Did you ever go to a store and find something that really reminded you of your young teen days and just had to get because it brought back so many good memories. Well that's kind of what happened to me the other day. I make frequent trips to Half Price Books, and other used stores cause you can find some pretty good stuff there sometimes. Every once in a while I'll come across a rare albums, or an album that I've really needed to get, at a pretty low price. I found these two albums in the dollar section of the cd's. You know the section. It's the section that they tuck away thinking no one will buy these so we'll just put them out of the way. Well I look through those just in case and boy was I pleased. I found two cd's that were given to me by my Aunt Yvette when I was like 12. They were huge influences on me. They were the first cd's that anyone had bought me that I really liked. Now these albums are Christian albums so don't freak out and think what the hell. This guy is all about the crazy, hard core heavy metal. How could he be in to Christian junk? Well I wasn't always heavy into metal as I am today, and I used to listen to a little Christian music every now and then. I think I got rid of these cd's when I was like 17 or so. They just weren't interesting me, and I was into a bunch of other things so they got sold, or given away. Now some 10 years later I have a new appreciation for good music, whether it be Christian or not. Now don't get me wrong I don't like a lot of Christian music pretty much all of it except a few bands have good stuff these guys included I like Pillar, Skillet, MercyMe, Switchfoot, P.O.D., Demon Hunter, As I lay Dying, War of Ages, and The Devil Wears Prada.
Now the guys I'm talking about here are none other than DC Talk, and Jars of Clay. In the Christian music world these guys are huge. DC Talk was named the most popular Christian act of all time by the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music,and has won numerous Grammy awards for various things through out their career. Dc Talk has released five studio albums, and consist of three group members Toby McKeehan, Michael Tait, Kevin Max who have all since DC Talk's permanent hiatus in 2000 gone on to pursue sucessfull solo careers. Jars of Clay have been going strong since their inception in the early 90's. Their debut which is the one that I'm featuring here was released in 95, and let me just say nothing that these guys have done since has impacted me the same. Their debut is amazing. There's all kinds of cool acoustic melodies, violin orchestrations, cool drum tracking, and vocal harmonies that make this album by far my favorite Christian album, with DC Talk's Jesus Freak which is the other one close behind. Jars of Clay have been putting out consistent albums through out their career. They to date have released 11 studio albums and a few compilation albums, and other things. Nothing has been able to top the impact that their debut had at the time. The album was listed as #22 in the 2001 book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music. So for me these albums hold a dear place in my heart that I won't ever forget, and when I saw them there for a buck I had to pick them up. So here they are the albums of the week. DC Talk's Jesus Freak, and Jars of Clay's self titled debut Jars of Clay. Enjoy
DC Talk - Jesus Freak
1995
Jars of Clay - Jars of Clay
1995
Ok so there you go. I know, I know it's such a change of pace right. Well don't worry metal heads we have many more weeks to go. I just felt like giving an awsome blast from the past. So I hope yo uenjoyed this weeks albums of the week. Who know what will be next week, we will see. So until next time stay hard, stay heavy.
Ok so this is long over due I just haven't gotten around to it. Leigh and I went to see Opeth and Katatonia on the 4th at Stubb's and I've been wanting to post about it so here it is finally. The concert was really really good. Katatonia didn't play very long which was a let down because I really like Katatonia. I read the night before that Lead singer Jonas p. Renkse's woice was hurting him and he had to cancel the show the night before ours. So we were lucky to see them perform at all. When Opeth came out on stage and I saw mikael in person he really looked different than you see on all the videos and things. He is tall and skinny, and had his hair cut a little shorter than normal. The band really was on top of their game the whole way threw the performance. Mikael is such a perfectionist and it sounded great. They really focused on a lot of their softer stuff, and played a lot from their new one Heritage which was really cool to watch. Leigh and I were right up front of course so we got to see all of the major guitar work and soloing the whole time. I would've liked to hear a little of the death metal side of Opeth, but still this performance was really good sounding and I enjoyed it very much. I will go see them from this point on every time they come to Austin, or San Antonio. So here are some pictures that Leigh was able to capture with her phone enjoy.
So I wanted to start doing an album of the week post. I got the idea while listening to this record. I don't really know why but I just was like I want to talk about this record a little, and shed some light on it, but I didn't want it to be like an album review so I thought of this. Now I'll do a new one every week, and the albums may be new, or really old. They also maybe stuff I'm not really liking but gave it a shot through out the week. So not all will be praising the record, but for the most part they will be. So this is the first official album of the week post and what better one start it with other than Meshuggah's monsterously awsome Catch Thirty-Three.
