Battle of the Bands 11.03.09: Them Crooked Vultures vs. Thirty Seconds To Mars
Posted by Adam Battagello on 11.03.2009
A modern David and Goliath, emo band vs. supergroup
Greetings once again lads and ladies and welcome to your weekly singles face-off, Battle of the Bands. Bit of a special occasion this week as it is actually my 20th article here since I started writing for 411. And all I can say is, where is my god damn cake..
That's better.
Before the Blow.
Awesome news this week with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith announcing the band has finally kick started work for the next album which should (hopefully) see release towards the latter half of 2010.
Lead singer Anthony Kiedis' autobiography really highlighted how temperamental some members of the California-based rock group can be, and I gotta be honest, when this ‘hiatus' began to stretch longer than the original one year intention, things were beginning to look a bit cloudy for the band's future. Especially since guitarist John Frusciante released what is, in my opinion one of the most solid albums of the decade this year with ‘The Empyrean" it really wouldn't have been surprising to me if he had decided not to come back, but there you go.
While the groups 2006 release ‘Stadium Arcadium' wasn't exactly the strongest thing they've ever attempted, it was still miles ahead of what much of the industry is offering, and hopefully anything new by the band will continue to push forward.
I do love my Red Hot Chili Peppers covering songs…
Anywho, onto the face-off.
This Week:
Them Crooked Vultures- New Fang vs. Thirty Seconds to Mars- Kings and Queens
I briefly covered a lot of the hype surrounding ‘super group' Them Crooked Vultures in one of my recent articles, but let's just go over it again for kicks, three of the biggest names in rock, Dave Grohle, Josh Homme and the legendary John Paul Jones, have come together to in all likelihood bring us hard rock that is so good the ears of the masses shall bleed in response. The group's first official release ‘New Fang' had its radio release last week, and makes up one half of today's competition.
And on the other hand we have Thirty Seconds To Mars, the California based Emo/post-grunge band fronted by actor Jared Leto, who, if I remember correctly had a really suspicious "friendship" with Colin Farrell in the movie Alexander. God why are those the scenes I remember? Anyway, regardless of how I may feel about this sort of music, it is undeniable that Thirty Seconds to Mars have been able to speak to the masses, their last album, 2005's ‘A Beautiful Lie' has managed to achieve platinum status and now the group follows it up with the upcoming album ‘This Is War'. This first single from which, will be placed up against Them Crooked Vultures. David and Goliath looking battle? Exactly and it's the kind I love…
Them Crooked Vultures- New Fang
These days, with Dave Grohl so often front and center with the Foo Fighters, it is almost too easy to forget how valuable the man really is on drums, this is the guy who, when on the skins, helped shape Nirvana into the iconic group that it would become, as well as sitting in for Queens of the Stone Age and releasing ‘Songs For the Death', quite easily the group's strongest release to date. The first ten seconds of Them Crooked Vultures' first single ‘New Fang' is quintessential Grohl, high energy drumming that effortlessly leads you into the rest of the song. While I find it too easy to skip other tracks on my ipod after a few momentary seconds, Grohl's drumming is simply too enticing and the way it pulls you in is flawless.
The guitar riff that leads into Homme's vocals would really be at home on any Queens of the Stone Age record, it has the sort of psychedelic feel that Homme clearly feels at home with, and Jone's bouncy bass part plays into this perfectly, as you'd expect from such an idol.
Now don't get me wrong, as good as Homme and Jones are, I just can't help but think that Grohl is the engine that really moves Them Crooked Vultures. If his drum work on ‘New Fang' is any indication, than Mr. Grohl should be the undisputed leader of the three piece throughout the album, and I for one don't have any problem with this, Homme always does his best work when he is paired up with Dave, so if you've got the kind of guy who is a natural motivator working behind the primary instrument in your band, this is just the basic recipe for writing kick ass music.
After listening to the track a few times I began to feel like I really couldn't find a chink in the armor of such a solid single release. I guess, if you want to split hairs, the lyrics themselves are rather base and don't offer anything particularly inventive, but at the same time, they just ooze cool in their simplicity, so each negative in the track is really outweighed by the positives.
Very Strong single, what more can I say.
Moving On
Thirty Seconds to Mars- Kings and Queens
Get your ass to Mars
Now, while I'll admit that this particular battle does seem pretty one sided, being that Them Crooked Vultures have released a blistering track and that TSTM's emo style really isn't my thing, I have to say that these are the battles that interest me the most, we have hear an undeniable underdog going up against a modern day super group and, in my opinion, just comparing them in the same article pushes TSTM's up a league. I guess you could say it's my own way of giving someone the Colbert Bump. But I digress.
I had always been under the impression that past offerings from TSTM's, in particular the 2006 single ‘The Kill' had forever soured the band for me. Everything about that single just reeked of emo cliché to me the angsty vocals, the whole film clip being based on The Shining, it just didn't sit right. Luckily, with their latest single ‘Kings and Queens', the group seem to be taking a step in, while I wont say right, let's say ‘better' direction.
There is still the screamish fuelled vocals in ‘Kings and Queens', but for the most part it seems to have gained an edge of maturity which is a natural occurrence as the group continues to evolve. The group still relies slightly on the typical lyrical content of emo bands, but it is much more toned down than listening to lead singer Jared Leto belt out the cringe worthy "Bury Me," over and over again on ‘The Kill'.
There is much more of a willingness to explore with sound on this new offering, particularly in around the 2.45 mark, which sees the song take a complete detour into a synthesizer filled musical landscape, before eventually, and rather unfortunately, falling back on the emo rock chord routine. But, for what it's worth, even this minor section of the track impressed me more than anything I've heard from the band before.
There Can Only Be One!
In all honesty, part of me really wanted to side with Thirty Seconds To Mars on this one. I came in thinking that it may very well be completely one sided when in fact, it has been closer than I could have fathomed. This latest track from Thirty Seconds to Mars is good, and in some parts, particularly the synth filled break halfway through, borders on being great. On any other day they would have easily taken a win, unfortunately they are coming up against one of the best hard-rock tracks I have heard in a long time, and as such will have to settle for second place behind the incomparable Them Crooked Vultures.
That's the decision I went with, now it's over to you, what do you think?
