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Album Reviews
Within the first 30
sec. you know you're in for a musical adventure.
When the guitars start there wax melting assault in the first track
"Crush" I swear I get goose bumps every time. I don't think the
Violet Burning have ever sounded better. The band creates such
a magnificent mind bending atmosphere. You can't help but think
man I hope this album never ends. Andy Prickett's distorted guitar
solo's feel so right sliding up along side Michael Pritzl's vocals.
The beginning guitar strumming in "Underwater" lets you know the
band is going to let you catch your breath for a song or so.
But that doesn't mean the song doesn't hold it's own with the
rest of the record. When Michael sings "I could die here tonight"
you believe him. This album has such a intriguing mystical element
to it. You can't help but wonder what the band was feeling when
they played these songs for the first time. I love the throbbing
bass in "Silver" it helps Michael get his point across lyrically.
Wait a second I haven't even mentioned Steve Hindalong's drumming.
Steve was a session player on the drums for this album, and what an
awesome job he did. This album is nothing short of an intensely sweet
artful display of musicianship. What else can be said this album
is a masterpiece.
~ Anthony P. Hanna
The Violet Burning
guitarist Andy Pricket says, "When we were recording the album, we broke it
down into three categories: love songs, broken hearted songs and
broken-hearted love songs." Comparisons have been made to Smashing Pumpkins,
Radiohead, U2, etc., but with sounds shooting from the speakers like western
twang, acid rock, guitar pop psychadelic funk and goth, this band packs a
very substantial wallop of its own -- one that I dare say matches or
surpasses these bands at their best. And like with most really good bands,
you might be able to throw a bunch of music tags at the music to sort of
give people an idea of where it's all coming from, but really, it doesn't
come close to doing that at all. Anyway, I figure a band that can bring a
Tusk-era Lindsey Buckingham crashing into a wall of 90's guitar crunch and
wail has to be worth a long look..
~Bryan
Baker
3/3/96.
"You move me, crush
me, bend me, please don't break me/ goldmine, goldmine/ you leave me
breathless," sings the rock band The Violet Burning on its self-titled Domo
Records debut album.
This rising group from Long Beach, Calif., may turn out to be a gold mine of
its own with its psychedelic Gothic rock catching rave reviews, especially
on college campuses.
The band, which has performed with the likes of Dishwalla, The Nixons, Jars
of Clay and Cracker, plays the Ironhorse Tavern, 721 S. 1st, on Thursday.
Cover charge will be $4 per person.
"Our goal is not really to rock," Michael Pritzl, singer and guitarist,
says. "The goal is more for what we call 'vibe.' For feeling."
Influences include The Cure, U2 and Echo and the Bunnymen, but their own
experimental sound focuses on a three-guitar collage with vocals still
taking a dominant role. The group says the album is broken into three
categories: love songs, broken-hearted songs and broken-hearted love songs.
The Violet Burning takes melancholy rock to passionate heights with their
echoing melodies, and brooding lyrics, "Have you got feelings?/ Will you
sell some, if I give you this stone?/ I can't help it, I've nothing left to
give." Pritzle's falsetto on the cuts "blind" and "silver" also holds an
eerie, mystical quality.
For such a new band, they manage to portray a real maturity and ease with
their music. The album is great, though a little long; their live show has
been described as "captivating" and "heart wrenching."
Abilene's lucky to catch the band on this tour - we're their smallest venue,
as they travel from Houston to Boston, and from there to Philadelphia and
New York.
~Mary
Specht
"The Violet
Burning" isn't that bad. But it still ain't metal. There is a lot of fuzzy
distortion, rolling bass lines, and ambient parts in the collage that makes
up the package called The Violet Burning. In reality, The Violet Burning is
more like a grunge-cousin to the stoner rock scene if the stoner scene had
started in England and not southwest America. Or you could say that The
Violet Burning sound like a low-key Jesus & Mary Chain mired in the Brit-pop
resurgence of the new millennium.
The Violet Burning's alt-rock style isn't enough to attract radio airplay,
and its echo-like distorted leads won't do a damn thing to get these guys on
the radio either. Whoops, I swore; I didn't mean to. Did I mention that The
Violet Burning are a Christian band? Although the lyrics on this self-titled
debut aren't very specific to praise they do conjure up themes often found
in Christian literature: salvation, belief, self-doubt, declarations of
faith, devotion to the Creator, and the apocalypse.
There are times
when the band rocks out as it does on blistering outro of "Fever" and the
psychedelic meanderings of "The Sun And The Sky." For what it's worth, "The
Sun And The Sky" received airplay on MTV and is an instantly likeable song
that would have fit right along with the more uplifting songs from U2 or The
Alarm if it'd only come out in the late '80s. "Low" has a cool guitar riff
and rockin' drumbeat, but maybe lingers a little past its welcome at nearly
eight minutes.
Vocalist
Michael J. Pritzl sounds like a cross between U2's Bono and The Why Store's
Christopher Shaffer. Lyrically and emotionally the vocals work hand in hand
- this stuff is particularly heartfelt and somewhat depressing. The band
meanwhile sounds like a harder version The Cure without the gorgeous
melodies to prop it up. The song's constructs and the music's purpose are
really small but significant parts of a whole. The band is creating an
atmosphere in which the songs exact their toll on the protagonist's
expulsion of emotion.
In the end, The Violet Burning's self-titled CD fits into the post-Seattle
backlash of toned-down pop songs although its roots are firmly in the '80s
post-punk scene. It's not hard to see why this band got some positive press
in the late '90s, but I don't see the band gaining any new fans from the
ranks of Rough Edge readers.
"The Violet Burning" was produced by Steve Hindalong.
The Violet Burning is Michael J. Pritzl on guitars and vocals, Andy
Pritchett on guitars, and Jason Pickersgill on bass. Steve Hindalong was the
session drummer/percussionist.
For more information visit
http://thevioletburning.tripod.com/main.htm.
~Christopher
J. Helter
The
Violet Burning
(homepage)
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