| CD REVIEW JMC |
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Band : JMC From Carluke in cental Scotland (the town is roughly situated some 35 kms from Glasgow in East/ South-Eastern direction) comes a foursome known as JMC (most probably taken from the initials of frontman singer/ guitarist Justin McConville, the rest of the outfit consisting of guitarist Nikki Hell, bassist Dave Richardson, and drummer Derek Rae) with a somewhat uncommon conconction of Rock and Metal. I've no idea when exactly the quartet started out, but the band has already released two full-length albums on their own effort, 2006's Slack Babbeth preceeding last year's RVR. The latter pushed JMC to a higher level of popularity. Besides getting noticed with their headline gigs during tours of the UK and Europe, the band also recently played high-profile support shows for Diamond Head, Buckcherry, and Adam Bomb. Their first official video for "Mile Wide Spaces" was screened all over the UK by digital music channel Propeller TV. Also off the RVR album, the songs "Left In The Shade" and "It's Time" became local favourite tracks as a result of getting airplay on several radio stations all over Scotland. Earlier this year, the new album's "Garden Of Sorrow" was picked as the title track on Sky Sport's World Championship Windsurfing event. In May, XFM announced that JMC's new single "Golden Summer" had won their "Heatseeker" competition, the song becoming the album's first promotion on Martin Bale's Rock Show. With all of that going on, the band was boùnd to capture the attention of the music industry, right? And so it did, as you now find this album, which first saw an independent release, issued officially through dare)-devil label Casket Music. You may wonder why, with all the fuss going on, didn't the band succeed in getting a deal with a "bigger" label? To be quite frank, at my first listening sessions I was kinda put off by McConville's rather high pitched vocals, and it took some discipline from my part to change my attitude towards the whole by listening to the music only at first. Suddenly, it was like the clearing of the skies after a storm: clouds discipated, and the underlaying musical structures of JMC reveiled themselves to me like warm soothing sunshine on an early Spring day! According to the label's bio, "...Gatecrash The Hate Campaign takes the band's renowned riffology to a new level of complexity with some axe grinding moments, delicate tunes and melodies coupled with the lyrical energy of guitarist/ front man Justin McConville...," which really doesn't say a lot about what the listener unfamiliar with the band's material might expect! So, turn back the clock some 20 to 25 years in time, back when the NWoBHM scene was running towards the end of it's second wave. Now imagine a Heavy Metal band rooted in Hard Rock with a slight Blues touch, and a complexity in the guitar work comming from a degree of Progressive repetition. Heheh...in the 9:46 "Stop" (full title "Stop The World I Want To Get Off")Justin repeats the words "repetition is hell" a couple of times, but actually (progressive) repetition is a very important part of this band's music! What's definitely also important, are the events happening around the band members. Last year, Justin's girlfriend died at a tender age of only 29, and this has evidently had a repercussion on some of his lyrics (check "Golden Summer" and more importantly the beautiful ballad "Beautiful World", which even seesthe inclusing of mouth harmonica in the sound palate). Besides, the album is dedicated in her memory. Vocally, Justin's high-pitched voice is somewhat remeniscent of Gary Moore's, and it doés take some getting used to to be appreciated. As mentioned above, at a first listening session it even put mé off at first. But as the album evolves, so do Justin's vocals, and starting third song "My Black Rose" (which is gentler overall) he brings some variety in his vocal style. At the core of the album we find two tracks of Epic length, starting with the aforementioned "Stop" with its wonderfully changing moods. The ensuing "The Maker" is even half a minute longer and of a higher energetic level overall, even if there's some pace changes in the really nice instrumental passages. Some seven minutes into the track the guitars fade out of their distortion to return in a calmer and instrumental mood for the rest of the track, which fades out very gently (well, actually I personally feel that fading out was drawn out somewhat tóó long) to the point of near non-existence. An awkward near-silent ending which you'll find on a couple of other songs as well. A nice finishing touch to the album comes with the short (1:42) "Stop Reprise" (which is subtitled "Start The World I Want To Get On") with lyrics altered to herald the positive fact of an ending always being just another beginning! Well, if words don't do it for you, you're perhaps better off surfing to myspace.com/jmcmetal, where the band posted the energetic album openers "The Trigger" and "Where Do We Go From Here?", the truely nice "Stop", and an older version of "Garden Of Sorrow" (which first appeared on Slack Babbeth), plus "Golden Summer" as it appeared on XFM, and"All That Is" (a nearly 7-minute long track with a beautiful acoustic opening and no given origin). The quality of those mp3 files are not of the same standard as the actual hard-disc one's, so Justin's high pitch doesn't even come over as obstucively as it does on the album...which of course works in favour of getting the band more fans through their MySpace. Hah...good for you, guys! 89/100 Tony. |