Monday, January 31, 2011

Kylesa - Spiral Shadow Review




   Kylesa is an experimental sludge, doom, drone metal band from Savannah, Georgia.  I discovered them officially maybe a week ago from Pandora.  I had heard of them before but never really paid much attention to them.  I heard a few tracks off of Spiral Shadow and was blown away at the intense sound that these guys have although while keeping a small amount a finesse to it.  They are really a great drone metal band that I think you guys should really check out.  There are aspects of this band that really set them apart from the others in their genre of metal.
   Spiral Shadow is their 5th studio album and was released this past year in 2010.  It by far is their most experimental effort yet.  After their Static Tensions release they were getting noticed by a lot of people critics, and fans alike.  It was one of the better releases of 2009.  This album though they really pushed the ambient psychedelic feel to it I feel.  It really is a headphone record.  The small little things you hear in the background that you might miss if you were just listening to it on a stereo.  This album really explores their keyboard, and mixing abilities, but while not over powering the over-all vibe of the album.  When the first track comes on its very intimate and mellow and sets you in the mood for a nap, and than it just takes off in this aggressive frenzy of sound and moves you through what will be Spiral Shadow.  Their special edition release really shows how they record, and they really have a classic sense of recording.  They use an assortment of probably 50 to 60 different peddles to get their very dense thick distortion sound.  They really know their effects, and the way to combine them together perfectly to get their sound.  Their classic favor is much appreciated from me b/c I feel that with the advances in technology and the different popularities in recording these days everything is going very digital, and sometimes made easy for the artist, and these guys don't take the easy road for sure.  Which commends a certain amount more respect than the others doing it the modern ways.  Spiral Shadow explores many different aspects of their music abilities which hasn't been done to this level on previous releases.  From the guitar tones, to the keys added in as one of the main instruments, and not just a filler or accent to the song, but like I said not over taking the songs in anyway.  Everything seems to mesh very well. 
   The drums are another thing that really puts me away.  They have two drummers with full sets playing in unison.  Which really hasn't been done like this before.  It sounds really tight and together on the record, and watching these guys do everything on cue to the last note is truly amazing.  The drums have a very big in your face presence on the record.  They designed the record around the drums.  They got them recorded and sounding really good first and formulated the rest of the record around the drums.  Watching them play live is really a sight to see.  When Carl McGinley, and Tyler Newberry start playing together its like watching yourself play in the mirror, but every once in a while you reflection will go and add a little something on its own to put the song together.  Phillip Cope, Laura Pleasants, Corey Barhorst, Carl McGinley, and Tyler Newberry really make a great team together with their definite staple in the drone metal world with Spiral Shadow.  I will continue to be a fan of them from this point on.  I also recommend checking out Static Tensions as well it has a lot of great things throughout the record as well.  I gave this album a solid 9.  So until next time stay hard, stay heavy.

Here are some of the tracks from the record.  I highly recommend listening to record in its entirety for the way the track fallow one another is really placed very well from start to finish. 








