Starset - Vessels

"Vessels" is the second album by Ohio four piece Starset. "Vessels" was originally released in 2017, then released again with a bonus disc as "Vessels 2.0" in 2018. I first came across Starset a few months ago supporting Shinedown and to say I was blown away by them was an understatement. I haven't listened to the debut album "Transmissions" that much yet as I have been listening to "Vessels 2.0" a lot. 

With "Vessels" Starset really are spoiling their fans. It is a 15 track album, lasting roughly 70 minutes. Meaning the average track length is just under 5 minutes. Some bands are guilty of making albums this length and sometimes quality control doesn't quite hit the mark. But Starset have created an album here which hits the spot in every way. They are very much a rock band and most of the songs do have the same sort of feel to them. But Starset have got cello and violin players drafted in to give their music an extra dimension. "Last to Fall" and "Bringing it down" for example have incredible string outros.

There are many songs on this album which are big sounding rock songs that have that stadium rock feel. Most notably "Satellites", "Die for you" and "Ricochet".  But there are so many other tracks which fit the bill, but those ones I suppose were most standout to me. Vocalist Dustin Bates has an awesome voice which fits the music well. Another great track worthy of a mention is album closer "Everglow". What a closer to an album. 7 minutes plus and has Starset's trademark frenzied guitars causing an almighty racket. But this one stands out more as it lasts longer. 

One thing which I thought was missing from "Vessels" was a slower, ballad kind of track. There are of course moments in the songs on the album which have slow moments but generally these seems to build up to the explosions of noise. Not a bad thing but I did think that Starset would be good at the slower stuff. That is why I was pleased to discover that some of the bonus tracks on "Vessels 2.0" were in fact acoustic versions of the album tracks. Then you have "Love you to Death".  This track is just sublime and at the time of writing my favourite Starset track.  This is a softer track and everything about it works really well. I was slightly disappointed when I found out it was a cover (Type O Negative). But Starset have done a great job with it.  "Vessels 2.0" as previously mentioned is 2 discs. First is the album. Then second is bonus tracks. Taking total listening time to 1 hour 50 minutes. And these remixes and acoustic tracks are well worth it. And I don't often say that about artists who release albums or have bonus discs.

Overall this is an absolutley fantastic album and I am so happy I discovered this album. If you haven't seen them live you need to go, as it is a mesmerising experience. "Vessels" is straight out the top drawer and if rumours are true it won't be long till the next instalment. Wikipedia says 2019!  They are big in America but don't seem to be as big in Europe. Hopefully with this support slot on the Shinedown tour they will amass some more fans. They have a new one here that is for certain.

Muse - Simulation Theory

"Simulation Theory" is English rock 3 piece Muse's 8th studio album. They started life as a band in the late 90s and I got sucked in by their rifftastic tunes very early on when their debut album "Showbiz" came out. While the first 4 albums I absolutely loved, particularly "Origin of Symmetry", I did go off them for a bit during albums 5 and 6. But when 7th album "Drones" came out I was sucked back in again and thought the album represented a triumphant return to form.

It seems like the build up to this album has been happening for quite a while, with the likes of "Thought contagion" and "Dig Down" have been on playlists maybe for as long as a year. But to be honest they weren't on my playlists along with more recent single "Pressure".  I just didn't think they were very good and in Muse terms they feel very basic and safe. And I think this is, generally speaking, the story of the album. But I have to admit on the whole when listening to these songs and other songs on the album, I do like these songs more now than I did when listening to them individually. They fit in with the album and while they don't particularly challenge the listener they do have a lot of fun songs to listen to on here.

I do think that there is a stand out track on here and it happens straight from the word go in the form of "Algorithm".  This to me is Muse at their best. The long introduction before the vocals kick in and the whole feel of the song really does set the bar high for the rest of the album. As I said while I have started to enjoy the album and the singles within in it more after multiple listens. But this track for me really does stand out.

On the contrary their are two tracks on here that let the album down badly and I would say they are two of the worst Muse tracks I have ever heard. These are "Propaganda" and "Break it to me".  These songs feel like the band are trying to add more complexity and creativity to their songs but for me here it backfires and ends up very messy, to the point where I am going - what were they thinking.

Overall I would say there are nine good tracks on here. For other bands maybe I would say they were great but what I have heard Muse create in the past, I know they are better than this. So I would give this album four out of five based on the nine tracks.  But those two other tracks I was talking about really bring it down a notch so I can only give this three out of five. But on the whole I see myself listening to this for a while as on the whole it is still an enjoyable listen.

02/11/18 - Kacey Musgraves @ Armadillo, Glasgow

I only discovered Kacey Musgraves back in March this year when her third album "Golden Hour" came out. I was blown away with this album and was on the hunt to see if she was playing Glasgow any time soon. And I was in luck, although tickets were already on sale for this gig, there were still quite a few tickets left and my mum was up for it too so we snapped a few up.

So fast forward to yesterday and we got there in plenty of time for the single support act for the night Soccer Mummy. I'm glad I found out stage times before hand as doors opened at 6.30 but Soccer Mummy wasn't on till 7.50. But it did mean we didn't have to queue at any point.  Sophie Allison or Soccer Mummy is her stage name also had 3 other band members with her. A guitarist, bassist and drummer. I quite enjoyed her 40ish minute set. The tone of her music is quite relaxing and she has quite soothing vocals. She also had quite good chat in between songs which the crowd warmed to.  I did like the way the guitarist would go off on wee guitar solos at the end of some of the songs too.

