Pierced from Within by Suffocation ****

  A Good One to Add to the Collection.

Holy smokes!  This band has chops.  I have grown out of my death metal phase, but if you are into death metal, or just looking to have a more complete musical collection, this is a great album.  It takes some time to be able to distinguish one song from another, and there is little difference between Pierced from Within and Effigy of the Forgotten.  Suffocation is somewhat paradoxical.  They put a lot of effort into their songs, such that there isn’t a whole lot of repetition.  That much I like.  However, I find this album and Effigy somewhat flawed in that they come across as sounding too one dimensional despite the amount of combinations of rhythms and notes.  Some people like that though.  There is not much diversity of the color of songs.  Like they said on the DOD Death Metal distortion pedal manual, “We cranked up the distortion and then ripped off the knob.”  If you get one colorless death metal album, I recommend this one.

Filing Picks that Are Too Rounded to Save Money

I prefer to gig with medium picks, but I like to practice with heavy picks.  Very few brands of medium picks last more than 4hrs, that is, unless you file them, such that they regain their shape.  Even my heavy picks wear down over the course of a few days.  I like to save money, even if it is only pennies.

I am not choosey about the type of pick I practice with.  For practice, most picks are made of hard plastic, and that is great.  When you pluck a string with hard plastic, Newton’s Laws say that for every reaction, there is an opposite but equal reaction.  That means, the harder you pluck a string, the greater the bounce back.  Being able to control the bounce back of a string is a part of being a good guitarist.  The better you are at guitar, the better you can control your pick.  Using harder picks is thus an excellent way of practicing in order to get better pick control.

I actually prefer to gig with nylon picks, but I like to practice with hard plastic.  Why?  If you can control a hard plastic pick, then you can control a nylon pick.  But, if you can control a nylon pick, you may not be able to control a hard plastic pick.

I don’t like to spend much money on practice.  In an earlier blog, I already suggested having a practice guitar in order to save your good guitar for gigs.  The same is true for me with picks.  When the picks I use become too rounded, I file them down, but such that they retain the shape of a new pick.  This makes them smaller, and you guessed it even harder to control!  That is, because they are harder to control, old picks are better to practice with, if they have been filed down.

The clever among you are might be suggesting that a file is more expensive than a pick.  However, you don’t need an expensive file.  A common file that you can buy at CVS for filing down foot callous is an excellent weapon that can be used in guitar pick salvation. 

Review of Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins ***

I Feel Bad for the Person of Whom the Smashing Pumpkins Are Their Favorite Band

Like so many 90s acts.  In the 90s nothing in rock changed except that someone added compression technology.  Compression enabled the volume on musical recordings to be turned up, but as a consequence all the dynamics were sacrificed.  Though this could have been popular in another generation, but so what.  Good pop bands are easy to come by.  The musicianship is lacking.  The vocals are strange.  Seriously, I don’t understand the pop rock vocalist model where every vocalist has a strange voice.  What’s wrong with singing normal?  I guess singing normally doesn’t sell.  If you like pop music, then, this is a great album, but if you are looking for anything more, you will find Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness to be lacking.

Review of 20th Century Masters by the Scorpions **

This stuff was popular when I was in grade school.  I liked it well enough then, but I moved onto better stuff.  There is some good guitar work on this album.  However, it is as the Joe Satriani band, except the Scorpions have a vocalist.  I’m not going to say that these guys can’t play.  Richie Kotzen put out an album with a guitarist I revere, Greg Howe.  What I will say is that the canvas that the Scorpions play their music over is pathetic.  Guitar solos over pathetic chord changes don’t make for good albums.  I find this music borderline annoying, and easy to get sick of.  The Scorpions are another one of those 80s hair bands that all played the same style.  When I think of the Scorpions it conjures up the idea that they were just a fad, and in that comparable to Def Biscuit and the Korn Tones.  This is commercial music.  It is meant to sell.  It is a cold and calculated attempt of a band and corporate America to get rich by following the fad formulas of the day.  I will admit that this band is easily recognizable because their vocalists sings in a weird but unique style.  However, if you remove the vocalist, the Scorpions are impossible to recognize as different from the music of their day.  For example, you could take a song without vocals by Stryper and compare it to a song by the Scorpions, essentially there is zero difference.

