Iraq’s first metal band comes to the U.S.

Only the Dead See the End of War

Vice Records, 2010
Rating: 8 out of 10

Connor Lukkar - The Corsair

“Only the Dead See the End of War” is an apt name for Acrassicauda’s debut EP; coming from Baghdad, they know a thing or two about war. Formed in 2001, Acrassicauda (from the Latin taxonomical name for the black scorpion: A. crassicauda) became Iraq’s first and, until recently, only metal band. They avoid being politically charged, but living in a war tattered country has given this four-piece band a unique perspective. Singing about death and massacre is all well and good for suburban white kids, but when it comes from a group that has had to stop shows because nearby bomb blasts caused power outages, the words carry just a little bit more power.

Soon after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2004, Vice magazine heard of this band that had been playing covert shows for the small but dedicated metal scene in Baghdad. Over the next three years Vice’s online video network covered Acrassicauda in the outstanding documentary “Heavy Metal in Baghdad.” The film shows that Acrassicauda may be the most passionate band on Earth. These guys love metal. They played just five shows in six years. In 2006, guitarist Tony Aziz’s computer store, along with its basement practice space, was destroyed by a scud missile. With equipment destroyed and nowhere to practice, the band went on hiatus. In the past few years the group has moved from Baghdad, to Syria, to Turkey, and finally under the sponsorship of Vice Records, they have come to the U.S. to make music.

The music on “Only the Dead See the End of War” could be described as cutting edge and ground breaking, if we were in 1983. They do a good job; the songs are fast, precise, and dark. Any Metallica or Slayer fan would enjoy this EP simply because these tracks sound like they could have been made by Metallica or Slayer. They are good songs, but they fail to introduce a recognizably Acrassicauda sound. This lack of a musical signature really doesn’t detract too much from “Only the Dead See the End of War.” Years of oppression and war have kept Iraq at least a decade behind western musical culture, so it is to be expected that the first-ever Iraqi metal group would not be cutting edge by our standards.

This EP is a must have, even for those who don’t particularly like the music itself, because the term “first Iraqi metal band” is a fantastic conversation starter. This is an extremely interesting and passionate band, which, with time, will surely blossom into great band.

The best music and movies of the decade

Paul Smith - The Corsair

It’s hard to digest the fact that this decade is rapidly coming to a close. It seems as if just yesterday we were still partying like it was 1999 (please forgive this unavoidable Prince reference). But, alas, the decade has passed gracefully into the annals of the history books as we continue to charge head-first into the 21st century.

I never really knew what to call this past decade: was it the ohs, the oohs, the oughts, the double naughts? Whatever it was, it’s friggin’ over.

And as such, it is a necessary annoyance that I compile the greatest albums and films from the past ten years into an obligatory retrospective list.

Of course, by “greatest,” I mean the music and movies that I personally feel are of worthy merit to be included on a list such as this. So, without further delay, I present my take on the best of the decade:

Top Ten Albums of the Decade
Honorable Mentions: Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005); Joanna Newsom – Ys (2006); Kanye West – Late Registration (2005); Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise!  (2005); Tom Waits – Blood Money (2002); Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002); The White Stripes – White Blood Cells (2001)

10. OutKast – Stankonia (2000) – A list of the best albums of the decade would be utterly incomplete without OutKast. Stankonia came out in 2000 and started the decade off with a resoundingly funky bang. This Atlanta duo, famous for their unique blend of Southern funk-rock-hip-hop, was poised to take over the world back in the halcyon days at the beginning of the decade, and with Stankonia, they nearly did.

9.  Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004) – Modest Mouse had been around for eight years when this album came out, and many die-hard fans probably still celebrate the band’s garage rock salad days of The Moon & Antarctica over this album. However, just because they went for a more produced and accessible sound, and even got some airtime on MTV when this album came out, it didn’t mean the band was any less weird or edgy. For many this album was and still is their masterpiece statement.

8.  Coldplay – Parachutes (2000) – Although they were immediately characterized by some as the poor man’s Radiohead, those who listened carefully were treated to a nearly flawless debut album with remarkable depth and rich melodious landscapes. While they have shown occasional greatness in the years since, they never quite recaptured the brilliance of this first album.

7.  Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007) – Though this album may have been hyped within an inch of its life (due to the innovative marketing campaign and the ability to download it either for free or for a price of your choosing), it made up for the turgid promotion in spades. This was the best Radiohead album since 1997’s phenomenal OK Computer. It was definitely one of the most mature, beautiful and energetic sets of music the band had ever created – accessible and poppy enough for the neophytes, but edgy and dark enough for the aficionados.

