2009 In Review

Ok so it took me over 2 months to write this, and in all actuality I didn't write crap. I made this list to white about each catagory, but then I realized I just didn't care. So now I'm sick of this staring up at me every time I sign into Blogger, so here it is: 2009 In Review.

682 Total Albums Played

One surprise was my favorite band Clutch; they gathered only four full album plays all year and two of those were brand new albums. I really expected this to be more.

Some Good Progressive Rock: Rush And Kansas

This past month, I've been listening to the entire Rush discography (8 out of 19 complete at the time of this writing), and I just now finished the first Kansas album, and I have to say; I really like this 70's progressive rock sound that these guys put out. A lot of people know of Rush and their prog music (2112 anyone?), but not a lot of people know more from Kansas then "Carry On Wayward Son," "Dust In The Wind," or "Point Of Know Return" (including myself).

After listening to their self-titled (and heading into their second, Masque) release I have an added respect for this group. They stick to the semi-mainstream venue of prog, not being of the King Crimson-style of pretentiousness. They mix the straight-forward focus of classic (read: 70's) rock with the interesting instrumentation, song structure and lyrical content of other progressive bands. Half of their songs are short and seemingly radio friendly, and the others are longer (over seven minutes) story-arch songs of varying subjects. Kind of a neat blend.
Rush does this too, but to a less successful extent. For this article I am only using the 70's/early 80's music of Rush (aka classic Rush), but they continuously fall into the same rut of trying to be more 'epic' then what is needed. Now I love Rush, and I really don't want to say anything negative about them, but after listening to almost all of their 'good' albums, their music is just better when they focus more on the rock style and less on the progressive element. Starting with their third album, Caress Of Steel (and soon after the addition of Niel Peart), their music becomes skewed into the inaccessible forms of prog music. The songs are long, to a ridiculous extent, and the lyrics are quite silly at times - but the music still rocks, so I have no complaint there. It's just that each album only has two or three decent songs to its credit, and two or three ten-plus minute epic pieces that fall flat after the first five minutes. 2112 is the exception, and I think they took the awesomeness of that song, and tried to re-create it with each following disc; as noted with "Cygnus X-1" and "Cygnus X-1 Book II" on the following albums, A Farewell To Kings and Hemispheres.
As the group enters the 80's the super long songs wain away, but so too does the rock aspect. Instead the group focuses on different styles and sounds, to keep up with the ever-changing soundscape we live in. And I have no fault with that, you have to do what you do to survive. If they were still putting out the same style of records as their debut album, this article would have a very different spin to it, mostly about how boring the band has begun (and that article probably would have never been made). So I guess a congrats are in order for the guys from Rush, for still being together and still putting out decent albums (not the same, but still decent), for all these years.

Again, I am only two Kansas albums in, and I know the group takes a major nose dive somewhere in the 80's as far as quality is concerned, but in the golden days, they have a better grasp on understandable progressive rock then the Canadian kings of prog: Rush. So go out and give Kansas a try, you'll probably be surprised at how much you like their sound.

Video: Goblin Cock "We've Got A Bleeder"

Goblin Cock is another funny band, both in name and in song lyrics. And I also never have a clue what goes on within their music videos. "We've Got A Bleeder" is no exception to this. I just listened to the album that this song is off of, Come With Me If You Want To Live, and I heard their debut release, Bagged And Boarded, last week.
The second album is a lot more straight-forward and serious then the first - I mean in the actual musicality of the album, not the band itself. The music is much more stoner then the droning sound of the predecessor, and the tunes just rock more. I really like the direction this band is taking, and they are another new addition within the stoner collection on my hard drive.

Albums Listened To In January (81)

The New Year: what does it bring? Only an awesome collection of new bands and albums. As you will see below, I started off January continuing the December path of just listening to classic rock and full discographies, but at the end (actually the very last day) of week 2 I moved into the new bands like Wiht and Wo Fat. The next few weeks (it continues even now) were filled with new stoner/doom bands, spliced in with the older acts I listen to on my drive to work every day.