Meshuggah - Catch Thirty-Three
Now this wasn't the first record I discovered from the crazy progressive death metal masterminds Meshuggah. The first record was Obzen which is their sixth studio release. So I came into liking Mushuggah much later in their career. I'll tell you though ever since I've looked at progressive beat structures in a whole new way. These guys are the masters of abstract time signatures, and strange guitar articulations through out their records. I discovered Catch Thirty-Three after Obzen because I loved Obzen and wanted more from them. Catch Thirty-Three stands alone from the rest of Meshuggah's material. It's a wonderful album that has flawless flow that keeps you interested through out the entire record. It is their fifth studio record and was released in 2005. Even though there are 13 individual tracks on the record it flows continuous from start to finish. There aren't any pauses from track to track, and each grows into the next without you even knowing you've moved on to the next track. You start the record and soon after listening a little you look at the track number and wow your're already on six but it seemed to flow timelessly. The lyrics are stunning. The album is a concept album focused around different paradoxes. It's really interesting to read and fallow along while you listen. The guitar tones are really pulling from their Nothing record that was released in 2002, and I in 2004. There is less Thrash elements in this one like their earlier material had, and more of the heavy groove textures, and some of the jazzy elements to Meshuggah. Although the structures favor a jazz tempo in some of the songs the record is still very heavy and sounds like Meshuggah at their best. This album was also a very interesting turning point in their career as it marked the first time all of the drums were programmed rather than performed by the wonderful Tomas Haake. Tomas was featured in my Top 20 Drummers of All Time. He is unlike any other player out there. With his uncanny ability to control his time signatures and do so many abstract progressions. His range of styles really is something to be desired. He plays every rhythm in the book of drumming. So with his massive reputation on the drums in the metal community it was a big step for him to try something like this. Now I know what you're thinking the drums are going to sound very prosthetic, and digital, and I totally understand that assumption. I'd think the same thing if I heard that as well. The software used for the drum recording was called Drumkit From Hell. Which actually uses Tomas's actual drum sounds and cymbal sounds. So it is an authentic sound and sounds very real. I didn't find that out until way after I first listened to the record. I couldn't tell the difference at all, and when I found that out it almost made me respect it even more. For these drums to sound so real and clear sounding, and be a synthesizer effects machine it really kind of blows my mind.
So this record is by far my favorite Meshuggah record. I can put this record on and listen to it over and over again. It never gets old, and I love it. This record will live on for me as one of my essential records to always have in my array of music I carry around with me on my I-Pod. I highly highly recommend this record for any metal fan that loves strange time signatures, cool guitar melodies, great intensity, flawless flow, and a great concept. This record is for you. So I hope this had shed some much needed light on this record so go out and get it. I command you to. So until next time stay hard, stay heavy.
So here are a few tracks from the record. It's hard to get it in order because it flows as one track on the record but can't here on youtube. That's why you need to check this record out and give it a listen. It's one of a kind.
So I started doing this repeated offenders thing, and I like the idea so I'm gonna continue with it. I will probably go back a few more years not sure yet. 2009 for me was a huge year. i mean there was stuff from Alice In Chains, Baroness, Between the Buried & Me, Lamb of God, and Mastodon just to name a few. So here is the stuff that I can't put down from 2009.
Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue
Amorphis - Skyforger
Baroness - Blue Record
Behemoth - Evangelion
Between the Buried & Me - The Great Misdirect
Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
Converge - Axe TO Fall
The Gates of Slumber - Hymns of Blood And Thunder
Goatwhore - Carving Out the Eyes of God
Insomnium - Across the Dark
Isis - Wavering Radiant
Katatonia - Night Is the New Day
Kylesa - Static Tensions
Lamb of God - Wrath
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Obscura - Cosmogenesis
Porcupine Tree - The Incident
Priestess - Prior To the Fire
Swallow the Sun - New Moon
Ok so there they are the stuff I'm still jamming like crazy. I also want to start a list of maybe the 5 or 10 that I have really forgotten about or just don't really like anymore for whatever reason. The number will depend really on the amount of good or bad releases I picked up that year. It will mostly be ones I've just really forgotten about because honestly if I don't like it anymore I sell it or trade it some how to put toward stuff I will like. So this year will have to be 10. With this year being a great year for me it also had it's down falls of the year as well so here they are the 10 releases that I've just put away from 2009.
Breaking Benjamin - Dear Agony
Chevelle - Sci-Fi Crimes
CKY - Carver City
Dope - No Regrets
Evans Blue - Evans Blue
Hatebreed - Hatebreed
Killswitch Engage - Killswitch Engage
Lacuna Coil - Shallow Life
Marilyn Manson - The High End of Low
Static-X - Cult of Static
So there everything is. Some of the albums in the forgotten list you may say hay I liked that album or what not. Well that's fine but honestly I really was displeased with all of those releases. The Chevelle release was half way decent, as well as the Breaking Benjamin. Everything else though really was forgotten pretty much right after the first listen. I gave the Hatebreed record a few listens because I have liked a few of their albums in the past, I just really have grown tired of Hatebreed's sound, and direction. The Static-X release along with the Marilyn Manson were just really really bad. I think that the Static record has maybe 2 to 3 fair tracks at best. I have listened to Wayne Static's first solo record that came out this year, and I'd have to say I didn't like it at first listen but it's growing on me. While not being anything close to awsome it still is not at the bottom for sure. Now the Marilyn Manson record there really is only one thing good I can say about it is that it's good to see Twiggy Ramirez back with Marilyn on this release, but the result really was not good at all. If this is the new direction of Marilyn Manson I seriously will be forced to stop buying his stuff. Not that his Eat Me, Drink Me was very good either but I still gave it a chance. So until next time stay hard, stay heavy.