Review of Edge of Thorns by Savatage *****

My Favorite Savatage Album

Let’s get one thing straight.  This band is not made up of a bunch of nobodies.  They have a different band that tours at about the time of Christmas that is more popular than they ever were when they called themselves Savatage.  I like Savatage better than their other act.  This is my favorite Savatage album.  The guitars are amazing.  Their vocalist is among the best in metal.  If you like Fates Warning, or Iced Earth, then you will almost certainly like Savatage.  If I had one Savatage album that I recommend the most it would be this one.  This band had a small following at about the time that Nirvana changed everything, and then I never heard of them again for years.  They probably got unfairly lumped in with the ultra rich hair bands, but as their greatest hits package is labeled, From the Gutter to the Stage, this band has almost certainly known what it is like to be a poor progressive metal act.  I heard these guys first many, many years ago when there was a heavy rock top 50 countdown called the Z Rock 50, and it was the title track, Edge of Thorns.  I recorded it off the radio (on a cassette tape), and eventually bought the album.  As the album grew on me, Edge of Thorns became possibly my least favorite song on this album.  This was definitely a case of a band releasing a song that bordered on

Review of Scarsick by Pain of Salvation *

Nice Try!

Pain of Salvation is among the few progressive acts that I couldn’t recommend with a clear conscience.  Though there is some skill in playing this, Pain of Salvation has zero talent.  The reason I gave it a star is because they attempted to play complex music.  I like music simply if an effort is put into making it!  In this case, better to try and fail, than not to try at all.  I don’t understand what kind of sound Pain of Salvation is trying to achieve.  The vocalist opens his mouth, and within moments I am eager to take this out of the player.  It’s neither dorky nor cool nor funny.  I can’t even laugh at this!  Perhaps, someone who likes Disturbed could appreciate this.  However, though they are a progressive band, Pain of Salvation is not even as good as Disturbed.

Review of Incesticide by Nirvana *

Popular Only Because It Is Nirvana

I admit no single album in my lifetime has had as big of an album as Nirvana’s album Nevermind.  Well, this album came to prove that just because it was Nirvana it didn’t have to be good.  This album is tasteless.  It is musically weak.  Only someone interested in counter culture could find this Incesticide to be a treasure.   It gets one star because there are a few redeeming tracks, but for the most part, they are the best tracks on this album are just average.  Still, by the time this album was released, the local radio stations wouldn’t play them.  I don’t think these songs ever got much radio play.  What’s more if this was Nirvana’s best work, they would have remained a garage band.  And, though that is, that this got no radio play is no means for a call of judgment, these just simply are not Nirvana’s best songs.  Really, this album like so many of the 90s albums of the, “90s rock revolution,” there is nothing revolutionary about this.  What is revolutionary is the technology used in it.  That technology is called compression.  This album could have been put out in the 60s and sold just as well.  Without technology, it wouldn’t have even been a stand out album in the 60s.  However, defining fact of this album for me is that it is an album that people bought merely because it was a Nirvana album, as they had achieved tremendous popular by then.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Kurt Cobain’s suicide was in part due to the fact that his albums were selling for no other reason other than Nirvana was the new fad, as the whole idea when Nirvana started was to rebel against popular music.

Self-titled by Greg Howe *****

Too Good to Gain Him a Following?