The way I listen to music has evolved: while at home I focus on new albums and artists, with the occasional classic album/band thrown in, and on my 40+ min drive to and from work every day I listen to entire discographies of artists I've already heard. This is how I listened to so much Deep Purple and Uriah Heep (both bands are amazing in their early works), as well as the more modern Tyr, Bigelf and Shinedown.
This way of listening has opened up a good dichotomy between the new and the old. And it continues today.

Also 81 is an impressive number, as compared to last month and overall. I wish there was some way to add a bar graph to one side of this blog that I could update monthly. Does anyone know of a way to do that?

Video: Karma To Burn "Twenty"

Karma To Burn is a stoner instrumental band who do pretty well for themselves. They are one of the better known of the music-only acts (at least as far as I know).
This music video is simple and kinda neat - a catchy idea if there ever was one: women as guitars. I like it.

New Band: Beehoover

If System of A Down would chill out a bit - but still keep their wacky music and lyrics - you'd have Beehoover. The vocalist has a similar sound to Serj Tankian, and although I can't understand all the lyrics very well, the bits I can are pretty out there. Their music falls well within the stoner metal sound, but incorporates a slight progressive element as well; lots of changes of tempos and sounds cut into each other. This band is something very interesting.

New Band: Witch

I've been listening to a lot of new music within the past week, all found by my new favorite site for stoner/doom metal StonerRobixxx, a frequently-posted site in which I have discovered at least thirty-six stoner, doom and psychedelic bands within the past week. I now have the daunting task of going through it all, and separate the good from the crap and then the great from the good. I'm through my second band...wow this is going to take forever.

I am currently listening to the end of the self-titled Witch album, and I (for some reason) already listened to their sophomore effort, Paralyzed, earlier in the day. Witch combines the stoner/doom/sludge sound with a drudging guitar and a collection of eerie vocals. Although the voice is masculine (maybe), I can believe that this is a witch croneing on, casting spells and the like.

Albums Listened To In December (59)

59 albums. Not bad compared to my average, but not up to par as the past couple of months. Sorry this took so long, I've been having a rough time at work, and I'm often to tired when I get home to do anything mentally challenging (been playing a lot of Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox).
I set out this month to listen to full discographies of my favorite bands, and I did just that. Blind Guardian, Dream Theater, Manowar, Iced Earth, Type O Negative, Ayreon, Demons and Wizards and Kiuas were all set up and knocked down with relative ease. Due to this trip down music-memory lane, there was almost no new albums this month, the only exception being Blind Guardian's A Night At The Opera which I had never had the enjoyment of hearing before. And for most of the bands above, I am working on a Retrospective for each. You have already seen my one for Blind Guardian, and I'm almost done with Type O Negative, Iced Earth and Dream Theater's, I just have to take the time and sit down and actually do it.

In January I wanted to focus almost entirely on brand new music, but seeing as the month is already half over by the time I've finished this article, I already know the semi-trend, and right now it's a decent split of new and old.
I found a new place to find new bands, the majority of which are well within my musical preference - a lot of stoner and doom - so be expecting a whole list of out-there bands with unique sounds and songs.

With me being done with school, I have a lot less of a reason to sit in front of my computer listening to music all day. So my numbers will most likely be taking a hit - at least in the near future. With nothing but work to look forward too, I'm going to be needing a hobby, and this site may just be it.

Retrospective: Blind Guardian (Part 2)

Continuing the discography breakdown of the thrash/power metal band Blind Guardian:

 

Discography - Part 2

• Somewhere Far Beyond (1992)

Somewhere Far Beyond is Blind Guardian's first album that sounds (to me) as a 'Blind Guardian album.' Continuing with the blending of genres that was seen in Tales From The Twilight World, this album is a seamless collection of thrash-influenced power metal. The operatic elements are present, as well as a slight progressive feel within a handful of songs. This album is also the first Blind Guardian album to host an acoustic, 'campfire song,' a song that one could see being sung for generations; "The Bard's Song (In The Forest)." There is a second part, "The Bard's Song (The Hobbit)," but this song incorporates drums and electric guitars. It still is the dame basic tune and rhythm, but the sound is drastically different. On the special edition album there are two covers added to the track listing, "Trial By Fire" by Satan, and "Spread Your Wings" by Queen. While "Trial By Fire" is forgettable, "Spread Your Wings" is one of my favorite covers; once again Blind Guardian show us their love of Queen, and pull off a fitting tribute. This album embodies what I like about Blind Guardian, and while the previous works are decent, I feel that this is where the band grew into something to be reckoned with. The later works only get better.

