Jim Martin - Milk And Blood (1997)

[Alternative Rock]

It seems that the exit of Jim Martin from Faith No More, the band he was a founding member of back in 1983, wasn't a smooth transition. With Milk And Blood he was back a few years later to prove who the heart and soul of that band truly was. Instead he unleashed an album on the world that left the listener feeling like they would rather listen to the real thing than his poor carbon copy. Two things became apparent very quickly - Martin was a better guitarist than a singer, but secondly, and more importantly, he needed a strong ensemble band around him to lift the songs from mediocrity. Unfortunately he didn't have one. The album opens with 'Disco Dust' a sludgy chugging monster that would fit a lot easier on an album by TAD or Melvins than by Faith No More, and it feels like Martin is keen to shake off his old band as fast as he can. 'Fear' cranks the distortion, and a modern sounding bounce-metal song pours from the speakers. The tracks are catchy, but even this early into the album the vocals seem to be the weakest link. By 'Dead', to his credit he tries to mix up the vocal styles a little, but he just doesn't have what the song needs. The styles of songs here need a big chorus to carry them, and without a punch in his vocals the songs sound under-developed and lifeless. 'Loser' is a mellow song, with a spoken/whispered vocal style that Mike Patton would have pulled off wonderfully. There is plenty of dirty sounding garage tracks here, with 'Barsoap Hair' and 'Mexican Sandwich' grinding away heavily, but it all comes across as somewhat bland. In fact the two absolute standout tracks are a cover of The Pogues 'Navigator' (which reveals backing vocals by James Hetfield of Metallica) and 'Surprise! You're Dead', a cover of a song by Faith No More - which has nowhere near the impact of the original. 'Hunter Shepherd', the album's final track, is an amazing acoustic instrumental that leaves the listener feeling like they have finally found something that is worth playing through a second time. If the album had included a couple more songs like this one to break it up a little more, it would definitely have been a better listen.

Regurgitator - New (1995)

[Alternative Rock]

It was hardly surprising that the next release after the band's debut E.P. was as, or even more, out there. I must admit that Track 1 is probably one of their best singles ever released and in some way embeds the majority of the sound that the Gurge have to offer. But there is no straight-line here, as it shifts off into a mix of songs with different sounds. As I go through, realise that this release in particular provided their first full length with a couple of songs. Now knowing the band over the years to come, particularly Quan and Ben, I can understand why such songs as 7' 10'' was written. The lyrics for the first part of the song, ''woooweee'', but the second half, allowing for the jackass adlib for 20 seconds or so, is just cool and relaxing to listen to.