Label: Tiger Style
Category: Music
Average customer rating:
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
UPC: 686806001924
EAN: 0686806001924
ASIN: B00005QKF1
Release Date: 2001-10-23
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Artist: The Convocation Of...
Label: Tiger Style Category: Music Average customer rating:
Media: Audio CD Number Of Discs: 1 UPC: 686806001924 EAN: 0686806001924 ASIN: B00005QKF1 Release Date: 2001-10-23 |
Pyramid Technology
General
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
General
| Rock
| Styles
| Music
Pop Rock
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
Tracks:
Amazon.com
If you've ever wished Stereolab were more angsty about their issues (or the Jesus Lizard more sensitive), the Convocation Of might seem like a magic genie sort of group. That is, if among your three wishes, you wanted full-throttle rock, gravel yells, and headbang-inspiring registers. <I>Pyramid Technology</I> opens with squealing Hendrixian guitar but then runs a gamut spanning the last three decades. Which isn't in itself such a feat lately--many bands have proved that rock can get a string of "post" or "retro" prefixes before its name and remain compelling. It's the caliber of production and musicianship on this record--and just honest-to-goodness good taste--that make this affair boundless and fluid, as opposed to purely choppy or calculated. The rambling treble sparkle of "Eternal Dreamtime" recalls Unwound, while the boy-girl vocal interplay, psychedelic guitar, and atmospheric drums and keyboards on "Recognize" reveal a risk-taking side these Baltimore rockers would do well to explore further. <I>--Cyndi Elliott</I>Customer Reviews:
never ending rock........2002-12-03
Above Average.......2002-04-21
Pyramid Technology sounds like it was recorded right in the Convocation's rehearsal space. The band is a power trio with George France on drums, Guy Blakeslee on bass and some background keyboards, and Tonie Joy, formerly of Moss Icon, on vocals and guitar. France is heavy but nimble: he sets up some plodding beats and then layers in intricate patterns behind Joy's textural guitars. Joy has a raw tone, deep and raunchy, with a thick, craftsmanlike sound. Even the seven-minute instrumental that ends the album avoids being ambling or pointless, and Joy resists the temptation to subject us to any obnoxiously flashy fretwork: they just dig in, Joy almost studiously building his anti-solo while Blakeslee's bass line thunders in the background, heavy and spare.
My only issue with Pyramid Technology is that all nine tracks sound very, very similar. Each song delivers short, thudding, dirge-like rock with the same bleak atmosphere. The band starts off angry, stays angry, and leaves angry, without any frills like an arc or a resolution. "Recognize" and "Walk Like a Panther" break into (almost identical) interludes with gentler guitar and mesmerizing drumming - but those are the only interruptions, and guest singer Sheri Kadeché's low monotone just makes her two tracks seem grimmer. Joy's own vocals are serviceably emphatic-- the talk-shouting works for his subjects, standard hard rock fare concerning monsters, Satan, and The Man.
If you're not up for the rock-- or if your dedication to the rock falters-- the Convocation may seem stifling. You may even be bored to tears. You might start clawing at the disc, digging for some kind of sugarcoating-- a catchy hook, some cheesy keyboards, maybe some really comic lyrics-- you know, something like "Iron Man." But that's not what the Convocation are about. This is serious business, and they're not gonna let you forget it.
7.9 out of 10.0
Music Album:
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