Retrospective: Blind Guardian (Part 1)

Starting with their first release, Blind Guardian is a power-influenced thrash metal band, with alot more straight drum and guitar then the melodic, multi-layered sound that the group would be known for. Later albums move more into the power metal sound, but almost all of their albums still hold onto their origins of thrash - which is great if you have been listening to them from the beginning, but if you came in half-way (like myself) the further back you go, the less and less the band sounds like the band you love.
But aside from that, Blind Guardian is one of my favorite bands within the power metal genre. Their combination of speed, melody and epic vocals (especially in the later albums) are something of legend. Hansi Kürsch, the lead singer, has one of the most amazing voices in all of metal. His vocal range and ability to sing harsh and operatic within seconds of each other are truly amazing. This band is worth it, just to hear his voice and style.

Favorite Albums: Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes

Continuing with my trend of listening to my foundation of my metal tastes, I'm going to look at the partner (in my mind) to Blind Guardian's Nightfall In Middle Earth, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Iced Earth; seen this way because I bought them both at the same time, around five years ago.

Now I've already gone into this album a bit, with my comparison of the two spin-off albums, the Something Wicked Series, but that was only a basic look at the last three songs, that make up the original 'Something Wicked' story. In this, I'll go more in-depth about the entire album.
First, the album is broken into two parts, the first ten tracks make up the 'album proper,' the stand alone songs, with no story throughout them, just random songs. The second part is the Birth Of The Wicked series, and that begins on track 11 and goes to the end of the album (track 13). I'll go into each separately.
The first few tracks are my favorites on the album, they are all good but some are better. Most of the songs touch on some ulterior motive, either by damning someone or group within the song ("Disciples Of The Lie" and "Melancholy (Holy Martyr)"), or are very heart-throbbing ("Watching Over Me" and "Blessed Are You"). All of the songs are very heavy and a great blend of Jon Schaffer's superb guitar and lyrical writing and Matthew Barlow's (the 'voice' of Iced Earth) amazing vocals.

Video: The Muppets

Ok not metal, not rock(well one is), but it is music and it had me laughing. Here is a collection of some new Muppet shorts that started popping up online a few weeks ago, all Muppet versions of famous songs. It's mostly classical, but they do cover Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and that song is epic.
So please enjoy The Muppets:

More after the break.

Favorite Albums: Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle Earth

This month I've been revisiting the bands that got me into metal - both originally and my current tastes. I've been listening to alot of Manowar, and Type O Negative, and I'm now getting into Iced Earth and Blind Guardian. While I grew up with Manowar, Type O Negative, Iron Maiden and Metallica (thank you Dad), both Blind Guardian and Iced Earth are fairly recent additions to my musical tastes, only discovering them about four years ago, shortly after my joining of Last.fm and my discovery of this wonderful thing called 'power metal.' One thing I have noticed over my illustrious music career, is that more often then not the first album I hear by a band becomes my favorite. Manowar's The Triumph Of Steel, Type O Negative's Bloody Kisses, and Iron Maiden's Best of The Beast (greatest hits) all fall into this category. As do Iced Earth's Something Wicked This Way Comes (which will probably become it's own article eventually) and Blind Guardian's Nightfall In Middle Earth.

Retrospective: Queen - Queen (1973)

**Because of the awesomeness of the Queen collection (at least the first half of the discography), I'm going to be breaking the band's releases down in manageable segments**

The first release by the band that would eventually define arena-rock, Queen (the album) is straight progressive rock, with hints of Christianity strewn throughout, just a little more accessible then some of Emerson, Lake and Palmer's releases, they keep it in the realm of understandable.
These first few releases (Queen, Queen II) had almost no fanfare, truly very few people even know they exist, especially within my generation, but they are some of the best of the band's releases. The blending of progressive elements and the eventual operatic vocal style and arena-rock that was to come, make for a vividly unique and memorable experience. If given the option, please give these early attempts a try.