It set the scene quite nicely for Kacey Musgraves.  She was due on at 9pm but for some reason or another she didn't come on till 9.20pm. But even with the slightly delay she still stormed through a 17 song set along with a 3 song encore. Most of the set was quite rightfully built around the latest album "Golden Hour". I know she had quite a reputation before this album but this album has seemed to have propelled her further into the spotlight. My personal highlights was a nice acoustic rendition of "Oh what a world" and also one of her older songs "Merry go round". But really the whole set was really good.  I can't remember the song but there was one song which turned into a 2-3 minute jam session which was excellent and also unexpected.

For most of the set everyone was seated but when the likes of "Velvet Elvis" and "Follow your arrow" started more and more people began to stand and by the end of the set everyone was standing. Especially for the final song "High horse".  It will be interesting to see what direction takes with her music. Obviously "Golden hour" was hugely successful but the majority of the songs on it were quite laid back with emphasis on her amazing vocals (which really shone through tonight). But in that album she also has these upbeat dancy numbers which the crowd clearly love too. It was one of those gigs where its appropriate to sit down for 3/4s of it and then standing for the other quarter.  So what venue is really suitable for her?!  Well I suppose a comprimise would be a place with standing and seating, for example the hydro. But could she sell that out with her next album? Time will tell...

Overall an excellent night.

30/10/18 - Shinedown @ O2 Academy, Glasgow

I only discovered Shinedown back in March of this year but they have fast become one of my favourite bands. So I was very excited to get tickets for this one, especially as they sold out with in an hour of going on sale. Tonights line up was myself, Craig, Campbell and Brian and we got to the venue about 7.15 to find huge queues. By the time we got in the place was 3/4s full and first support band Press to the Meco were half way through there set.

Press to Meco are a 3 piece rock band from London. They did have some good moments and it was interesting to see that all 3 members sang at various points. I have a rule at gigs at the moment in that if I haven't heard of a support before going to the gig. I keep it that way as I enjoy getting into bands live. But in Press to Meco's case I think it would have been better to get into their songs first.  And for that reason although I wasn't completely blown away by their set, I will be checking them out further.

Now I don't ususally do this but I will make an exception here - if you are going to see Shinedown on this tour or you think you'll see the next support band Starset which I am going to talk about now. It is probably best you skip over the next section till you see them. People who have seen or know about Starset will know what I am talking about. So skip this section if you dont want to know about Starset's set.  But if you aren't planning to see them I would read it!

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OK what can you say about Starset!  I don't think I have ever reacted to a support band the way I reacted to Starset. When they came on stage and started going into the first song my mates just looked at each other and just said "WOW".  Coming on in space suits which lit up in different colours depending on how they moved. They had projectors too and generally had such a great stage presence.  The band is made up with the lead singer, guitarist, bassist and a string section which are very much part of the band. And one of them played keyboards for a bit too. They did remind me a bit of Bring me the Horizon but longer songs and maybe not as heavy. This really was an excellent set. And I should mention by the time they came on the place was full.  It was unfortunate at the start of the last song they ran into technical difficulties. They tried to fix it for 5 minutes but time was getting on and they decided to call it a day. But when they explained this they got such a good reaction. I think they had already won the audience and didn't really have anything left to prove. It was tremendous.
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Now on to the headliners Shinedown.  They came on and drove head first into hit single "Devil". That really got the place going. They then played "Diomond Eyes" which to be honest was the only song they played which I was unfamiliar with but appearently it was on a soundtrack.  It was interesting to note that there was no songs I don't think from the first 2 albums but the were all spread out over the last 4. This was ideal for me as the first 2 albums I didn't think were as good. But at the same time it may be because I haven't given them enough listens yet. But either way I was pleased the set focused on albums 3 to 6.

Such is their back catalogue now every song they played was a hit and when you can exclude songs like the "Crow and the Butterfly" from the set you know you have a strong set of material. One thing which could get on peoples nerves a bit and I have seen a few Twitter comments about it - is frontman Brent Smith's talking in between songs. But I think it is brilliant. He really knows how to get the crowd going. In fact before "Enemies" he went all the way into the crowd and up to a section we were standing near just to tell people to jump for the next song. He then went back and everyone was jumping. He just knew what to say to get the crowd on side.  I know some people might want more songs but I think it can be what is said in between songs makes gigs a better experience too.

My favourite moment of the night though came in the form of an acousitc version of Amaryllis. I absolutley love that song and I dont think they play it that often live at the moment as they said they asked folk what they wanted to hear earlier in the day on social media and quite a few people said this song. So Glasgow was very lucky!  The gig was due to finish at 11pm but I think maybe because of the problems with the support acts set it didn't finish till about 11.15pm with the magnificent song "Brilliant" which is the closer on their latest album "Attention, Attention".

Overall this was an absolutley amazing gig. One of the things I love about Shinedown is that the songs are so easy to sing along to.  They rock so much and put everything into it. They are clearly grateful for the position they are in and to the people that made them who they are. I was late to the party with them but I am there now and I am planning on being at the next one.