Heya, lads, I had two day absence...due to reactorcore meltdown and outdated parts. And I also did some other intresting things, like started to learn Norwegian. Anyways, I'm back and I promise that in the near future there won't be any more absences like this one, so for today I have another album to review of course, and altough I don't confirm anything, I have plans, things to do apart from the usual daily. Now, to our usual stüff... Me lads, we gonna listen to some rock today. The evergrowing in popularity Alter Bridge released another album, AB III, also known as Alter Bridge III (or Alter Bridge 3, duh...). Let us comence:
Slip into the Void (4:55)... I have to say I expected way more, I mean, at first sights, I didn't even knew like, what's chorus and what's verse, it seems like a combination of rock and drone metal/ambient and it has a black-ish structure... It's a... mess. The chorus isn't as explosive as I expected and a start like this would definetly not drive me to listen to the rest of the album...
Isolation, 4:15, the first single from the album. Ok this one starts way better, it's heavier, the intro is pretty intresting actually, the chorus, I don't like it, it's so basic, what happaned to the Alter Bridge I so loved once? Look what they become. The solos are so boring, and except the intro, no riff is intresting, this - how can this be one of their most succesful singles ever? I don't get it, it's a basic song, a 14 year could have composed and written this song.
Ghost Of Days Gone By, 4:28, finally a song to keep me awake, this one is actually pretty good, the verse is really, really cool and the chorus is intresting also, just like the solo. I like the lyrics very much, they really fit into the rocks scene. It's not much to say about this song, it's just good!
All Hope is Gone 4:51. All hope is gone... wait a second, just wait a sceond! Am I the only one with the "STRANGE" feeling that I heard this somewhere else? Definetly not! It's the same name of
Slipknot's 2008 album! F.F.S. Slipknot is so mainstream that anybody heared that title, it doesen't matter you listen to black metal all day, ya still know what "All Hope is Gone" is! How can you miss that album and use the title as your own!? Anyways, let's look past this stuff, maybe they did it on purpose. It's a darn good song, but just like all the songs I already covered, it's ruined by it's chorus, really... It's really a shame because this song has so much potential, I don't know what to say, until now, good ol' Alter Bridge dissapoints me really bad.
Still Remains, 4:47. This song is upside down, great chorus ruined by the verse, really I can write stüff better... This ain't rock, this is "oh look at us rocking". The bridge is nice and intresting, nothing special about this song... (As you might have noticed I try to make the review just a bit smaller, cause it's a freaking 14 song album.)
The sixth track - Make It Right, it's 4:18 long. Umm... it's worse than the songs before, it has a sucky verse and a sucky chorus, oh my... It gets worse and worse with each song, I don't know what happened to Mark, but his solos leave a "meh" behind. I really, really don't like this song, it just bores me...
Wonderfull Life, 5:22...Ok I might classify this as a balad, and it's pretty nice, it's better than the other songs actually I enjoyed it, and while I was reading the lyrics I didn't got bored actually, nice one, nice one. For a balad, though, I would really asked for more, and I know, for one, that Alter Bridge can bring us more!
The track number eight, I know it Hurts, 3:57. This one I actually like, I think it's nice, but damn, just as always, Myles ruined it, he wen so downhill. Mark really put a great solo on this one and the lyrics are awsome, the only thing the lyrics won't apply to, though, is this album... All... Hope... Is... Gone......
Ninth song, Show me a Sign, 5:58. I want to keep it as small as I can, because there's absolutley nothing special about this song, when I put the 3 "samples" of each album I review, I usually put around 2 (maybe 3) of the more intresting song and a more basic song, but with this album, I guess i will have to put 3 unintresting songs, cause there ain't an intresting one yet...
10. Fallout - 4:24 - I like the game series, let's se about the song. Ok... the song is as unintresting as it gets, what the... this songs just have nothing, but absolutley nothing special about them...
The track with the number eleven, Breathe Again. I just can't breathe, again the same boring stuff, I don't even know what to write about this one, and I fear that neither for the ones to come...