Video: ED's Furry Fucking Guide To Metal!!!! (Take 2)

So this was one of my first posts, but Youtube took it down, so instead of just updating the original post, I decided to re-post the whole thing for the newer viewers of my site (which is everyone). So everyone sit back and enjoy, one of the most clear-cut explanations of metal ever offered


ED's Furry Fucking Guide To Metal!!! - Awesome video clips here

Albums Listened To In November

Damn November was a good month! My birthday, three months at the new job, a few lady-friends, a new writer for The Guide, some good shit.
Another month of near-record numbers - 94 albums total, 35 new! I spent alot of time re-listening to good bands, albums and complete genres. You'll notice a heavy stoner resurgence, as I decided to listen to every stoner album that I have listened to in the recent months (that I liked anyway). Bands like sHEAVY, The Atomic Bitchwax, Fireball Ministry, Five Horse Johnson, and Hermano, Monster Magnet, all had their entire discographies listened through again - all stoner.

Retrospective: Avantasia (Part 2)

Continuing from the last installment of the Avantasia Retrospective:

• Lost In Space: Part 1 EP and Part 2 EP (2007)

Lost In Space are another pair of releases in close succession by the band Avantasia. These two are not as closely-entwined as The Metal Opera was. They are collections of new songs to be released on the upcoming (at the time) album, The Scarecrow, cover songs, and some variations of songs previously released. Most of the covers are pretty good, with the ABBA and Freddie Mercury songs taking the limelight, but again as will most singles and EPs, you should wait for the full-length album to hear most of these songs. One peculiar detail is that both EPs contain the exact same title track - no variation on recording or length, the exact same song. This to me seems like a bit of a cop-out/spit in the face to anyone willing to purchase these two EPs. But seeing as I didn't, I can't really complain. If you're a mega-fan of Avantasia then go pick up these EPs, the variations in songs and the covers make it worth it. If you're not a Avantasia-head then just stick with acquiring the covers, and wait to get The Scarecrow.

Video: Cannibal Corpse Lounge Cover

 Just some stupid video I found online. I dislike death meal over all and really don't like Cannibal Corpse, but this guy does a pretty funny 'Lounge' style version of one of their songs.


Part 2 of Avantasia coming soon.

Retrospective: Avantasia (Part 1)

I was scrolling through my music library last week (over 35,000 songs and counting) looking for something I've heard before but not in a long time and I stumbled upon Avantasia. About two years ago I whipped my hard drive clean and had to re-upload all of my music (from my external) which reset all of the song listen counters. From that time I have not listened to any Avantasia except their newest release, The Scarecrow. I decided to rectify this situation and gave the entire discography a listen.

The interesting thing about Avantasia is that there is only one real member of the band, Tobias Sammet, who plays various instruments and the majority of the vocals for all the releases. This requires Avantasia to have an ever-revolving cast of players, with upwards of more than ten vocalists for each album, with several different session instrumentalists - often times not for more than one song. It gives the group a very unique feel and tendency into the unknown.

One problem I have with this group, which is a problem I have with almost all the 'Project Bands' (bands with no real set cast or crew) is that every album is significantly different than the one before it. Sometimes this works, The Metal Operas are pretty damn good, and sometimes this doesn't, The next full-length release, The Scarecrow, sounds like a completely different band, it all is seemingly random.

Liquid Trio Experiment 2 - Universal Mind (When the Keyboard Breaks)

First off I need to make a clarification about the band.  When the album was released, it was released under the title of Liquid Trio Experiment 2.  But it is just Liquid Tension Experiment with the absence of Jordan Rudess.  His Roland keyboard decided to crap out in the beginning of the first song.  Every 4th key would play the note a half step higher.  This is clearly evident in the very first song within the first 5 seconds of hearing the track.  I can only imagine what the band's faces looked like onstage when they heard what they heard.  I know when I listened to it the first time, I wasn't really expecting it and I'm sure I had a "WTF am I hearing" kind of face.