DAILY RECORDS: Arson Anthem, Quest For Fire, Sufjan Stevens

by | Sep 10, 2010 | MUSIC

Arson Anthem – Insecurity Notoriety (Housecore)
Phil Anselmo equals Pantera in a lot of minds, but he’s had plenty of other great bands, of which Arson Anthem is just the latest. Anselmo on guitar, plus Eyehategod’s Mike Williams singing and Hank III drumming, crank out seventeen songs of dirty, ugly D-beat hardcore. Dark, swampy, and awesome.

Quest For Fire – Quest For Fire (HS!BF [Note: not to be a jerk, but… your label’s entire internet presence is a message board post? What are you, allergic to selling records?])
Heavy, metallic hardcore that combines everything from D-beat crust to Dag Nasty-style melodic leads to psyched-out wah-wah solos into a fascinating sound that avoids easy comparison points in favor of invigorating freshness. Intricate, talented riffing and noisy feedback rounds out an excellent album you’d be foolish to miss.

Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People EP (sufjanstevens.bandcamp.com)
This inconsistent hour-plus “EP” provides tantalizing glimpses of Sufjan at his emotionally transfixing best; the shorter mid-record tracks are quiet banjo/vocal folk tunes that strike at the heart. But the overstuffed orchestral pop of the opening and closing tracks (both over 10 minutes long) are just… too much.

Arson Anthem – Insecurity Notoriety (Housecore)
Phil Anselmo equals Pantera in a lot of minds, but he’s had plenty of other great bands, of which Arson Anthem is just the latest. Anselmo on guitar, plus Eyehategod’s Mike Williams singing and Hank III drumming, crank out seventeen songs of dirty, ugly D-beat hardcore. Dark, swampy, and awesome.

Quest For Fire – Quest For Fire (HS!BF [Note: not to be a jerk, but… your label’s entire internet presence is a message board post? What are you, allergic to selling records?])
Heavy, metallic hardcore that combines everything from D-beat crust to Dag Nasty-style melodic leads to psyched-out wah-wah solos into a fascinating sound that avoids easy comparison points in favor of invigorating freshness. Intricate, talented riffing and noisy feedback rounds out an excellent album you’d be foolish to miss.

Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People EP (sufjanstevens.bandcamp.com)
This inconsistent hour-plus “EP” provides tantalizing glimpses of Sufjan at his emotionally transfixing best; the shorter mid-record tracks are quiet banjo/vocal folk tunes that strike at the heart. But the overstuffed orchestral pop of the opening and closing tracks (both over 10 minutes long) are just… too much.

Marilyn Drew Necci

Marilyn Drew Necci

Former GayRVA editor-in-chief, RVA Magazine editor for print and web. Anxiety expert, proud trans woman, happily married.




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