I am sorry lads, I will admit, I never listened to the album before doing this review, so I listened to the song and then listen it again while writing. I really remained without ideas, as the songs are so simple and boring I can't write anything about them, so I will stop there. I will surely not buy this album, but the truth is that it's really popular, I don't know why, but give it a listen on youtube. See if it is your style. I think that people with a smaller array of songs and artist known will like this better, I have lot's of things to compare it to, and I just don't like it, it's boring as hell... I won't give you samples because I don't know what to choose, head out on http://www.youtube.com/ and search some songs of this album, nothing more I can say, lads: Victor signing out.
Thrash Metal! It's still alive, lads! And it's top notch energy is just like in them old times, Annihilator are blessing us with their newest album, "Annihilator"! This self-titled thrash metal album, is really something I didn't expected at all. Most thrash metal albums today are vague and boring, but damn, lads, let's see how this album is in comparation with both classic thrash metal albums and the newer ones. Let me give you a short introduction of Annihilator, it's a Canadian thrash metal band, their most notable album is Alison Hell or maybe King Of The Kill, another notable performance is that they only have one permanent member, their creator: Jeff Waters, who did guitars, bass and vocals for the band whenever needed.
After a relatively short intro we jump right into reviewing the first song, The Trend, weighting 7:04 minutes (pretty darn fat song). Well that's a damn way to start an album, the lyrics are based on the today's mainstream music, the stealing of music and it's elements and stuff like that, basically, disrespecting the classic artists that made music what it is today, just like Annihilator. This lyrics can really make you want to listen to the rest of the album as fast as you can, it worked for me at last. Well this song has a very long intro, but it's so full of energy, even has two, yes, not one, but two solos, as proof of the dormant energy of thrash metal just let loose by them metal gods. I'd count the verse the dullest part of the song, and with the least energy, but if that's the least energy you can get in a song, it's clear that they ate lots of sugar before recording. The chorus is short and to the subject, letting space to the instruments to handle the intresting part, not saying that the vocals in the chorus are boring, but their a bit short lived, that's all. It surprised me a bit but this song doesen't has any bridge, not terrible, but could have been one there. Oh, and by the way, this song has a total of four solos!
I really wonder... why the hell didn't they named this album "FAST!!!!!111!!!1!!!"... Anyways let's go on with the second song, Coward, 4 minutes and 22 seconds to enjoy in your life! This song is fast! It has a total of two guitar solos and they both kick it, as the title pretty much explains the content of the lyrics I won't say what's about, I will say, though, the word combinations they chose is pretty intresting, also, this time I felt like the vocals are more dominant than the instruments, which is great, becuase it means diversity, and diversity is good at contexts like this, not like the album we covered the last episode for example.
Number three, Ambush, it is only 3:22, but it's very fast and very harsh instrumental wise, the vocals themselves are pretty harsh, and unlike the last songs, neither the instruments nor the vocals are dominating, yay, more diversity, I like the fact that when listening to Annihilator, the guitar solos aren't that typical Kirk Hammet-ish nonsense-ish flurry of notes, they are melodical and yearpleasing, this album, is no exception of that.
Let's go on and see how Betrayed is, it weights four minutes and thirty four seconds. This song starts lowering the tempos but remains just as harsh as the other songs, after the guitar kicks in the intro, it even becomes a bit dark-ish. The vocal patterns are pure thrash metal, just as the main riff. I don't know how it feels to be betrayed, like a rat, but I know it's darn awsome to listen how others are betrayed... like a rat! The solo might be the best of the album, it really is in my opinion, pretty nice song overall.
25 Seconds, ironically, isn't 25 seconds, but 4:49. The intro is a really nice groove, but it quickly evolves intro a harsh guitar riff, they use this this groove before every verse. The vocals are pretty harsh, I can't say I'm a big fan of them, but the riffs really blow you away. The solo has no rythm guitar in it's back and therfore sounds pretty weak at the beggining, but after the rythm comes, it's OK, it's actually just as powerful as the riffs, wich makes me don't like the way it suddenly becomes that bass groove. I might say it's one of the weakest songs in the album, but it might be only my taste, also, the lyrics are inspired by a real case, where a Polish imigrant in Canada was killed by the police in about 25 seconds.
Another song that begins with a bass riff, a bit harsher than the one before, the sixth song, Nowhere to Go (5:08). The riffs are pretty nice, what I like about the song most is the chorus wich is really good, even though it seems a bit more rock-ish than thrash-ish. The lyrics are classic Annihilator "I'm gonna punch you in the face". Even the solo features a rock-ish feel. This is a rock influenced thrash song, something you don't hear very often, but it turned out really nice. I like the ending riff also, it's really well done.