6.  Dr. Dog – We All Belong (2007) – It’s difficult enough for a band to have one amazing front-man, Dr. Dog is lucky enough to have two.  Dr. Dog’s front-men, Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken, synthesized their songwriting abilities in perfect harmonies that incorporated the best of The Beatles, The Band, and The Beach Boys into this magnificent album of blissful psychedelic retro rock.

5.  Kings of Leon – Aha Shake Heartbreak (2005) – Kings of Leon’s sophomore album was a boot-kick to the teeth of excellent Southern-fried indie-rock.  Though the band has recently sunk to embarrassing depths on their past two albums, striving for a radio-friendly chick-rock sound, the Followill family (the band consists of three brothers and their cousin) used to churn out some of the best tunes this side of the Mason-Dixon Line.

4.  Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005) – Another band with two incredibly talented front-men, Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug display their talents on this debut album like a modern Lennon-McCartney of indie-rock. This album was filled with so many beautiful, heartfelt, and undeniably bizarre anthems, for many it achieved the status of instant classic.

3.  Andrew Bird – Mysterious Production of Eggs (2005) – Andrew Bird has certainly come a long way from once being the fiddle player in Squirrel Nut Zippers. As he slowly built a solo career, this master of whistling and the violin finally released his grand statement of quirky avant-garde indie rock-pop with this seminal album. This is music for the smart-hip bunch, the auditory equivalent of reading Ginsberg in coffee shops.

2.  The Strokes – Is This It? (2001) – It’s difficult to put your finger on exactly what made this debut album by the Strokes so remarkable. On the surface, it seems like a rather simplistic catchy rock album. But this five-some from New York City somehow managed to merge the best of the art-house rock of the Velvet Underground and the Stooges into a modern masterpiece of melodic garage rock.

1.  Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004) – How could the album of the decade be anything other than Funeral? When it was released in 2004, it sounded like a record sent to Earth from the sirens of some Great Cosmic Mystery – an album that explored what it meant to be human and set it to the most perfectly poignant soundtrack conceivable. Five years later, and while a couple of the songs are forgettable, the bulk of the album still sends chills up the spine – a sonic masterwork of epic proportions that not only lived up to the hype, but exceeded it. Euphoric, ethereal, and full of both hope and despair– the only sour note is that there may never again be an album quite like Funeral.

Top Ten Films of the Decade
Honorable Mentions: American Psycho (2000); Capturing the Friedmans (2003); Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004); Fog of War (2003); Mulholland Drive (2001); Sideways (2004); Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)

10. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) directed by Peter Jackson – It would be impossible not to include these films on this list (by the way, all three films were shot at one time and edited into separate films, but will be considered one giant movie here). There is no denying that these movies were a monumental achievement, and though they may have overstayed their welcome a bit, this trilogy was certainly a marvel of filmmaking on every level. And there was something special about seeing Peter Jackson – the man who started his career making dark-comedy gross-out horror films – garner such recognition.

9.  The Squid and the Whale (2005) directed by Noah Baumbach – This deeply passionate, but achingly uncomfortable tale of an intellectual New York couple going through a bitter divorce in the 1980’s is both pleasurable and painful to watch. Filled with a spectacular cast, Baumbach created characters of such resounding depth that this dark comedy-drama cut agonizingly close to the bone.

8.  The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) directed by Walter Salles – One of the most difficult challenges of a filmmaker is to make your audience feels as though it has learned something prescient about human nature by the time the ending credits roll. It is nearly impossible to leave this biopic about future-Cuban-revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara travelling through South America with his friend Alberto Granado and not feel as though you made the journey with them, experiencing what they experienced, and learning what they learned about the fragility, kindness, cruelty and ultimately importance of human beings.

7.  Inglourious Basterds (2009) directed by Quentin Tarantino – Tarantino’s crazy and audacious war film, which presents an alternate history of World War II, was his best film since Pulp Fiction. Though it featured a rather cartoony performance from the usually great Brad Pitt, and perhaps had too little action for some, it was Tarantino’s deft crafting of characters, dialogue and plot that made this film a spellbinding tour de force.

6.  Spirited Away (2001) directed by Hayao Miyazaki – This Oscar-winning Japanese-animated film was made by one of the greatest and most underappreciated filmmakers of all time: Hayao Miyazaki. His films have been inspiring people for generations, and with Spirited Away, an incredible film about a little girl who gets trapped in fantasy world, he finally got the respect he deserved in America.

5.  The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) directed by the Coen Brothers – The last real Coen Brothers’ film before they lost their beloved signature style of uniquely blending genre conventions into artsy and neurotic but deeply passionate and introspective dark-comedy. While their later film, No Country for Old Men, may have gotten more critical and commercial recognition, true Coen Brothers fans were lamenting the loss of the style exhibited in their earlier work seen here. This neo-noir dark-comedy with Billy Bob Thornton was the last truly amazing film made by the Brothers Coen, and many feel it may be their last.