It is nothing but a mystery to me that with this album Greg Howe did not gain much of a following.  It makes me want to cry foul!  This album, and just about every album Greg Howe has put out is just as good as anything Joe Satriani has ever put out, and in my opinion actually better.  There are definitely a lot of notes on this album, but it is not just an album for musicians.  It’s catchy.  This album is definitely a different style that what he put out in his later work, but it is every bit as good.  Perhaps, racism was the reason he never got as popular as some of the other guitar virtuoso, but that is water over the damn.  This album established Greg Howe as being among the best in the world on guitar, no arguments are possible to be made to that claim.  He has toured with Michael Jackson, and though Michael Jackson is not my favorite artist, at the time, he could have afforded any guitarist that he wanted, and he chose Greg Howe.  Who is Greg Howe?  People that know their good guitar albums know that he is among the 5 best today.  People that don’t know guitar have probably never heard of him.  My favorite of his albums is Introspection.  Introspection has more of a jazz fusion sound, while this, his first effort is more rockin’ in the Joe Satriani style though his signature style is instantly recognizable from any guitarist I know of.  By the time I have recommended the Red Hot Chili Peppers to someone who likes sophisticated music, he would have probably already written

Blood Sugar Sex Magic by the Red Hot Chili Peppers *****

One of the 10 Best of the 90s in Rock

Back when this album was new, it was my introduction to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  I liked it before I was a guitarist.  And, though I can’t say that I’ve been with them since the beginning, I can say, I have been a fan of theirs for many years by now.  It turned out for the most part I liked their earlier stuff too!  Few bassists have ever rocked as hard as Flea.  I would call him a virtuoso.  I would even recommend this to a person that likes sophisticated music.  Now, that wouldn’t make me popular, but there is no way around it; Blood Sugar Sex Magic is a great funky album.  As with the albums I give 5 stars, every song has to be more than just good, and that is the case with this album.  It is one of the best that the 90s had to offer.  I would definitely in the top 10 pop rock albums of the 90s.  To the young kid that might get this today:  If you had a rockin’ dad, then he probably listened to this album as a youngster.  Hope you enjoy it too!

Review of Ten by Pearl Jam. *****

One of the 10 Best of the 90s in Pop Rock

I love this album now every bit as much as I did when it came out in 8^th grade.  I love every song on it.  And, I won’t let it bother me that Pearl Jam got as popular as they did.  The songs on this album identified with the pauper, and not so much the rich man.  Before Ten was released it was unknown how good it would sell, so it’s not as Eddie is singing down to the poor folk.  When the album was written, in all probability Pearl Jam would end up that way.  In music, popularity is very comparable to a roll of the dice.  The odds are not in your favor.  So, Eddie became an advocate for the success of the underdog in life, and his band turned out to be a success.  I can’t think of many instances where that has happened.  Most of time pop music is about and for rich kids that get everything handed to them.  Sure, there are tons of songs out there about drugs and junk, but this album is not about that, it is more about trying to promote justice on earth.  I don’t believe Pearl Jam was ever able to rock as hard after this album.  The secret of this album is that not only is it instantly recognizable, but the lyrics, and song delivery come across as if Pearl Jam is out to play more than a song.  They have a message.  It is a priestly message, and they took a huge risk that people wouldn’t want to hear about, poor folk, abused folk, people with personality disorders etc., in an empathetic way.  As far as rock that charted, I would definitely put Ten in my top 10 albums of the 1990s.

3rd G String: How you should focus on practicing your G string.

In most of my blogs, have and will continue to talk about playing a single note at a time, and not a chord.  However, this is not to say that you should not know chords.  Knowing chords, especially the ones commonly used by acoustic guitarists is a part of being a well rounded musician.  So, for this blog, I assume that you already know what a chord is, and that you can play one, and perhaps you know several chords.

A key part of being a good guitarist is having the ability to switch from strumming chords to playing single notes.  The way to achieve this is though practice.  The G string is probably the hardest to do this activity on, and that is why when you practice switching from chords to single notes, focusing on the G string is a good idea.