Classic solo beggining song, reminds me of songs like "Neverending Hill", this one is called The Other Side and it's 4:20, and just like the one before it, I can feel rock influences that really make it sound unique and cool that surely won't bore you. I might even go as far as to say it's a rock song, with little solo fills and a more rock-ish riff, this one is the most unique and intresting song in the album in my opinion, the solo is also pretty nice written, but it also has a part without rythm guitar that kind of hurts my year a bit, because it sounds so weak. The lyrics, it seems to me like it's about that type of women that enters anyone's heart and then leaves them to dust, but I might be wrong.
With the eighth song, we return to brutal and fast thrash metal, called Death in Your Eyes, it's 5:58, it's the second longest song of the album, after The Trend, it has intresting guitar noises intro and around one minute and a half it has a cool solo followed by an brutal riff, that also becomes filled with a solo later on, really great part, an incredibly well written instrumental part and also it's very long, it last about three minutes. What is really intresting is the aparition of blastbeat drumming in the chorus, I really liked that. The end is similar to the beggining, a fast and short solo. Time to Die!
The last song, Payback, 4:48, it isn't as fast but is just as brutal as most other songs, and even seems to have a slight dark-ish atmosphere, the guitars are really harsh in this one. The riffs are really intresting and the solo is also nice, I heard better solos in this album though. I think it's the hardest song to play on the album, the riffs and everything, are pretty darn complex. Also the ending solo is way better than the main one, and adds to that dark feeling. The album also features a Van Halen cover, I won't comment anything about that, it's "Romeo Delight".
This is one of the best Neo Thrash album I ever heard, it isn't a must for any thrash metal fan, but it's worth the bucks, you won't be bored listening to it. Here's some samples:
Ambush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1ib5XJA3BM
Nowhere to Go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBi_FnPY0Vo
Death in Your Eyes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnZGkUmtqJM
Hello, lads, we're up to another daily. Today we will continue with another album from Norway, wich is black metal and also has controversity around it, and that's Abrahadabra, by Dimmu Borgir, their latest album! Now, I definetly don't think Dimmu needs an introduction but still, I'll make one... Dimmu Borgir is a band from Norway wich originally started as a black metal band, but quickly evolutioned into a more high fidelity, melodic black metal, wich guys at wikipedia name "Symphonic Black Metal", it might be true at some context, but still, we'll just call them black metal for the time being, now, after the transformation Dimmu was always around controversity, and not because it's a black metal bands and all of the black metal bands have controversy, but because classic black metal fans acuse them for not being black metal and for being posers... anyways, Dimmu Borgir has written really incredible songs during it's time until now, this is their first album in 10 years...I think, or something around that... that doesen't features the vocals of I.C.S. Vortex, wich was also a part of our last episode... This album also doesen't features Mustis, but Shagrath, the band's frontman and former drummer on the keyboards. Let's go on and do it!
Xibir - the first song, it's a pretty short one, 2:50. It starts pretty nice and dark, with many symphonic elements in it, as the members said: it will focused more on the symphonic elements than the latest albums... It is a pretty great instrumental, the only thing that does bothers me is that it isn't longer...
We move on to Born Treacherous, 5:02... I'll start with the bad parts... I don't like the quality, all the instruments seem to bash into the years, especially if you listen it with headphones. The guitars also seem pretty dull with no really great riff, but they help at some moments with the atmosphere...but nothing special. Now the synth parts, are very, very strong, it's the reason to listen this song, most of the parts will blow you away, the vocal patterns aren't really good but at some moments they go well with the synth, not an incredible song, but it might not bore you.
Third track, Gateways, sees a pretty notable improve, it's 5:10 long and the riffs actually are pretty good, we even get to hear some lead-ish riffs. This song features the frontwoman from Djerv, Agnete Kjølsrud, wich does a pretty good job on her parts. All around it's a good song, we get to listem to some blastbeating and as usual, great synth parts, Shagrath doesen't has the exact same style as Mustis, and... I prefer Mustis, but it's just an opinion, Shagrath did AWSOME!
Chess with the Abyss! Four minutes and eight seconds (4:08)! The best song in the album, the riffs are genius and the drums go so well with them. The synth parts are a beat weaker in volume and intensity but that is perfect as it let's the other instruments be the big part. The vocals are really great, both the patterns and the lyrics! Really powerful and great all-around song!
