Inspired Stories from Australian Authors Scenes from the Second Storey is an anthology that pays homage to an album that Morrigan Books’ publisher, Mark S. Deniz, believes is one of the greatest of all time; Scenes from the Second Storey, by The God Machine. Each story in this collection has been inspired by a track from the album. Quirky, dark, insightful and sometimes downright disturbing, these tales reflect the emotions and images our authors experienced when they heard ‘their’ song from Scenes from the Second Storey. In Scenes, you will meet a girl struggling to find cleanliness in a world full of corruption with Kaaron Warren; follow the twisted mental pathways of the egocentric with Robert Hood; watch two men search for enlightenment down a dark path with Paul Haines; and dance with a girl struggling to find her role within society with Cat Sparks. These snippets are a mere taste of what you will discover between the covers of this anthology.
If you love The God Machine or are looking for a collection that boasts a stable of talented Australian writers, you must grab a copy of Scenes. Scenes from the Second Storey Stories: Dream Machine – David Conyers She Said – Kirstyn McDermott The Blind Man – Felicity Dowker I’ve Seen The Man – Paul Haines The Desert Song – Andrew J. McKiernan Home – Martin Livings It’s All Over – L.J. Hayward Temptation – Trent Jamieson Out – Stephen Dedman Ego – Robert Hood Seven – Stephanie Campisi Purity – Kaaron Warren The Piano Song – Cat Sparks Where to Buy Paperback: $9.95 + shipping Paperback: $20 + shipping Paperback: (Price varies) E-book: Formats: mobi (Kindle), Epub, LRF, PDB E-book: Formats: mobi (Kindle), Epub, LRF, PDB E-book: Formats: mobi (Kindle), Epub, LRF, PDB.
Scenes From The Second World War
Review Summary: Jane's Addiction meets Daylight Dies? This 1993 release mixes alt. Rock and a streamlined doom/metal sound with near-perfect results.
“Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it' Perhaps four, five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise' Perhaps 20. And yet it all seems limitless.” Most people will recognize that quote as a sample used on Neurosis’ Enemy of the Sun, but it wasn’t the only place that it was used. The God Machine used that quote to open their 1993 debut album, Scenes From the Second Storey, and it set the mood perfectly.
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Upon its release, The God Machine’s debut was described as Jane’s Addiction after a death in the family, and it wasn’t really a bad description. Both bands liked to let the bass guitar lead their music and both were unafraid of extending song-lengths, and the vocalist even kind of sounded like Perry Farrell after a carton of cigarettes, but the God Machine were much darker. There wasn’t any tongue-in-cheek humor or soundtracks to grocery store dance-offs on this album; there was only depression, anger and introspection. The God Machine were also significantly heavier than that description might lead one to believe.
Despite only being a trio, the band definitely liked to make noise and create suffocating walls of sound. They accomplished this by utilizing a thunderous bottom end that was smothered by reverb and feedback-filled riffs; as well as an upfront drum sound and a multitude of sound effects and samples. This wall of sound was augmented by a lot of quieter sections that really helped increase the depressing atmosphere of the songs and album as a whole. In today’s terms, the best description would be to think of these guys as a cross between Jane’s Addiction and a band such as Daylight Dies. Scenes From the Second Storey is very much an aural journey.
The songs are all great on their own, but the album’s biggest impact is heard from start to finish. This is because the album is like an emotional rollercoaster – the two stages of grief: anger and depression.
There’s absolutely no room for denial or bargaining and acceptance just increases the anger. To that end, Scenes jumps in with two of the more aggressive, yet conventional, songs on the album.
