Now here we have a very diverse album from Los Angeles with a sound that is far removed from commercial music. This is the kinda Underground ish rock that is worshipped by a lot of people who are against any type of commercial music. HARRY CLOUD is mixing a lot of various music genres, but is probably best described as an Alternative Rockmusician. He originally comes out of the Georgia state in the USA, but is currently based in L.A. The Pig and The Machine is the 5th album under the moniker of HARRY CLOUD, and he did a lot himself, but got help on bass, piano/synths and percussion on a couple of songs. The album was recorded by Paul Roessler (THE SCREAMERS, NINA HAGEN…) and features 14 tracks in total. Harry was kind enough to sent me the beautiful blue vinyl release of the album, which of course works best when really listening and reviewing an album. I am not familiar with Harry’s previous records, but after a few spins, it is clear that this is an interesting and very diverse affair.
Opener Fantasy island is a great instrumental start, which is almost a pure 70s lengthy Progressive Rock meets slow Doom Rock ish song. The short Momo Island follows and here we get to hear a sorta WEEZER ish College Rocker in classic 90s style, with an 80s gang-vocal Hair Metal Rock shouting chorus, which is of course a very unlikely combination, but somehow it works here! The final 2 songs of side-A are the calmer melancholic alt pop/rocksong School and the experimental rocker Pink custard pie that features strong guitarsolos and reminds me of a cross between REM, SMASHING PUMPKINS and TOOL if that is possible at all!
Turning over to Side-B with Brain, a midtempo heavy Stoner Rocksong with also some Grunge/Alternative Rock influences from the early 1990s like ALICE IN CHAINS meets NIRVANA. Up next is the intelligent Progressive Alternative Rocker Asexual Bunnyrabbit, which rocks big time and is one of the most interesting songs on the album. Back to heavy Alt/Stoner Rock on following track Sam I am, while closing track of the 2nd side of this vinyl record is the calmer and slightly more polished Haunted hayride that feels like a melodic 90s pop/rock song.
Side-C begins with Bowser, one of the heaviest songs on offer with a lot of screaming, while the song itself is a raw uptempo Punky Rock and Roll tune like IGGY POP completely out of control. The midtempo Alternative Rocker Alien eyes follows, while the extremely short Corsets and crinoline is a nice little Melodic Rock ish tune. Closing this side of the LP is Look what you made me do, a calmer Alternative Pop/Rock song with a NIRVANA kinda approach.
On Side-B are the final 2 songs, Voorhees (a very cool long pure BLACK SABBATH guitar riff driven dark Doom Metal song that might be the absolute highlight of this record) and The pig and the machine (a strong slow rocking Alternative Progrocker like WEEZER meets ALICE IN CHAINS, although somehow I must also think of BLUE OYSTER CULT here and even a bit of RUSH).
There’s so much diversity going on here, which makes it quite interesting to check out, although I think it is mostly recommended to the fans of 90s Alternative Rock and also fans of IGGY POP and FRANK ZAPPA will find something of interest here for sure. You can read and hear more at: https://harrycloud.bandcamp.com/album/the-pig-and-the-machine
Band is a must to check out. They offer so many great material on their albums, of which for me personally the highlights are The colourful clouds of Rho Ophiuchi and New Eden spaceport from their album Zodiaklicht and the titletrack and Mercury sunset oddity from their latest album Dysnomia. Highly recommended to check out these high quality albums no matter what kind of music you like from the aforementioned musicstyles! More info at: https://www.martharabbit.de/
(Points: 8.7 out of 10)