It took them 9 albums, but they finally did a self-titled song, 5:35. Pretty nice song, pretty predominant synth, I wished a Dimmu Borgir self-titled would be more profound, and not just basically "let's spit in the face of our former members, especially Vortex and Mustis!"... Nothing much about it really...
Ritualist, 5:13 - The second best song on the album, I'd say, it seems like a mix of great creations where each member, every instrument, has a "landmark moment" in wich it's incredibly awsome, except the synth wich is awsome the whole song long. This is the first song of the album where I think the vocal patterns are intresting, when I first listened through the album I thought that Shagrath put way more effort in his synth parts than in his singing, and I still think that... Kind of a dissapointment because he could just hire a keyboardist to concentrate on his first priority duties, wich are the vocals.
The Demiurge Molecule (5:16) takes us through an odd journey as the first half of the song is dull and repetitive but after Shagrath shows his talent on the synth, the song becomes somewhat more intresting.
The ninth song, Renewal - 4:11. Finally we get to hear something heavy, the beggining is really darn good, actually the most powerful song part we have yet to hear from the album and even with a guitar solo! I don't like the heavy usage of lyrics repetition in this album, if it wouldn't apear in nearly every freaking damn song, I wouldn't mind it... but man... Anyways, Shagrath done a pleasing job with the vocals, but yet again what comes dominating is the synth. I have the sensation that the song becomes less heavy as Shagrath starts to sing.
Endings and Continuations, 5:58, is a pretty dark song, one of the three songs I like from the album, it's dark but still very powerful, and finally some old school Shagrath singing, something to keep you from being bored with the vocals. At around two minutes and half, there is a really nice part where Shagrath mixes his voice with the choir, really nice and powerful, this song also features the vocal talents of Garm, he did pretty good, altough Vortex would have done better, it's always a pleasure to listen to Garm. At around four minutes and about ten seconds there's again that voice mixing between Shagrath and the choir, awsome! At the end both Garm and Shagrath sing, but Garm is really muted, I don't like this, no sir... The song ends with the word "Abrahadabra", the album's name... remembering us what we are listening to.
Finally, I have to say, I would think twice before buying it, give it a try on YouTube or something, I think neither "old" or "new" Dimmu Borgir fans will be very pleased with this album. Here's three of the songs of the album:
Gateways: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jfon11JIRg (With the Video)
Chess with the Abyss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-pHh3_HnY4
Endings and Continuations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cI22ptvSRc
Haha, controversity! That's what I love 'bout stuff. And there's some 'round this album. Don't know who Arcturus is? Let me get you a bit in the story, Arcturus is an Avant-Garde metal band (According to wikipedia... and guess what? That's right!) from Norway. I, myself, I like to call them Back Rock (LOL) or more accurate: Clean Black Metal, 'cause it combines the elements of classic black metal, like the song structure, and the lack of "musicality and melody" and combines them with keyboard melodies and clean vocals. They have realeased four albums before breaking up, only three of them, featuring the original singer and frontman: Kristoffer Rygg, way better known as Garm, while the last album features the all melodic viking angel... warrior... and whatever word they use to describe him, I.C.S. Vortex, wich, like in any band that changes singer (I'm ponting at YOU, Nightwish fans especially) wasn't recived so well, and got people to like only after acting in some other bands... We are talking today 'bout the album where the singer's Vortex.
So, the first song, Hibernation Sickness Complete about five minutes long (5:02, to be more precise) well THAT's a way to start an album, ever thought that no album starts off with an awsome song? This one does! It's a really harmonic... space-ish... piece of notes, also, the end of the song features black metal vocals, wich is another plus an Arcturus song! It isn't your daily super heavy tremolo picked and blastbeated song it's so damn yearpleasing, now 'bout the cons: well in some versions of the album you hear two or three beeps at the beggining. You might be lucky enough not to, I don't know. The lyrics... it's pretty hard to call, most Arcturus lyrics are... Let's start with the title: Hibernation Sickness Complete: pretty self explenatory, I do understand that's at least related to the more melodic part of the song, starting with "Moon set... on full scale regret... [...] But a bleak recolection... of something undone...", the lyrics might not be the best part of the song, but their yearpleasing.