I think it was around 2007 is when I came across Mastodon. Their Blood Mountain release had come out the year before and was making a lot of ruckus around the metal community. I didn't get to check them out right of way because I was in to other bands at the time. I really got in to them much later, but wish I had gave them a chance when I first heard them back in 2007. These guys will come to give me a taste of progressive drone metal, sludge metal, whatever you want to call their fantastic breed of metal, and really open my world to the drone, sludge, doom world of music.
I really discovered Mastodon when they released their 2009 masterpiece Crack the Skye. This album really blew everything else out the window that had come out that year. I was jamming it non stop that year and couldn't get enough. I started to dive deeper in to the world of Mastodon after that, and came across Blood Mountain which I had already knew about, but didn't give it the chance it deserved. I found that I liked Blood Mountain even more than Crack the Sky which I didn't think was possible. They have filled my ears with some of the best metal I've ever heard. It's fast, it's crazy, but together, it's dark, it's conceptual, it's melodic, but very heavy. They are very good at combining so many textures of sound in to one song. You hear so many different kinds of distortions, reverb, clean tones, and tunings that you really don't need anything else to get your fill of music in general.
So I'll give a little info on the band. The band is from Atlanta, Georgia and were formed in 1999. The band consists of the four masterminds Troy Sanders on bass and vocals, Brent Hinds on guitar and vocals, Bill Kelliher on guitar and backing vocals, and Brann Dailor on drums and vocals. They have released 5 studio albums and 1 live record since their inception in 1999. They have progressed in sound scapes on each album. Experimenting with different instruments, and sounds with each record. The guitar structures are very progressive, fast, and intense. While keeping a well balanced amount of melody and melodic flow to the otherwise crazy speeds. Their solo sections are very well structured with Brent Hinds uncanny ability on the strings. His solos sometimes come out of nowhere and leave you stunned asking what the hell did I just hear, and how did he do that. The bass is very thunderous, and ever present making everything flow with a great since of rhythm that hasn't been heard before. The drumming is also something to be revered. The drumming on each of Mastodon's records I think for me is what really sells them. Brann Dailor is right now one of the best drummers in metal for sure. He was included on my top 20 drummers in metal post. Which is well deserved. His drumming is fast, aggressive, speratic, and sometimes almost tiring to listen to because he blows your mind at how fast he's playing. he leaves you physically tired after listening to them. He sometimes sounds like amped up Mitch Mitchell on speed, and then doubles it up with some speed thrash double bassing, and tops it off with the progressive undertone of the whole thing. The vocal harmonies, and melodies are also something to pick at as well. These guys all share singing duties throughout the records. The early years are mainly done by Troy Sanders with occasional times accompanied by guitarist Brent Hinds. Now they really blend both vocals together much more to give you a more interesting vocal soundscape. Some people have formed their own opinions about which years they like more. The more Troy Sanders vocal dominance, or the newer Brent Hinds shared styles. Crack the Skye really showed their ability to mesh their each distinctive voices together very well. Perfect example is the opening track Oblivion. That song alone really sells the album for me.
With their new one out this year The Hunter something tells me that Mastodon will be around for a long long time to come, and I will be right behind them jamming every tune. I personally like Blood Mountain the best, with a close second to Crack the Skye, but every record shines all it own with it's distinctive flair and concepts. Owe the concepts. Man never thought learning would be so much fun. Their Leviathan record was loosely based on Moby Dick. The front cover kind of prepair's you for the ideas around the record. They are fun, and very entertaining to listen to every time, learning something new every time. If you haven't heard anything I highly recommend checking them out especially if your in to progressive drumming, or drone, sludge metal stuff. This is the perfect band for you. So until next time stay hard, stay heavy.
Album releases to date are as fallows
Remission - 2002
Leviathan - 2004
Blood Mountain - 2006
Crack the Skye - 2009
The Hunter - 2011
Also: Call of the Mastodon (Compilation of early workings) - 2006
Music is my life. Aside from raising my son who is 3 1/2 now I live and breathe music. I attended and completed an audio engineering program at MediaTech of Austin and have learned so much about music, and sound ingeneral. I have a new found respect for sound thanks to the wonderful education I got at MediaTech.