Friday, January 28, 2011

Porcupine Tree - In Absentia Review



  I discovered Porcupine Tree through Opeth.  I got real into Opeth, and started doing some research on the band and just tried learning everything I could about them, and came across this guy Steven Wilson on numerous occasions.  I didn't think much of it I though maybe he was just a producer that the guys liked using or just a guest musician from a band they liked.  When I actually paid attention to what he contributed to Opeth I was surprised so I had to check him out.  He produced, and contributed backing vocals, guitar, and keyboards to Opeth's album Blackwater Park and Damnation which Blackwater Park is by far one of their greatest albums.   
  Steven Wilson really has opened my pallet of tastes in music from progressive rock, indi rock, soft acoustic contemporary rock, psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, ambient, to more hard core metal.  I have checked out bands just because they were mentioned in an interview with Steven Wilson that I watched, and loved them.  His music intuition is far above any one persons I have ever seen.  He has such a wide range of tastes, and abilities that its no wonder he has so many projects going for him.  Steven Wilson is a music workaholic.  He doesn't admit that its him being a workaholic, he is just doing what he loves which is right, but he never stops doing something with music weather it be with Porcupine Tree, No-Man, Blackfield, I.E.M. (  Incredible Expanding Mindfuck ), Bass Communion, to his solo project.  Every work of his is so different in so many ways.  I highly recommend checking out Blackfield, and his solo stuff.  They are truly amazing.  When I went to check out Porcupine Trees material I was blown away at how much stuff these guys have put out on the last 20 years.  They have 10 studio albums, 4 live albums, 4 EP's, and 3 compilation albums.  Staring from 1991 to now.  That's a lot of stuff in that amount of time.  Not to mention that's just Porcupine Tree.  All the other projects as well have numerous releases.  So he is a very busy man.  Steven Wilson is such an awsome person to listen to talk about music, and what moves him.  He is brilliantly smart, and innovative with everything he does.  This is just a portion of the information that he has done.  I hope that maybe this review turns you on to something of his or even this album in particular b/c this is my favorite Porcupine Tree album.  So now to the album haha.
  In Absentia came out in 2002 and is their 7th studio album.  For me from start to finish this album has you by the hand the whole time.  Its like running through a musical painting with everything in it from, heavy distorted aggressive riffs, to melodic piano, and sprinkled with soft intoxicating melodies.  This album definitely for goes in numerous directions throughout the record.  For instance the first song right of the bat starts you off with a crunching prog metal piece.  When the soft part comes in after the intro heaviness its hauntingly good.  Blackest Eyes is one of my favorite tracks off the album.  Than Trains comes on and its this soft acoustic wonder.  That to me I would play this song while driving down an old dirt road going really slow during the summer without a care in the world and enjoying the air.  Now comes this angry march Sound of Muzik.  That while not being very heavy seems to give me this since of power and I just nod my head to the beat the whole time and listen to his truly in your face message.  The progressive drums are just amazing.  Gavin Harrison is one of the great drummers of today.  He was featured on my top 20 drummers of all time.  So now you go though a few prog rock tracks that really keep you going until you get to the wondrous Heartattach in A Lay By.  The eary mantra that this song gives you will send chills down your spine.  His voice grabs you and pulls you into the spiral of sounds and melody that will bring you to a place in your head you never thought existed.  I listen to this song and get lost in everything that's happening slowly but surely.  And finally the end saddening I know but man they end it well.  Collapse the Light Into Earth gives me a since of confidence that tomorrow will be better and the day after that, well who knows what will be there for me, but that's the beauty of life.  Not knowing whats in store and playing the game a little.
  This album really has changed my life almost.  It really made me look at what music meant to me.  If a few guys could do something like this and put their heart and soul into it, and it come out like this there's gotta be something powerful and needed in music that I think most of today's pop culture, and big heads of the world have forgotten about.  Music is a way of life.  It moves you in so many ways.  Backwards, forwards, deeper, nowhere, somewhere, there, here, and anywhere your minds wishes to go.  Music is the way.  We need to start remembering that.  i recommend this album for everyone in the world.  There is something there for every person big or small.  So of course you guys know I give this album a 10, and this album is one of my favorite albums of all time and will be for a long time.  It will be hard to top, and if anyone were to do it it will probably be Steven Wilson anyway.  So until next time stay hard, stay heavy.


      
Here are some tracks from the album enjoy I know I have.





Sorry they don't have a studio version on this thing but this live version is pretty powerful



Thursday, January 27, 2011

2010 Top 10

  I wanted to put together a top 10 list of my 2010 grabs.  Its taken me a while to do this because I wanted to put them in some sort of order from the ones I liked the most, to least.  A few of them I got after the new year in 2011, but I'm still going to count them which I usually don't b/c if I didn't get them in 2010 when they came out than they weren't real high on my list to get anyway.  But I'll put them in order from top 1 to 10, and than my 3 runner ups.  I'll also include the list of ones that didn't make the top from best to worst.  So hear it goes.