Moving on to the next song, Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer, darn long one (8:32), but always seems it ends fast. Now if the first song was good, this is definetly an incredibly fitting continuation. The main singing pattern is pure viking and really powerful. The lyrics are SciFi-ish and depending on how you like, well... you like it or not. Also at about three minutes and a half starts a pretty nice little instrumental part, quickly transformed into a riff as Vortex comes in singing.
The third song, Deamon Painter, 5:33... Well, I guess, the track number three is pretty good to start lowering the song quality, this one isn't neither powerful nor melodic, it's kind of a mixture between them, and the singing pattern seems the same the whole song long. The lyrics are pretty decent, I guess... For some reason the band members really promote this song, they added it to the live track list and it's also featured on Simen's MySpace (Simen = I.C.S. Vortex). So...yeah, that's 'bout it...
Let's bring forth the fourth song, wich is Nocturnal Vision Revisited, 5:16 long. It has a slow but pretty intresting intro (nearly forgot, after that it becomes a heavy guitar riff), really yearpleasing. But the best part of the song are the lyrics wich are so great, the whole song has this dark feeling about it, to me the lyrics seems like are about how curiosity can or will kill us, and they also have this deranged mind feeling about it, really, really cool dark song with some fitting heavy parts also. A hard-to-get-bored-of song.
Going on, Evacuation Code Deciphered - 6:16. Like it's predecessor - AWSOME lyrics, really got to say, this gamer-ish insane stuff: it's mind-blowing. Also this song is full of energy, and lads, later on in the song there's also a really good instrumental part, with a modern sound, followed by the end of the woooorld (of the song actually).
Moonshine Delirium! 7:10, the second longest song on the album (after "Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer", the second one). This one is the most SciFi-ish song of the album, especially the lyrics, the intro singing pattern is also pretty darn dark. At around the second minute there's a quite long and very, very well written instrumental, be sure to check it (like you can miss it, anyway, duh... it is about two minute long). The rest of the song has some pretty nice singing patterns, not the best, but it won't bore you. The second instrumental comes at about four minutes and half, and it's not lower in quality than the first, it also has a heavier part and a solo, and it's also the end of the song.
White Noise Monster 3:55. We come back to a singing pattern familiar with the one in Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer, meaning that it's viking and powerful, it's pretty hard to call, it might be an anti religious song lyric-regarding... I don't know. But it's really cool and yearpleasing, a powerful song. It also ends with a nice short instrumental.
Number 8, Reflections - 3:40... It's the shortest song of the album, and it's an instrumental. It's a pretty dark one, but I love it, and it's really unique, because Vortex actually sings in it later on. And how is it still an instrumental? Well Vortex uses his unique-to-metal vocal talents, with an opera-ish... one-man-choir-ish vocals, wich are incredible, and makes the song darker and darker.
The last song, Hufsa (The Groke) 5:07, it's a dark melodic song, talk about perfect ways to end an album. Around two minutes, it has a pretty nice solo, and more and more darkness... The lyrics are in Norwegian, but grats to the wonders of today's science, was able to translate it, it depicts a dark scene, everything's dark 'bout this song. It also ends with a nice solo.
A pretty long and worth to buy album, oh, by the way, track 8, Reflections, might also feature those beeps. Here's some samples:
Hibernation Sickness Complete: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhhfJHlOoM4
Shipwrecked Fronties Pioneer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bleAGvf4BI
Nocturnal Vision Revisited: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ag_f631i-Y
Hello, lads, and welcome to the Metalhead's Daily! Ever felt like no new album sounds cool, and just dumb with all similar songs? Meh... I for sure did... rushed in that music shop, buying the that album with the nicest cover, only to find out that's a dull round thing. Well in the daily, we gonna see some hard, detailed analysis of metal albums, good or bad, black or white, we gonna check out every second of their songs: their lyrics, and their instrumental side.
Who am I, well, my name's Victor, and here where I live, not to brag or something, I am seen as the symbol of metalheads, the definition of this. I live through the philosophy of the metalhead, and I'm proud of it. Many of my friends are always intresting in what I have to say about a band or an album or a song, and when they listen to something new, they come to me and tell me about it, like, trying to impress (lol). So yeah, at least for them, I'll share my knowledge here, to help them out and free myself some time.