Perhaps, play a D chord 4 times in rhythm and then play 8 chromatic notes on your G string in rhythm.  Try doing the same with an A5 chord.  Play the A5 chord a few times, perhaps using palm muting, and then immediately follow it with a 6 jigga string exercise.  Maybe play an Em chord, and then play a 3, 4, or 5 note G string exercise, and repeat the G string patterns up and down the fret board.  So it doesn’t really matter where you play your A5 chord for example.  You might play your A5 with an open A, or you might play it at the 5 fret, but what counts is that you switch quickly from that chord to playing a pattern on your G string, which can be moved up and down the fret board.

2nd G String: How you should focus on practicing with you G string

The simple answer is to play the G string over and over.  The way I recommend doing this is via snake exercises, and instead of moving to a higher string or a lower string, stay on the G string.

Another thing you can do is increase the ratio that you play the G string to other strings during snake exercises.  For example, you might play 2 or 3 notes on the G string for every single note you play on the B string, or you might want to skip a string and play 2 or 3 notes on the G string and one note E string.  The possibilities are endless.  You might play 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 notes on the G string and maybe 1, 2, or 3 notes on a different string or strings.  You might even want to go as high as 64 notes on the G string for every note or two that you play on a different string.

Review of History by America *****

The Title Is No Lie!  This Album Is a Classic Piece American History.

Usually, I don’t go for love songs, but America is an exception.  Every track on this Greatest Hits album is recommended.  You don’t have to like folk rock to like this.  I, myself, don’t listen to a lot of folk, but this album by America is awesome!  I do like acoustic guitar, but it can’t be the same 10 chord, or so, always voiced the same way for me to enjoy it.  That is, if some play a C chord, or an A minor chord, or a G chord, I am totally sick of the standard ways these chords are played on acoustic guitar.  In fact, I can use them to tune my guitar simply from hearing them so many times.  I don’t need a guitar tuner.  Luckily, America doesn’t fall into this trap in its folk music.  What’s more its G rated.  As a dad, and as a married husband, I started to prefer music that was G rated or PG rated, while before then, explicit lyrics didn’t bother me in the slightest.  Yet, America has appealed to me in all the stages of my life.  Even with all my teen angst, I loved them.  These songs also make good Karaoke songs.  If they were in my range, I’d sing them, but they are just too plain high for my own voice.  So, I will be cheesy.  America has been a band important enough to be considered American history.  So, I encourage you to go out and buy a piece of American history, by buying History by America.

Review of Fallen by Evanescence ****

Let’s Just Call Her Token.

There aren’t a whole lot of women playing heavy music.  The distortion on this album seems to be an immediate turn off to many women.  So, is it true; you have seen one woman, you have seen them all?  Well I wouldn’t got that far.  Evanescence is a female driven band that is essentially metal.  They aren’t the first, but in my opinion they are the best of the female metal bands, and I have seen a few, such as Crisis, as the opening act for Dying Fetus.  I even owned a Crisis album, which wasn’t all that great.

In technicality, Evanescence is only average, but the meaningful lyrics and passionate song writing on this album help overcome its simplicity.  I feel so much emotion when I hear her sings like, “My God, my tourniquet, return to me salvation,” capturing some of the dark and more painful parts of religion, such as might be found in the book of Lamentations.  The songs sound original, and there a whole lot of good songs on this album.  You can listen to it from start to finish, without skipping tracks.

I won’t let it change my review of this album, but I got to see them live once when they played a fest and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed, but I was disappointed with the whole show almost in its entirety.  I guess that I had hoped for Evanescence to drop the techno sounds that they often use, and just have musicians playing the parts.  I don’t like paying money to go to shows to hear prerecorded.  The only redeeming act at the fest were the closers, Dropkick Murphy’s.  The popularity of Dropkick Murphy’s is a mystery to me.  My wife had one of their albums, and I thought it was terrible.  I guess what made Dropkick Murphy’s so cool was that so many people were into them at the show.  It was the Boston area after all, and Dropkick Murphy’s is band the frequently advertises that they are from Boston.