They’re both bass-driven and heavy, beginning with the question “Are you lost'” and ending with the vocalist cynically shouting “It’s all up to You” at the end of ‘She Said’. It’s at this point that the meat of the album is really displayed. The track, ‘The Blind Man’, becomes a precursor of things to come with its quiet, moody beginning ultimately clashing with a final few moments of feedback and a riffing wall of sound. It’s also during this song that the album’s theme is really made known with the line, “Have you ever bled and tried to hide the wound, so that no one could see your pain' I’m tired of hiding.” The lyrics of every song definitely display all the pain and anger without holding anything back, and each song has its own unique musical backing. There’s the odd rhythm-and-samples nature of ‘The Desert Song’, the bass-driven aggression of ‘Home’ and a few quieter moments of sadness. This all leads up to the sixteen-minute behemoth titled ‘Seven’. It’s a quiet, lumbering, moody track that can only really be described as alt doom.
After this, it seems that the band is pretty well spent and they end things with a few quieter songs that also incorporate violin and piano into the mix. Among all the similar alternative rock bands that were being signed, this band was an unknown and unique diamond in the rough.
They brought enough of the alt rock aesthetic to appeal to fans of Soundgarden and Alice In Chains, but they were also heavy enough to capture the attention of all those slighted metal fans – either way, though, people were going to have to work for it. Scenes From the Second Storey isn’t full of easily consumable radio tracks; it’s a collection of hard-hitting and emotional songs that are meant to be heard in order and in one sitting. It’s an album that is almost guaranteed to leave its listeners feeling emotionally (and possibly physically) exhausted as the last piano sounds fade from the final track. It’s also totally worth the effort, as the band suffered a tragedy a few years later and were never able to capitalize on the excellent sound they had created, leaving Scenes from the Second Storey a criminally unknown release.
Both ´scenes from the second storey` and `one last laugh in a place of dying` have been re-pressed in november 2010. Finally these musical masterpieces are available again, for a new generation. These albums haven´t been available for years and if you were able to get a copy, prices were astronomically high. I managed to get myself a copy of `scenes from the second storey` on vinyl, and ordered the cd´s again as well. This is not music for the faint harted. Lyrics are often dark and depressing, yet pure and recognizable. The music hoovers between classical, dark psychedelic soundscapes and dark rock with a voice that´s both serene and troubling.
To me these albums are the high point of early 90´s rock and is at a musical peak that, in my humble opinion, not many bands have ever reached, before or after. One of the most powerful and moving rock/metal records ever done, period. Although you can still smell an influence of grunge (there was a hardly a way to get around in 1992), God Machine were onto something special here. Furious tracks like 'I've Seen The Man' and 'Out' both of which are dealing with anger and confusion are interspersed with weird (and sometimes eerie) atmospheric numbers like 'Seven' (featuring extended clarinet solo) and 'Purity' all of which make album stand out head and shoulders above work of many rock bands who were active in the early 90s. History and fate weren't very kind to God Machine, but it also makes for an understanding why there's very little forced emotions on this album. At the very least this album provided a glimpse into what could've been, if it wasn't for their tragic demise just two years after this record was released.
A band with a truly strange trajectory, was founded in San Diego, paid their dues in New York, but only managed to kick-start their career after moving on to London, England. There, the trio signed with independent Fiction Records and released their critically acclaimed debut in 1993. A sprawling, stylistically diverse effort, the album's alternative metal often drew comparisons to Jane's Addiction because of singer 's vocal resemblance to. But the was even more experimental, using hypnotic riffs, trance-like drones, ethereal vocals, and a bevy of unconventional instruments to achieve a highly cinematic effect throughout their work. Opener 'Dream Machine' (whose eerie intro dialog was coincidentally used on a Neurosis album that same year) and the mesmerizing 'The Desert Song' are especially memorable, but the band stretches their wings even further on extended pieces like 'Purity' and 'Seven.' Though quite impressive, these explorations cover so much terrain that the listener's attention can be severely tested - especially by the bland songs contained in the album's Oreo-like creamy center, among which only the interestingly sparse 'It's All Over' leaves a lasting impression.
And, not surprisingly, the predictable single 'She Said' - the kind of throwaway funk metal radio fodder popular at the time - is the album's weakest link. In the end, probably could have done without all of its CD-busting 80 minutes, but all things considered, there's plenty of value for their money here.
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