10. The Sword - Warp Riders




9.  Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy




8.  Demon Hunter - The World Is A Thorn




7.  Soilwork - The Panic Broadcast





6.  Deftones - Diamond Eyes





5.  Fear Factory - Mechanize





4.  Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini





3.  High on Fire - Snakes For the Divine





2.  As I Lay Dying - The Poweless Rise





1.  Dimmu Borgir - Abrahadbra




  So now here are the 3 runner ups to my to 10.  These were great releases but I just felt that these other 10 were just a little bit better.  So maybe these guys next album if just as good or better Will be in my top 10 next time.  So here they are.


3.  Bleeding Through - Bleeding Through




2.  Exodus - Exhibit B: The Human Condition




1.  Ozzy Osbourne - Scream





  So here are the releases that didn't make it this year.  Now some are still decent releases, and some are just not good at all, but I try and keep all of my buys b/c lets face it if I bought it, it was good enough to listen to, and who knows you guys may disagree with me on a few of these. Maybe they should be higher, lower, or even in the top 10 for you, but like I've said before its what I think so ha.  They are still in order as to best t worst.  So here they are




Soulfly - Omen





Heaven Shall Burn - Invictus





Daath - Daath




Godsmack - The Oracle





Korn - Remember Who You Are





Bullet For My Valntine - Fever




Sully Erna - Avalon




10 Years - Feeding the Wolves







H.I.M. - Screamworks...



Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe 2





  Ok so there they are, now any 2010 releases that I get after this point will not be included on this list what so ever.  I still have a bunch that I want to get for instance I want to get All That Remains - For We Are Many, Cradle of Filth- Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa, Kylesa - Spial Shadow, Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit, Nevermore - The Obsidian Conspiracy, The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis, and Dark Tranquility - We Are the Void.  Now just b/c I don't have these yet doesn't mean that they are any worse than the ones I do have.  I just wanted those more.  Now some of these guys could probably have been in my top 10 like Agalloch's Marrow of the Spirit. I have listened to that one and really enjoyed it, and the cover is awsome to boot.  So here they are my 2010 releases and how they matched up to each other for me.  Like I said you may think that one should be higher or lower, but this is how I felt.  So until next time stay hard, stay heavy.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Fear Factory - Mechanize Review