1st G String: Why You Should Focus on Your Practice Guitar’s G string.

This blog is for intermediate players, meaning you already know how to tune your guitar to standard tuning, and you know a few chords.  Hopefully, by now you have tried a few of the snake exercises, which are in several of my other blogs.  If you are a 7 string player, this blog is also for you as well, but 6 or 7 strings in this lesson does not make a difference.  I talk about the strings with respect to standard tuning, which if you don’t use standard tuning, transposing the standard tuning notes for the alternate tuning notes should be second nature.  For example, if your lowest string is tuned to D# or D, it should suffice that you know which string I am talking about when I say the E string, which I often refer to as the 6^th string.  Some people refer to it as the 1^st string, but I think calling it the 1^st string is stupid because it convolutes things if you were playing a 7 string guitar.  That is, the 7^th string is the lowest string on a 7 string guitar; while usually all the other strings stay the same.

As an intermediate player, you may have noticed by now that certain strings are more likely to break.  Metal players often break the low E string by slammin’ power chords (assuming that is the lowest note on the player’s guitar).  Many people also find themselves also breaking the high E string.  After all, it is the thinnest and the weakest string.  In fact, most guitar stores will sell you a single high E string, while still more guitar stores will sell you any single string that you ask for.  The next two string that usually break slightly less frequently are the A string and the B string.  But, the G string never seems to break.  I have played for over 20yrs and never met someone who breaks their G string the most.  This is why you should focus on the G string when you practice.

If you are like me, you don’t have a lot of money to be spending on singles because in most cases, buying 6 singles is more expensive than buying a pack of 6 strings.  So, if you are like me, then you want to get the most value, meaning that on your practice guitar, you play your strings until they break, and that it should be your goal not to have to buy single strings, especially for your practice guitar.

So, now we have established that for people on a budget, the string that is most important to practice on is the G string.

Review of Soulive by Soulive ***

Has some good parts, but too much repetition for me to give a higher rating for.

I would definitely recommend this album to a beginning, or intermediate musician.  The gulf between pop music, and the stuff that the virtuosos put out is often huge.  There isn’t a whole lot of stuff in this vein, the middle, where an musician of intermediate ability could hope to play some of it, and I can still call it jazz.  I would also recommend it for a layperson who was looking to graduate from his or her childhood pop music phase.  Many of these song are catchy.  In most instances the Hammond B3 helps Soulive.  The thing I often find annoying about this cd is that I will hear a part I like, and I’ll be like, “Cool!” but, then they keep playing that same part throughout the song.  Thus, an experienced listener won’t get much enjoyment out of it, as they will probably be looking for something that is less repetitive.  I own this cd.  I bought it after hearing it, and liking it quite a bit.  However, once it got into my player, I got bored of it really quickly.  Also, there is an occasional extended organ note that is so annoying that it practically ruins the track in its entirety.  That said, for a first listen, most of the tracks are good.  Also, many times where they aren’t playing the head, the chord progression while the band is jamming is also repetitive or just too plain simple for my taste.

Review of Crash by the Dave Matthews Band ****

On the Borderline of Rock and Jazz In a Good Way

Dave is the favorite band of a lot people, and I can understand that.  To me they are as the Chicago, the band, not the city, of this generation.  Like Chicago, Dave plays songs that meet people at a level on the borderline between jazz and rock.  Some of the stuff is complex.  However, on this album Dave suffers from the same repetition problem.  Over and over, the same thing, and not enough variation.  I enjoyed this album more before I owned than when I actually got it.  When it was new, it seemed that the young folk I was among made Dave their first choice when it came to selecting music, and that made me happy.  Why?  It made me happy because I felt Dave was a band that had talent, and that it was practically a fluke that they were somehow able to produce much record sales.  And, I mean selling a few records, not selling a record platinum many times over.  Hugely popular, and playing music that was still respectable in its level of talent is a rare thing.  This album is every bit as good, if not better than their first effort, “Under the Table and Dreaming.”  My greatest praise for Crash though is how solid the album is in its entirety.  You don’t have to skip songs when you put this one in the player.  So, why 4 stars?  I gave it 4 stars because of the positive impact it had on so many people.  I gave it 4 stars because at a time when most music was fluff, the Dave Mathew’s band was producing decent music that was charting.

