and naming it right after her").
On a vocal stance, this album has Mould at his worst performance ever, containing even more throat-shredding venom and hyper-active dynamics that destroy the album's melodic mood. When he goes soft, as on the hushed acoustic strumming of "Perfect Example" (where distorted guitar is pushed in the background) or the tempo-changed "59 Times the Pain" (where also Hart really struggles with playing), he sounds even more drunken than everywhere else, literally falling flat on the floor in emotional terms. While the album nods to increased melody and singer-songwriter route, the inconstant, imprecise performance, the shabby recording (does "Powerline" ever has vocals? 'Cause only distant echo can be heard) and the fact several of the lesser songs sound like mere variation of "Celebrated Summer" results in an inferior release with even more unfocused songwriting and containing some of the worst vocals ever recorded into a Pop/Rock album.
Highlights: "New Day Rising", "Celebrated Summer", "How to Skin a Cat".
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