Albums Listened To In April

Finals are over! Which means I finally have some free time to myself again (although I am still writing this at work). I have a plethora of half-finished articles to bang out here int he coming weeks, so hopefully this site should see alot of updates in May.

Starting this month, my goal was to listen to nothing but new albums, I was doing very well until I re-listened to Mael Mórdha's Gealtacht Mael Mórdha. I had rediscovered them (I have a ton of music, I forget about bands all the time), so I listened to their two albums - completely forgetting about my want to listen to only never before heard stuff. And then a few days later I began listening to the catalog of Evergrey, and after listening to their Recreation Day album, I remembered that I had heard this album before. It was almost 5 years ago at this point, but that's the only reason I even knew about that band (thanks be to Mike!), so obviously I couldn't overlook this. I know what some of you must be saying, "Why not just lie or leave it out?" Well I can't do that. I have a certain level of professionalism with this project (...a little), and I also like to see my progress month to month (and I've impressed a few ladies with my lists). So I will continue to dictate what I listen to, as it happens. For my adoring public!

The best albums of the month are the works of Elf (I listened to them all at the end of April, so the other albums are on the list for next month, but Elf will be one of the best then too). I love this blues-rock oriented band from the future voice of Rainbow and Black Sabbath. I'm working on a stand-alone article for them as well. I also enjoyed Dark Hours by Lion's Share, for being very Dio-ish. I'm going to try and locate some more of their albums and listen more thoroughly. Another great new band (keeping with the Dio trend) is Heaven & Hell, their album The Devil You Know was amazing. Check out my full review. The Decemberists, one of my favorite non-metal folk bands, released a new album, The Hazards Of Love, and it was great. A concept album with several singers and a twisted storyline. It's like the classic Who and Pink Floyd concepts with a folkish theme. A great idea if I've ever heard one. Also, Psychostick's two albums, We Couldn't Think Of A Title!, and Sandwich, were both hilarious and pretty decent. Give them a try.

Not too much on the negative end this month, 30 days of new music and only two albums that stood out, not to bad really. The first bad album was Cruachan's Tuatha Na Gael. Now I have heard Cruachan's later works (this was their first album) and I enjoyed the Celtic metal quite alot. But this album was more viking then folk (use of death growls and grunts), not my preferred style. I was planning on listening to more Cruachan albums, but this one turned me off from their other, early works. The second wasn't really bad, just boring. Hammers Of Misfortune are a progressive band with two singers, one male one female. The albums I listened to, Fields/Church Of Broken Glass (double disc), was an odd collection of both. The first few songs were solely a male voice, then a couple that was female only, then the rest that were a mix between. The music was long and drawn out, no real climaxes throughout their songs, just one droning melody to another. The only song that I did enjoy was the instrumental piece close to the end, it was their only piece that had any excitement to it.

All in all it was a good month for music, several new bands, 32 new albums. Not a great month for numbers, but a superb month for quality.
For May, I just "acquired" the complete works of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, so look forward to that popping up here then. And I'll probably be re-listening to alot of albums, as songs pop up on my iTunes of iPod when it is on random of bands that I haven't heard from in a while. It's time to get back to the basics. Also, I have begun to listen to some stoner rock/metal through my Last.FM and plan on finding full albums and working through that. So my next Current Trend may be stoner focused.

1. Battlelore - The Last Alliance - Newly Listened!
2. Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter - Newly Listened!
3. Circus Maximus - Isolate - Newly Listened!
4. Cruachan - Tuatha Na Gael - Newly Listened!
5. The Decemberists - The Hazards Of Love - Newly Listened!
6. Deep Purple - Bananas - Newly Listened!
7. Dio - Intermission (Live EP) - Newly Listened!
8. Dio - Sacred Heart - Newly Listened!
9. Elf - Elf - Newly Listened!
10. Evergrey - Monday Morning Apocalypse - Newly Listened!
11. Evergrey - Recreation Day
    
12. GWAR - Violence Has Arrived - Newly Listened!
13. Hammers Of Misfortune - Fields/Church Of Broken Glass (2 Discs) - Newly Listened!
14. Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know - Newly Listened!
15. Holy Martyr - Hellenic Warrior Spirit - Newly Listened!
16. Infectious Grooves - Mas Borracho - Newly Listened!
17. Infectious Grooves - Pneumonia (EP) - Newly Listened!
18. Lazarus A.D. - The Onslaught - Newly Listened!
19. Lion's Share - Dark Hours - Newly Listened!
20. Mael Mórdha - Cluain Tarbh - Newly Listened!
21. Mael Mórdha - Gealtacht Mael Mórdha
    
22. Mechanical Poet - Eidoline: The Arrakeen Code - Newly Listened!
23. Mechanical Poet - Ghouls (EP) - Newly Listened!
24. Mechanical Poet - Who Did It To Michelle Waters? (2 Discs) - Newly Listened!
25. Psychostick - Sandwich - Newly Listened!
26. Psychostick - We Couldn't Think Of A Title! - Newly Listened!
27. Queen - Hot Space - Newly Listened!
28. Scorpions - Lonesome Crow - Newly Listened!
29. Scorpions - Love At First Sting - Newly Listened!
30. Steve Reynolds - The Carnival Papers - Newly Listened!
31. StormWarrior - Northern Rage - Newly Listened!
32. StormWarrior - StormWarrior - Newly Listened!
33. Warren Zevon - The Wind - Newly Listened!
34. Yes - Close To The Edge - Newly Listened!