The White Stripes, Mylo, System of the Down & Eminem reviewed

The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan

A moderate new album after their fairly averagy Elephant. The crew made up of Jack and Meg has turned up a notch in the production department but the songs are not up for it. Sewn together are tracks mainly made up by predictable combination of rock & roll blues, disco, piano and what have you. A new direction maybe but they really need to get Satan's guidance to make this work.

5.5/10

Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll

Okay Pete Tong, you win. Your constant promotion of Drop The Pressure, a thin easy to listen get jiggy dance track has finally won me over. You have misused your power base on Radio One to influence me and now I have been brainwashed to purchase the bearded's one compilation album. Can't say I am disappointed tho. The other two hit singles - In My Arms and the funny (IMO) Destroy Rock & Roll are present as well. Euphoria tracks dominate the album and are not too rough and should prove a satisfying summer album for chilling out.

6.5/10

System Of The Down - Mezmerize

I have never been a huge fan of Nu-Metal, a sub genre mutated from melodic industrial metal fused with punk and hip hop. The genre was pioneered by Korn, Soulfly et al. in the late 1990s. And Mezmerize won't change my opinion on the 'downgrading' sound churned out by such Nu-Metallers. The production is as good as any modern and successful band could afford, pretty much expected by fans of the style - clean, simple, precise and clear. Formulaic chaos is a key present in most tracks as does pompous energy. There are hilarious moments as expected from the quirky American Armenians. The fact that this was supposed to be a double album but fans are forced to pay again to get the second CD pisses me of even more. And ever heard of Slayer?

5/10

Eminem - The Slim Shady LP

Don't ask me how this came into my possession. It just did. But rest assured, I did not ask for it. The LP made waves in the hip hop world when it was released in 1999 and Eminem broke through to commercial stardom courtesy of the MTV generation. Tracks like My Name Is and Bitch made sure that he became a household name by anyone who ever owns a FM. General pretentious dominates his lyrics. I wonder if it stood the test of time even among hip hop fans, I don't know nor do I want or need to know.

1/10