CD Info
2011
Independent Release
8 Tracks
English Lyrics

I’ve been planning to make a move, back to the American Midwest. A pretty good music scene, especially in the Chicago area. I can recall in my youth getting together with the boys, stealing one of our parent’s cars and heading south from Wisconsin down to Chicago just to listen to the radio music stations. Best Blues and Rock music we ever heard. Of course, there might have been some other reasons for heading to the city but you could still listen to the music while working on those goals. Well, Beneath the Stares is a Chicago sound, and you kinda get the tracking back to those sounds of the 60s that we rocked to in my youth. They were heavily influenced by the black music scene, the Blues that have served to musically identify the city for decades, back to the great Blues guys from the 40s, the 50s and the 60s. We got to see some of them, both black and white, from James Cotton to Paul Butterfield. And those boys could cook, that was a great time for music and I took in all I could.

Beneath the Stares, of course, uses a female vocal lead, I mean, if they didn’t you wouldn’t be reading this, right? And, she does remind me of those sounds I heard during that time, solid metal, guitar driven, crushing drums, music to get you off your ass and into the Chicago traffic, and believe me, it takes some solid motivation to get into that scene. Interestingly enough, there’s a bit of a European take to some of this material. Of course, they don’t feature a keyboard, after the fashion of most American sounds these days. And that’s a pity here. Of course, I’ve been told more than once that "keyboards are for sissies" by American musicians. Really? Tell it to these guys. Then spend some quality time picking your teeth up off the ground, something I actually had the privilege of witnessing one time in a Jacksonville club when someone actually made the mistake of saying words to that effect to some of the Skynyrd boys. Or better yet, try this one, Gregg and the boys, using DOUBLE keys on one of the classic sounds from that era. Ya, that band will never go anywhere. Too many keyboard sissies. But, I guess we play to what the people want, and if they don’t want keys, don’t give them keys. Maybe that’s why so much of this site is devoted to European bands. But, in all fairness, the band says they are actually looking for a keyboard player and that, given their influences, that would be a logical direction to pursue. I for one would really like to see it.

Well, back to the matter at hand, what we have here is music that probably does fit nicely into the American nightlife scene, especially a Midwestern one. I’ve spent a little time interacting with the band and the first thing they told me was to wait a while to move north, they’d just gotten 8 inches of the frozen white stuff and it was freezing. But, we did get to the music a little. The female lead is Lisa LoGrasso and she’s a rocker. Nice voice, but the word that comes to mind is powerful. And she needs it to keep up with these guys, anything less would be stomped into oblivion. The band actually gets compared to another female fronted band of some note, Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane. In fact, they tell me they do a version of White Rabbit for that reason, and Grace Slick was a legend for those of us from the 60s, got to spend some quality time with her at MPF on the Bay in 67. There is some similarity between the two and that’s a compliment indeed. I wouldn’t suggest there is a similarity in the styles of music, however. The band points to acts like Bjork, Patti Smith and some of the 90s death metal and thrash and punk as influences, I see the Patti Smith for sure. There’s some influence from the thrash and punk, but not with the vocals, which, in my opinion, may have more of a Blues influence, especially on a couple titles. We’ll get to those.

One of the things I was most impressed with was lyrics. And they are considerable. According to the band, they are a joint effort between LoGrasso and Erik Oldman, the guitarist. And these guys must spend a lot of time on the word processor because these lyrics are substantial. With a lot of today’s music, you can get through a CD’s lyrics in about 5 minutes, I think I spent about a 6 pack on them, and, since I usually like to read them twice, I was in the bag by the time I was done. Absolutely the best form of alcohol abuse. And the lyrics use a lot of structure; we get Verse, then a pre-Chorus, then a Chorus, than a Bridge, and quite often several instances of each. I didn’t catch it while listening the first time, but, once I was aware of it, I was able to see how the music was constructed. And, it gets even more complex; we get a track called Tropic of Cancer I, with multiple structures, one of which is actually an Outro, followed by Tropic of Cancer II. I’ve seen less structure in an Analysis of Variance with multiple implementations and interactions. But they are interesting, as are the individual thoughts expressed lyrically. On the first track, Cancer I, we hear:

Now, the band was quick to point out to me that they don’t do Gothic, but, with lyrics like that, they damn sure ain’t far away.

We did spend some time discussing themes, there are some interesting ideas expressed here. With music like this you sometimes don’t tend to spend time listening to what’s being said, this is entertaining metal and most of us are focused elsewhere while listening. But that means we miss a lot. One of the tracks I liked best was the last one, Citadel. It’s a little different direction musically, a little more complex guitar work, a somewhat softer vocal and really quite beautiful. There’s still a pounding drum line, but this one projects emotion at a different level. LoGrasso demonstrates an ability to take us into a more feeling oriented direction here, one where the pain seems to capture some of what we got with the Blues at one level. The band suggests the song is about the walls people put up around themselves. It talks about the lack of communication, about the pain of people living in the past. Yup, that’s a Blues direction. And, on that note, we should mention another track, Mood Swings which, the band says, is Blues influenced. It’s certainly softer, more harmonic and lyrically, it does go in a Blues direction:

The song not only provides multiple vocal components, it also provides a variety of musical directions, pretty complex, and interesting at several levels.

I don’t have much to point at other than the band’s Reverbnation site. But this is music that will be well received with a variety of listeners, strong metal, outstanding vocal and some interesting themes for those who spend the time paying attention to lyrics. And I plan to see them personally, shortly after it stops snowing long enough to make the trip back down to Chicago . . preferably not in a stolen car this time.

9 /10

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