Review of Reign in Blood by Slayer *****

The Most Important Metal Album Since Black Sabbath

This single album influenced more musicians than any other album I know of.  Probably hundreds of bands sprung up trying to play music in this style, which is really like Venom on steroids.   And, though the music is aggressive, a musician should be able to appreciate it for its talent.  There are entire record labels that came to specialize in this style of music, and of course Venom are bastards of a songs like Children of the Grave by Black Sabbath.  We all get our ideas from somewhere!  However, Venom is nowhere near as good as this album.  I find no weakness on Reign in Blood, though some tracks are better than others.  My favorite use of this album is to listen to it from start to finish!  Angel of Death, and Raining Blood are standards in the genre.  Sure, there have been albums put out since it that have been better, but it was an original in its time, and nearly impossible to compare anything to it in greatness.  My favorite review of this album actually came from a guitar magazine well over 10 years ago that said something like, “Reign in Blood burns with the intensity of 10,000 suns.”

You Go Now by Chroma Key *****

Moody and Relaxing

This album is slow and moody, but it doesn’t put me to sleep.  I have to wonder how many people remembered Kevin Moore when he played in Dream Theater when they bought this album?  Kevin Moore was Dream Theater’s keyboardist for their classic album that catapulted them into the world known progressive rock acts.  At the time though, Dream Theater was still probably unknown to most people.  However, without Images and Words, the success of When Dream and Day Unite would not have been great enough to make Dream Theater a force to be reckoned with.  So, what do I think about Kevin Moore’s contribution to that album?  Generally, I think most of his keyboard work is a little hokey on Images and Words.  At the time, I don’t think keyboard technology had come along enough for it to be any better.  However, Kevin Moore is a credited song writer on the best songs on Images and Words.  What’s more, he was Dream Theater’s lyricist.  I don’t believe Dream Theater ever produced songs with lyrics where as good as they where since Kevin Moore played in the band.  That said, you might wonder if his keyboard sounds hokey on the album You Go Now.  It doesn’t.  Kevin Moore’s keyboard word on You Go Now is genius.  With Kevin Moore in the lead of his band, the band comes together much better than he was able to do when he played in DT.  He has his own ideas about music, and most people don’t share them.  However, I think he is amazing.  He is definitely not out to wow you.  His musicianship is all about song craft, and sometimes Dream Theater can be criticized for lacking song craft, and just being a bunch of show offs.

If you like Office of Strategic Influence, then you will almost certainly like You Go Now.  Office of Strategic influence was started as a super group side project back when Mike Portnoy played in Dream Theater.  Office of Strategic Influence is heavier than Chroma Key.  Chroma Key is definitely not about being heavy.  While I would say that Chroma Key evokes the same moods in me as Office of Strategic influence, and that is partly because the vocals of O.S.I. are so relaxed.

Review of Frizzle Fry by Primus *****

The Answer of Whether or Not Humor Belongs in Music for a New Generation

This will always be my favorite Primus album.  That might be because it was the first one I ever heard, and boy did I listen to it a lot of times.  Back then, I listened to it on a cassette tape.  Times change.  As album rock is slowly being replaced by legal downloading of MP3s, I hope the idea of the concept album doesn’t get lost.  Some music is just simply meant to be an album.  An album is like a book.  I think that though the formats of books will change in popularity, there will always be books that are in print on paper, in the same way that I think that the cd is an excellent format for music.  The amount of audio time available on a cd is definitely just the right size for many applications.