   I've probably been listening to Fear Factory since their Digimoral release in 2001.  I really liked the drumming, and guitar sequences.  They had this really heavy edge, but also carrying a very melodic undertone that I really enjoyed listening to.  I remember my father saying that their drums are programmed to be that fast.  I said if only he knew what they were really doing he would've taken a hard look at his wonderful polka drumming he was doing at the time.  I remember having to go to those horribly repetitive dances with my parents when I was younger and hating them.  I got lucky enough to put Digimotal in the CD player while we were driving to one to let my father listen to it, and that's the first thing he said.  "Oh these drums aren't real, they are a drum machine.  There's no way he could be that fast".  That lasted for like a minute of being in the CD player before he took it out and said her take this crap back.  I was laughing inside at him and saying no way man this is the real thing.  I got their previous material, and was very surprised at how these guys mesh the heavy death metal techniques, with this melodic industrial sound.  I really think that these guys were some of the starters of genres like deathcore, metalcore, and industrial metal.  Fear Factory has been one of those bands for me that really brought me deeper into heavy metal. 
  They have gone through some major changes, and shifts through-out their career.  Demanufacture is said to be their break through album, and it really is their best one.  When the first track comes on with somewhat of what I can only describe as factory sounds.  Something you would hear in a steel mill, to the intoxicating gallops on the drums.  You know you're in for a treat with this great essential metal album.  They kind of shifted their sound a little through-out the next years.  For instance on Transgression they did that album without Dino's guitar excellence, and Christian Wolbers did all of the guitars, and bass work for that album.  Not to say that that album was bad, but it is definitely different than anything they had done previously.  It also was not praised very well when it came out.  One reason was due to the pore production, and slower guitars than anything they had previously done before.
   So Transgression was the last album to feature original drummer Raymond Herrera, and Bassist Christian Wolbers, and the band went on a hiatus to pursue other interests and projects.  In 2009 Burton, and Dino announced that they would be returning to the studio together for the first time in five years to work on new material for a new Fear Factory album.  I have to say I was super sicked for this because I missed Dino's Fear Factory sound.  He did Divine Heresy which was great by the way.  Really great stuff, but I just missed Fear Factory.  On top of that it would feature Gene Hoglan A.K.A the Atomic Clock who I also feature on my Top 20 Drummers of All Time post.  Truly amazing, so automatically I knew it would be a fast aggressive record that we all wanted.  Gene Hoglan has recreated how the drums are played and idolized for every metal drummer today, so his presence on the album could only be a good thing.  Also Byron Stroud would be contributing the bass for the record.  I highly recommend checking out Strapping Young Lad if you guys like both of these artists because that's where they've been for a while with crazy man Devin Townsend.  When I popped the CD in I heard that wonderful steel mill sound that I Had missed from the start of Demanufacuture for so long.  Than this barrage of fast intense guitar, and double bass frenzy blew my ears away.  They really honed in on the fast side of Fear Factory on this one, but while still having that wonderful mesh of melodic chorus hooks.  So this album for me was a breath of fresh air this year.  I really enjoyed it.  I think around the same time I had purchased H.I.M.'s Screamworks, and Rob Zombie's Hellbilly Deluxe 2 and I was super dissatisfied with both those releases.  So this album brought me back to where I needed to be.  I highly recommend picking this album up for sure.  Its a great industrial death metal album.  I gave this album a 9.5 and its well deserved.  So until next time stay hard, stay heavy

Here are some tracks from the album enjoy.



Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Must Have's For Every Metal Fan

I'm putting a list of essential albums in metal that every metal head needs.  It's going to cover a lot of the different styles of the metal world but there are must haves in a lot of the different genres.  So here it goes the must haves for all metal fans.  The list isn't in any order as to better or worse I'm just going through my CD collection, and picking them out. 

