Album Reviews

Within the first 30 sec. you know you're in for a musical adventure.
When the guitars start their 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

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