The thing that so endearing about Primus is that there is only one band that is Primus, and they are instantly recognizable.  The guitar is usually used for atmosphere, while the bass is used as the most important instrument.  It is not the first time something like that has been done, but it is rare to make the bass the central instrument, as opposed to a supporting instrument.  I guess I would classify Les Claypool as a virtuoso on the bass.  If he is not a virtuoso, then you at least have to credit him for his ability to create an innovative sound.

While Frank Zappa answered the question of whether or not human belongs in music, that was for his generation.  Weird Al showed us that humor does in fact belong in music, but with Weird Al, the question unanswered is does humor belong in good music?  Primus is good music.  They are comical.  And, for me they answered the question of whether or not humor belongs in music for my generation.

Review of self-titled by Boston *****

More Than Just Excellent, but a Classic

Awesome PG rated heavy rock, and with a positive attitude too!  After all these years, that is still hard to come by.  Easily accessible for everyone, from the great musical snob to the musical layman.  Every song on this album is a standard by which all heavy metal songs can be judged.  These songs could easily be turned into symphonies.  The production quality on this album is unbelievable.  Go Boston!  Boston is easily one of Bean Town’s rockers!!!  And, I totally dig the line, “Dancin’ in the streets of Hyannis.”  Hyannis is only a few minutes away from where I live.  I’d estimate that I go to Hyannis once a week.  That line has always made me wonder.  Where they dancing in the streets of Hyannis after a gig, and which club did they play their if that’s true?

This album is a little bit before my time, but what makes it classic, is that if was a new released tomorrow, it would hit the charts and be a best seller for all the right reasons.

Review of Christ Illusion by Slayer ***

Slayer Does It Again

I once criticized Kerry King right to his face.  To me, it seemed that Slayer had changed their style.  In perspective, it was a small change of style, but I believe it was a slight change of style nonetheless.  I was wrong for having criticized him though.  If you have read any of my other reviews, I have often criticized bands for playing the same thing over and over, and not having enough diversity.  Slayer is different.  For many people Slayer is as their pillow at night that comforts them because of Slayer’s stability in their sound.  The same is true of Manowar, and a few other bands,  That is, when people listen to their Slayer albums, they always know that Slayer is going to play in the same style and that  is like a security blanket.

Slayer is not out to promote murder.  In fact, at one concert Tom Araya is recorded as having said, “If you see someone who has fallen, pick ‘m up.”  Clearly, Slayer is not a bunch of murderers, as if they were they’d have been locked up by now.  So, their music is more of a way for people to release their frustrations, especially frustrations of being required to act this way or that way by a boss.  For example, some bosses say, “Shave your beard,” so for the person who has to shave their beard in order to put bread on their table, I completely empathize with the need for some craziness at shows, especially as an escape from the mundane conformity required of so many people in order that they keep their jobs.

Review of The Art of Balance by Shadow’s Fall ***

Solid Output from One of the Better Slayer Babies

My greatest criticism of this sort of band is when they play something that is indistinguishable in style from another band.  Slayer could have written, and performed any of these songs because Shadow’s Fall plays Slayer’s style.  Thus, Shadow’s Fall might as well have been a Slayer cover band.  There are a few negligible differences, but for the most part they are negligible.  For example, the style of vocals is a little different from Slayer’s.  However, many bands are doing this same sort of style with their vocals by mixing sung vocals with throat vocals, and then having still other vocals with some rasp, so that is not original nor special either.

If you are able to put all those things aside, Shadow’s Fall actually isn’t that bad of a band.  If you want to know what Shadow’s Fall sounds like, I encourage you to buy an album like Reign in Blood by Slayer, and then if you like that, then Shadow’s Fall will probably be a good choice for you, as you will know exactly what they sound like.  Some people just can’t get enough of this style.  If that is the case with you, then this album is for you!  Because for what it is, even though everything on it has been done before and it is completely unoriginal, it is well done.