4.  Punch Drunk Love (2002) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson – Many people might have been expecting this film to be just another Adam Sandler screwball-comedy, but instead they found Sandler giving the performance of his life in what may perhaps be the greatest romantic dark-comedy ever made by the brilliant writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (who also made Boogie Nights, Magnolia and There Will Be Blood).

3.  Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) directed by Guillermo Del Toro – A masterpiece of dark fantasy, Del Toro’s Spanish language magnum opus weaves the tale of a young girl who discovers a magical Lovecraftian underworld set against the backdrop of a post-Spanish Civil War Madrid in 1944. The film was a darkly exquisite piece of cinematic storytelling that explored the murky chasms of imagination and ruminated painfully upon the human condition. The images in this film stayed with you long after the credits.

2.  There Will Be Blood (2007) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson – The second of two films by Anderson on the list, There Will Be Blood is crafted like Shakespearean tragedy, rich with both quiet subtlety and ferocious rage. Daniel Day-Lewis gives a mesmerizing performance as the monstrous “oil man” Daniel Plainview, chewing up the scenery like a glutton at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

1.  City of God (2002) directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund – One of the greatest films of this or any decade, this true story of drug gangs in the slums of Rio de Janeiro was one of the most powerful and brilliant pieces of cinema ever put on celluloid. Every second of this film felt so meticulous, perfect, and believable that it almost seemed like a documentary. This was filmmaking at its absolute finest.

Adelitas Way come to Pensacola Civic Center

Timm Showalter - The Corsair

Shinedown fans attending the show this Friday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m. inside the Civic Center might think they have passed through a time warp back to 1985 when they hear Eddie Murphy’s, “Party All the Time.”

Have no fear; this is just the precursor to the rockin’ out Las Vegas natives, Adelitas Way, will be doing as the opening act for Shinedown.

The band has been touring for the past eight months and is ready to “get the party started,” says lead singer Rick DeJesus. “We’re the beginning of your experience. We get the crowd rockin’; get everyone movin’.”

After doing their stretches, vocal warm-ups, drum warm-ups, and guitar warm-ups “we’re just gonna go out there and rock it!” says DeJesus. “We get excited; I get very excited. I can’t wait to go and rock with these bands.”

The band’s self-titled debut album was released in July and hit number 16 on Billboard’s Top New Artist Chart. Their first single, “Invincible,” is currently WWE’s theme song and was used in CSI: Miami’s 2009 season finale. Over the past few years the band has opened for bands such as Tantric, Hinder, Saliva and Sick Puppies.

Although the band has enjoyed ample success over the past few months, it didn’t start out this way. “We started off getting beer bottles thrown at us. We played every shit joint you’ve ever seen; in front of 15 people, 20 people.”

DeJesus points this recent success to Virgin Records. “The success we’re getting now is due to our great management team. We have a great label, Virgin Records. From management to store management our team is hard working, and I attribute a lot of our success to a lot of hard work.”

An all-star team like the one backing Adelitas Way came with a lot of effort. “We got beat up in the record industry for awhile. A lot of companies passed on us or said, ‘You guys don’t have what it takes;’ I was literally getting dragged out of label offices by security.”

Instead of losing hope, the band just kept writing more songs. “Eventually we just built up enough buzz to where these people just started calling us back and showing interest.”
As soon as the guys at Virgin got a hold of the band they were stoked. “Virgin really believed in us right off the bat. Our guy heard us one time and was like, ‘Dude, I want this.’”

In order to attract the attention of major labels, like Virgin, Adelitas Way had to enhance their song repertoire. To do this they started applying a more personal strategy to writing songs.

DeJesus says he’s an emotional guy and tries to write music based on real-life experiences. “I had a pretty tough upbringing; the neighborhood I lived in was rough. The first time I moved out of my house I thought it was gonna be easy. I did it and, it ended up being really hard. I couldn’t pay my bills, I ended up homeless and that’s what the song, ‘All fall down,’ is about.” Another song, “Brother,” is about DeJesus’ brother and his addiction to heroin.

The band writes all its own music. “I come up with a concept about what I want to write a song about, and I’ll come up with a vocal melody for a chorus.” After DeJesus has come up with a workable idea he’ll collaborate with guitar player, Chris Iorio, and sort of jam it out with the rest of the members over time. “You never know when you’re gonna write a good song.”