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - 1970



Black Sabbath - Paranoid - 1970



Black Sabbath - Master of Reality - 1971



Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz - 1981



Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of A Madman - 1981



Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At the Moon - 1983



Metallica - Kill Em' All - 1983



Metallica - Ride the Lightning - 1984



Metallica - Master of Puppet - 1986



Metallica - ...And Justice For All - 1988



Korn - Korn - 1994



Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales - 1984



Celtic Frost - Monotheist - 2006



Megadeth - Peace Sells...but Who's Buying - 1986



Megadeth - Rust In Peace - 1990



Megdeth - Countdown to Extinction - 1992



Megdeth - Youthanasia - 1994



White Zombie - Astro-Creep 2000 - 1995



Opeth - Still Life - 1999



Opeth - Blackwater Park - 2001



Opeth - Deliverance - 2002



Pantera - Cowboys From hell - 1990



Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power - 1992



Pantera - Far Beyond Driven - 1994



Cannibal Corpse - Kill - 2006



Soulfly - Primitive - 2000



Death - Symbolic - 1995



Juas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny - 1976



Judas Priest - British Steel - 1980



Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengance - 1982



Judas Priest - Painkiller - 1990



Slayer - Reign in Blood - 1986



Slayer - South of Heaven - 1988



Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss - 1990



Slayer - World Painted Blood - 2009



Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake - 2004



Lamb of God - Wrath - 2009



Soilwork - Natural Born Chaos - 2002



Soilwork - Stabbing the Drama - 2005



In Flames - Whoracle - 1997



In Flames - Colony - 1999


In Flames - Come Clarity - 2006



Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings - 1995



Iced Earth - Horrow Show - 2001



Rammstein - Sehnsucht - 1997


Tool - Aenima - 1996



Morbid Angel - Alters of Madness - 1989



Slipknot - Slipknot - 1999



Shadows Fall - The War Within - 2004



Mastodon - Laviathan - 2004



Mastodon - Blood Mountain - 2006



Nevermore - This Godless Endevour - 2005



Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black - 1999



Mudvayne - L.D. 50 - 2000



Type O Negative - loody Kisses - 1993



Type O Negative - October Rust - 1996



Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus - 1986



Canldemass - King of the Grey Islands - 2007



Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve - 1995



Meshuggah - Catch Thirty Thr33 - 2005



Between the Bried & Me - The Great Misdirect - 2009



Danzig - Danzig - 1988



Danzig - Danzig 2: Lucifuge - 1990



Dimmu Borgir - Stormblast - 1996



Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli - 2007



Trivium - Ascendancy - 2005



The Blak Dahlia Murder - Deflorate - 2009



Fear Factory - Demanufacture - 1995



Mercyful Fate - Melissa - 1983



Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath - 1984



Behemoth - Evagelion - 2009



Venom - Welcome To Hell - 1981



Venom - Black Metal - 1982



Testament - The New Order - 1988



Testament - Practice What You Preach - 1989



Kreator - Pleasure to Kill - 1986



Kreator - Extreme Aggression - 1989



Kreator - Enemy of God - 2005



Sepultura - Arise - 1991



Sepultura - Chaos A.D. - 1993



Anthrax - Spreading the Desease - 1985



Anthrax - Amoung the Living - 1987



Exodus - Bonded By Blood - 1985



Exodus - Fabulous Disaster - 1988



Katatonia - Brave Murder Day - 1996



Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance - 2006



Sleep - Holy Mountain - 1992



Children of Bodom - Follow the Reaper - 2000



Gojira - The Way of All Flesh - 2008



Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden - 1980



Iron Maiden - Killers - 1981



Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast - 1982



Iron Maiden - Powerslave - 1984



King Diamond - Conspiracy - 1989



Strapping Young Lad - City - 1997



Strapping Young Lad - Alien - 2005



High On Fire - Death Is This Communion - 2007



Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest - 2009



Napalm Death - Scum - 1987



Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime - 1988



Baroness - Blue Record - 2009






   So here are the essentials that I think every metal head needs.  I probably could've added at least 20 more but this will definatly take you a while to get into all of these and really see the individual works for what they are and decide for yourself.  Like I've said before I like all kinds of different kinds of metal so I included all kinds of genres in this list.  I know what your saying why korn's albums.  I think the early years of Korn were great.  After Issues though they went down the drain for me, but thats just me.  Or even guys like Rammstein.  Come on that album is great.  Everyone wants to get up and head bang when they hear Du-Hast.  It's not physically possible to not want to move.  There are so many classic albums that really paved the way for what metal is today.  Bands like Death Angel, Napalm Death, Sodom, Flotsam & Jetsam, Candlemass, Nevermore, Iced Earth, and Dio.  Dio's Holy Diver is a pretty big one.  I didn't put a lot of death metal, or black metal bands stuff in there, even though there are a few.  Not that I don't like that genre by any means, I'm just still getting into that genre real heavy so I'm still learning about that type right now.  I do absolutely love Behemoth's Evangelion, Dimmu Borgir's stuff, and Nile though, but I'm not a big fan of stuff like Cannibal Corpse, or Six Feet Under.  Or even new guys like Despised Icon.  I don't really like the vocals of any of those artists.  My Faves right now are a lot of progressive metal, doom, sludge, stonner metal stuff like High on Fire, Isis, Pelican, Sleep, Candlemass, Electric Wizard, Sabbath, Kylesa, The Ocean, Between the Buried & Me, Katatonia, and Opeth.  This list is incomplete for sure, I'll continue with more, but this will definitely get your feet wet.  So until next time stay hard, stay heavy.