Review of Days of Purgatory by Iced Earth ****

By the time Days of Purgatory had been released, Iced Earth was a great metal band that very few people had heard of, including me.  Iced Earth arose out of the ashes of metal’s unpopular phase, which occurred because MTV snubbed metal, and the masses listened to what MTV told them, and not the truth.

Iced Earth put out Days of Purgatory almost like a greatest hits package, but not quite.  They redid their best songs, acquiring a new vocalist who sang for Days of Purgatory.  Good choice, because the new vocals were tremendous, and definitely among the best in metal.  It’s great when lyrics are easily comprehensible without a lyrics sheet, powerful, and just generally well done, and that is the case with Iced Earth.  There is neither a bad song on this album, nor any sign of immorality.  Iced Earth are the angels of metal.  Days of Purgatory was my introduction to Iced Earth, and I was blown away.  However, I must say, I The Blessed and The Damned is better than this one.

Review of The Blessed and The Damned by Iced Earth *****

Some of the Best the Genre Has to Offer.

This album is great.  Get it!  It is one of the best packages metal has to offer.  Every song is classic!  I totally love the concept of how the songs were grouped where one disk is, “The Blessed,” and the other disk is, “The Damned.”  Naturally, a listener will gravitate toward one or the other.  I happen to like The Damned best mainly because it evokes happy emotions in me, while The Blessed seems more mysterious to me.  I like the lyrics when Iced Earth sings stuff like, “There is an angel watching over me, an angel guarding me.”

One thing it seemed my generation could not understand very well is that just because metal was often heavy, fast, using distortion, or was metal, that it had to be angry and evil.  People where looking for hidden messages in metal.  The Republican right wing outright condemned it, and sought about ways to bring about its demise.  Beneath this rubble of despicable contempt for metal, arose Iced Earth that proved that heavy metal didn’t have to be Christian or that metal was not necessarily the music of the devil.  If nothing else, a moral crusader probably wouldn’t make Iced Earth their first choice to try to snuff because in all reality, their music is PG.

Review of Disconnected by Fates Warning *****

In the Key of Awesome from Start to Finish!

It took me a while to warm up to this album.  When I first heard it, admittedly, I didn’t get it.  Previously, I had thought progressive metal had to have blistering fast lead guitar work, such as in the case of King Diamond, Death, and Morbid Angel.  Fates Warning is not as heavy as those bands.  And, they don’t rely on blistering fast leads.  Yet, this music is complex, and more importantly every track is good.  In fact, I believe that Disconnected is even better than Chasing Time.

In the beginning, this kind of music would have definitely been considered to be heavy metal, but as time has progressed, more and more, this kind of sound can simply be termed progressive rock.  That is, this album was released right on the cusp of when loud rock, or nu metal was starting to gain in popularity, and since that changed the face of music so much, bands that would have normally been considered to be metal where starting to be considered as rock.

Review of Pass Out of Existence by Chimaira *

Recommended if You Like Music that Is Heavy and Tasteless

I won this album at a contest.  I put it in the player.  I didn’t think much of it and didn’t listen to it again for a long time.  It just seemed like generic heavy music.  Later, I saw them at a music fest.  I was surprised to see people going crazy for them.  It’s good to see Chimaira helping people venting their frustration at the show.  And, I was also surprised to see that they were playing the main stage.  Times change, and just because I hadn’t heard of them before does not mean I won’t see a band on the main stage.  I guess bands like this are the gateway to better stuff for a lot of people, so I won’t be too harsh on them other to say that there was neither skill on Pass Out of Existence, nor any of the complexity that I enjoy when I listen to music.  I can understand why some people like this band, as they are a Korn clone.  As a heavy band, some of their stuff is catchy, but catchiness doesn’t equate to actual talent.  Almost anyone can write a catchy song or even an album full of catchy songs.  That much has been proven by many punk bands.