The name Adelitas Way came from an experience the band had in Tijuana where they were extorted by crooked cops. DeJesus was able to hide roughly 20 bucks in his shoes during the arrest. The band went to a local bar afterwards called, “Adelita.” It wasn’t long before he realized they were in a brothel.

During the time they spent at the bar he had an opportunity to speak with one of the girls. “I saw this girl who was like 16 or 17 years old and, she was beautiful. It turned out she was a prostitute.” DeJesus asked the girl, “Why are you doing this?” She answered that she was able to support her entire family from it since she was 12-years-old.

DeJesus said, “I left that experience realizing at that time that we’re all given opportunities to do what we like in life, and given a chance to succeed. Some people aren’t that fortunate and, Adelitas Way reminds us not to take for granted what we have.”

The guys have been pouring everything they have into the music since the band started. “We put all our eggs in the music basket and thank God it worked.”

MewithoutYou’s New Album Utterly Mystifies

Paul Smith - The Corsair

“Why not be utterly changed into fire?” asks Aaron Weiss, the lead singer of mewithoutYou, on his band’s fourth studio album, it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright.

The question is posed repeatedly at the close to the awesomely epic track, “The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate,” which tells the allegorical fable of a king from a beetle community who sends his insect denizens out to investigate a recent fire in their kingdom—the fire representing the mystery of divine providence.

Each beetle returns to the king burned and defeated, unable to comprehend the enigmatic blaze, prompting the king to investigate the fire himself. He boldly heads directly into the flames, but rather than dying, the king becomes one with the fire—one with that holy mystery.

The lyrical content to this song was inspired from a story told by the Sufi mystic Bawa Muhaiyaddeen in his book “The Divine Luminous Wisdom: That Dispels the Darkness.”

If it is not yet apparent, mewithoutYou’s new musical outing is definitely not your typical album —and neither is it a typical mewithoutYou album. Produced by Brian McTear and Daniel Smith (of Danielson), It’s all crazy… in many ways marks a grand departure from their earlier work, though fans with a careful ear probably assumed the band was slowly headed in this direction.

Gone are the heavily distorted guitars and screaming vocals of albums past in favor of a brashly bizarre freak-folk indie-rock concept album of epic proportions. This change in direction may be off-putting to fans of their former visceral angst-laden style, but for those willing to give the new stuff a chance, their growth as musicians displayed on this album is truly remarkable.

MewithoutYou has at times been labeled a Christian band (though Weiss rejects this pigeonholing), and the fact they put out albums on the religious Tooth & Nail record label does little to dissuade such characterizing.

However, while the band does explore themes of a religious nature, this new album actually has far more references to Sufism (Islamic mysticism) than it does Christianity. In fact, the album gets its title from a parable in another book by Muhaiyaddeen, “The Golden Words of a Sufi Sheikh.”

Many of the themes explored with the lyrics may not be immediately accessible—but, then again, great art rarely is. And one does not necessarily have to agree with Weiss and company to appreciate the artistry exhibited.

But there is no denying that Weiss’ ability to coalesce an innocent children’s-book sensibility into deep esoteric and existential ruminations while still soudning like a campfire sing-along is rather mind-blowing.

Take this line from the song “Fig with a Bellyache” as an example: “The camel in the desert took a ship across the lake/ while the fish in search of water found a fig with a bellyache.” One could spend hours trying to decipher the symbolism in just this one stanza.

So it takes some time to fully digest this meticulous storytelling filled with theological parables and animal fables which sounds like a mix between Aesop, Dr. Seuss and Walt Whitman. And those with the patience will find a lyrical talent rarely matched in music today —though Weiss’ actual vocals may be an acquired taste for some.

Yet, beneath all the profound themes and prolific lyrics lies the music —a roaring mix of folk measures matched with raw multi-instrumental rock that perfectly harmonizes with the lyrical themes.

Many of the songs are structured around an acoustic guitar rhythm which builds to crashing crescendos filled with horn sections, pianos, accordions, violins, flutes, pounding drums and haunting choral chants.

The musical arrangement features a diverse style that seems reminiscent of the horns and lyrical melodies of Neutral Milk Hotel, the playful childlike whimsy of They Might Be Giants, the grandiose choruses of Arcade Fire’s first album, and the warbling, fist-pumping folk-rock epics of Bright Eyes —all while still maintaining an elegance and energy wholly its own.

The end result is an album so powerful, unique and mystifying that it is certainly a contender for album of the year—and just may go down as a modern classic.

So perhaps Weiss should have stopped screaming long ago, because he has learned to speak volumes with restraint.

Ultimately, the band has finally found that alchemical formula where the music and lyrics have become one with that holy mystery—and now with this amazing new album, mewithoutYou has been utterly changed into fire.

Grade: A