Tool & Die
page 8
G
igi's
CD
R
eviews
With Seas of Blood, recorded by Marc
Bartholomew at Acadia Recording in
Portland, ME, and by Rowan Bishop
at Purgatory Recording in Westbrook,
ME,
By Blood Alone
brings us an
absolutely original Goth rock sound
that invites images of hot little, head-
bobbing Goth boys, and midnight
sex in ancient cemeteries. The po-
tentially lush, full bodied, orchestral
sound that should be coming through
is only dampened by poor, though
not unbearable, production by Steve
La Cerra and a thin Casio keyboard
sound
through much of the album.
The opening track, "Serpentarius"
with a driving guitar riff pounded out
by John Graveside, provides an excit-
ing start to a song that would better
be served with a more realistic string
sound, but has an interesting breakout
toward the end. "Wants Me Dead",
"Undead Friend" and "Nidhogg"
leave me wishing I could see this
album played from beginning to end
as a full scale theatrical production.
Jack Doran on Bass and Runtt on
drums keep an impressively tight rein
on driving rhythms that could easily
run away on stage. This band could
write well for neo-Broadway/Hol-
lywood, especially with the Vampiric
feel they bring to their composition.
Cruella's vocals are fantastic, a re-
freshing and clean sound, but again,
production doesn't do her justice.
The fi nal track, "Little Lady Lil-
lit", with a very clever piano line by
keyboard player Jenny Williamson, is
a sardonic nursery-rhyme like tale of
a sadistic little girl that fi nds pleasure
in torturing small living creatures. I
like it. I had to hit repeat. In all, this
album is well written and I look for-
ward to seeing new releases from By
Blood Alone. To fi nd out more about
what they are up to, check out their
web-site at www.bybloodalone.com.
Pale Green Stars
was another daz-
zling, albeit short-lived, side-project
by the near-mythical Jeff Jones of
Syracuse, NY. This CD is good. In
fact, it's great, but do I review a CD
that was recorded 10 years ago? Aw,
what the hell. I can't pass up review-
ing prime material. Starring Jones,
himself, on guitars and vocals, Chris
Paisley on bass and vocals, and Pete
Stojanovski on drums and vocals,
Let's Trade Prescriptions was re-
corded in 1999 at Pyramid Studios in
Ithaca, NY, brilliantly produced by
the band with help
from Executive
producer, Steven
Zaferakis and
engineered by the
incredibly talented
Alex Perialis and
Jason Arnold. I
have no idea when
it was released, and
not a clue where
you can fi nd an-
other copy except,
perhaps, by
contacting Jones
through his cur-
rent project at
www.myspace.
com/thelegend-
aryjonesgang.
This album will
take you on a
trip that fi ts the
title fl awlessly.
The opening
shock track "I
am the Switch"
is a pure rock
and roll, primal
glance into ani-
mal magnetism
complete with a
slap on the ass when you least expect
it. The amphetamine laced, power
punk-pop tune "Kool Kids" is com-
pleted three songs later by the haunt-
ing "Episode 1" into "Darth Vader"
which made me feel like I was com-
ing down hard. The fi nal post-punk,
neo-alternative, Rockabilly tune,
"Long Hard Road" left me hungry for
more. There is not a track on this CD
that I would skip. If you can get your
hands on a copy, I highly recommend
it.
by Gigi Gautier