Well, folks, welcome to my first Versus Review. And probably my only one b/c I'm not so terribly biased in this one as possible other match-ups (such as Metallica vs Megadeth, or Dream Theater vs Opeth). So lets dive on in!
The Stage
Needless to say I was pumped when I discovered Jaded, an all-female rock band from the USA's Eastern Seaboard. I was also pumped to find Crucified Barbara from Sweden, another all female hard rock outfit. So which chick band rocks harder? Read on!
Drums & Bass
I'm starting here b/c of my lack of familiarity with either of these instruments. Needless to say both bands have competent players in both the bass and battery positions, but again with my lack of knowledge it makes it hard to comment on relative skills. However, i will comment that since Jaded has only one guitar player that if Abbey (bass player for Jaded) handles the rhythm parts through distortion effects on her bass while Britt is playing the leads then that scale tips drastically in Jaded's favour.
Advantage: Draw
Vocals
Well here is something that I am quite familar with. Both bands have their definate strengths in this category. in terms of Lead Vocals, i'd say that Jaded's Julie would have to run away with this one. She simply has more variety in her tone and emotion. The difference in this is clear between songs like, Fire, Tragic, and Knock It Back.
In terms of backing vocals, and successfully getting 'one voice' then Crucified Barbara, easily takes this one. The cohesion and unity between Mia, Klara, and Nikki, clearly outclass their Jaded counterparts consistently.
Advantage:
Lead: Jaded
Group: Crucified Barbara
Guitars:
On paper this comparison hardly seems fair. Crucified Barbara's two players versus Jaded's one. And that would be truefor most bands but... I must admit when I first span Jaded's album I was blown a-f**kin'-way by the guitar playing contained therein. Solid Mustaine(rhythm player for Megadeth)-esque rhythms and face-melting leads, contained in one explosive package known as Britt Lightning.
Crucified Barbara's players Mia and Klara are both excellent guitar players, and lay down some strong rhythms and cool leads, but there was nothing on their album that really made me stop and go 'Wow, that was awesome." Although I will admit that in terms of catchiness they really do blow away Jaded on a lot of their songs, and have consistently catchy hooks. That being said, in the metal world technicality rules all, and Britt clearly has technical skill in spades.
Advantage:
Lead: Jaded
Rhythm: Jaded
Catchiness : Crucified Barabara
Lyrics:
Two very different philosophies on display in terms of lyrics. Jaded come across very much as 'We're chicks who play fast and heavy, and want to be very sensual and seductive' whereas Crucified Barbara are more "We're chicks who rock out, and boy are we pissed off at the males in our lives!" So really I guess it depends on what're you looking for. I prefer the more sensual stuff, although that's not surprising...I am a guy after all.
Although I think most of the girls I know would appreciate the sentiments of Crucifed Barbara far more. And any sensuality that Barbara displays comes off more as overt sexuality, and somtimes it feels a little crass/forced, whereas Jaded strokes the playful sensuality thing just perfectly.
Advantage if you are...:
Guy: Jaded
Girl: Crucified Barbara
Overall Albums:
Jaded's self-titled debut is chock-full of the good stuff, and covers a variety of styles from the seductive Fire, to the fist pumping Get Up, and the fun song Jet Car. On one hand it is cool to see a variety of styles being played by them, but at the same time the album almost feels like it's lacking a identity, or at least unity in some regards.
Crucified Barbara's debut 'In Distortion We Trust' almost goes too far the other way, and has great unity but sometimes feels like its lacking variety. Catchy the whole way throughout, and very easy to hum along to or get stuck in your head, but at all times very rock&roll.
Advantage:
Unity: Crucified Barbara
Variety : Jaded
In The End:
Advantage: Jaded, but both bands are definately worth checkin' out, b/c they can both play.
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5 comments:
Next up in the versus review:
Neal with Transit Orientated Developement vs Exurban Sprawl...(and you thought suburbs were bad)... in the obviously biased but "we're going to try to be objective" debate forum...
It's true. No review is ever truly objective. In fact I'd say it's impossible.
yah me too!
-matty k
reviews can be objective... but it has to be something that isn't based solely on opinion...
for example, I could compare rca dvd players to sony dvd players and remain completely objective...
A review is still processed through a persons mind though, and unless you are reviewing just technical specifications, then there is always some inherent bias contained within.And with DVD players, unless you are completely deviod of brand loyalty or aesthetic sense there will still be some bias contained within.
And since to review music simply within technical specifications, such as bpm, scales, chord progressions and octave ranges, rhythm figures would be pointless, there will always be inherent bias within a music review.
Simply put there is too much psychology involved in music to boil it down to a completely objective measure. Included in this is record sales, which are proably the single most deceviing 'objective' measure around.
As well I don't believe I said anything overly negative about CB, their album was an excellent acquistion, but I belive that Jaded simply has more technical skill at their disposal, and therefore said that their album was better.
It's basically the same reason I prefer Megadeth over Metallica. Metallica is by far catchier, but Megadeth simply has more skilled players, and more complex compositions, and therefore I find it more interesting as a whole.
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