Music Appreciation Thread

[BiggySmall]

[QUOTE=Howie]I'm a douchebag

Dont worry there is one less person who thinks ur douchebag

[Drageuth]

<b>Cauterize</b> - <i>So Far From Real</i>

A wonderful, wonderful debut album from the Ontario punk band <B>Cauterize</b>. It's a wonderful, hard-edge album that floats around almost pop to no where near the fact. Featuring lines that could be straight out of a <b>Thursday</b> emo song ("Scream or cry the truth or lie / I'm not sure they could save us this time / I don't wanna be around when it all comes down / To watch something beautiful die"), this album contains all of the energy that one may need to get that extra step out the door.

I don't know why, I've been addicted to the track "Taste of Tears" forever now. It's one of those somewhat fast, somewhat emo, and somewhat heavy songs. It kind of jumps around between opening and closing. "I hate myself for needing this / I love our twisted little mess / I know it's wrong but it just feels right / The taste of tears is bittersweet tonight."

Nothing absolutely amazing - it's not going to go down in the history books, but it's a wonderful album that anyone who doesn't really get into death metal or the screaming punk will surely enjoy.

[Howie]

Battlelore - Third Age Of The Sun (2005) - http://www.battlelore.net/



If I told you Battlelore where a Power Metal band with a touch of Folk that sings mainly about Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings with growling and female vocals, some of you would think "Wow! A Tolkien-based Elvenking!". If you did, you're in for a dissapointment.

Third Age Of The Sun is Battlelore's third full-length, and the fact they actually have released 3 albums now still puzzles me. The growling vocals are overall decent, but the female vocals are simply just annoying, and the finnish accent doesn't help one bit. The guitars are mainly rythm-guitars, so don't expect any badass solos in here. The bass and drums sounds OK, but it's the keyboards that really makes the melodies, and it doesn't sound too bad, but the fact that the melodies are overused and uninspired haunts it. The production is OK, nothing too shabby or nothing too super.

There are a total of 2 songs on this album I'll dare call "good", but that's far too little when the album has a total 13 tracks (sure, there are songs that are qualified to be called "decent" too, but those I'll not waste time on mentioning). Those tracks are "Trollshaws" and "Of Orcs And Elves", which both are pretty good songs and has no place in this album at all (they'd work better in some split or compilation of sorts).

Third Age Of The Sun is one big yawn, and is so far the worst Power Metal-album of 2005. Stay away from this, or try out Summoning if you are absolutely keen on listening to a GOOD band with Tolkien as main lyrical theme.

Rating: 3/10

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Exodus - Shovel Headed Kill Machine (2005) - http://www.exodusattack.com/



The american Thrash Metal-band Exodus returned after 15 years without a single release with the amazing groove/thrash-album called Tempo of the Damned, which was praised by critics and fans, including me. Now, a year and a half later, the band is ready with a new album called Shovel Headed Kill Machine.

During the one year and a half of abscence, Exodus has seemed to lost two things that was the reason I thought Tempo of the Damned was so good. Zetro, their old vocalist, got kicked from the band. Even if he did sound nasal on Tempo of the Damned, the band would not be the same without him. Also, they lost their groovy style. The band went looking for a new vocalist, and hired a no-name called Rob Dukes. He is a surprisingly good replacement, and he doesn't sound all that different from Zetro either. His voice is more agressive, thus making Shovel Headed Kill Machine more agressive than groovy.

(Note; I'm not going write about all the tracks) The album starts of with "Raze", an agressive riff-fest of a song. This song is the only song that could qualify to be on Tempo of the Damned when it comes to style. A kickass solo and great drumming on this one. "Deathamphetamine" is the longest song on the album, clocking 8 and a half minute. Not a bad song, but it's simply too long for my taste. Skipping a few tracks, we get to "Going Going Gone", a really great thrashing piece of metal. Rob Dukes really shows his agression on this song, great shit. The album ends with "Shovel Headed Kill Machine", which is the shortest and the best on the album. A nonstop frenzy, better than anything else on the album.

Shovel Headed Kill Machine is far from as good as their previous album, the lack of groove being the main reason. Am I dissapointed? Not really. It was better than I thought it was going to be, I was sceptical to Rob Dukes, but he is a quite good replacement. Fans of Exodus and the genre will love this, I assure you.

Rating: 7/10

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Children Of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet? (2005) - http://www.childrenofbodom.com/



Few bands has been able to do what Children Of Bodom has done. They've managed to impress me with 4 consecutive full-lengths, and now they try to impress me with their fifth album called Are You Dead Yet?. It's not as good as their previous albums, but it's still quite impressive.

Children Of Bodom has slightly changed their style since Hate Crew Deathroll. They've focused more on guitars rather than the keyboards this time, and the riffs is very industrial-like (Industrial-elitists might disagree with me here though). Alexi's guitars sounds as good as they've always done, his vocals isn't the best in the world, but they work nicely for me. Warman's keyboards are still present even if they haven't used his work as much as they did on their previous efforts, but he is still there kicking ass. The bass is still good and the drumming is also good, even though it's not as fast and furious as on Hate Crew Deathroll.

The album starts of with "Living Dead Beat", a great mid-paced and melodic song. It's definetively not their best opener, but it's a great song nevertheless. "If You Want Peace... Prepare For War" is also a great song with some obvious Megadeth-influences in both title and opening-riff. "In Your Face" really shows that they've been influenced by industrial-music and knows how do it the right way. The best song on the album is without a doubt the re-recording of the song from their EP from last year, "Trashed, Lost And Strungout". A great opening and a kickass chorus.

Sadly, this album has been infected with a few boring songs. "Punch Me I Bleed" and "Next In Line" are both quite boring compared to the other songs on the album, as they're slower than the others, but they're not bad at all though. The unmentioned rest of the songs are quite good stuff, but I'm too lazy to mention them now.

All in all, this is a great album. It's Children Of Bodom's worst so far though, and I think some fans might not like the changes in the style. I myself, liked it. Worth a purchase.

Rating: 8/10

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Russell Allen & J�rn Lande - The Battle (2005) - http://www.melodicrock.com/showcase/...thebattle.html



Russell Allen and J�rn Lande are two of my favorite vocalists, I was very happy when I heard the two teamed up to make an album together (how they got together, I still got no clue about). However, these kind of "supergroups" (or "superduo", in this case) has a tendition to plain suck. This isn't the case with Russell Allen and J�rn Lande's The Battle.

The Battle is a nice piece of melodic Heavy Metal. Both Allen and Lande sounds great, though the fact that Lande dominates most of the main-vocalist part is a bit dissapointing, as I'd like to hear more from Allen. The vocalists both has quite a different style of vocals, but when together they oddly enough sound great. Lande's vocal-style is more fitting for Traditional Rock and Heavy Metal, while Allen's style fits mostly for Progressive and Power Metal. The instrumental work is good both technically and musically (melodies and solos sounds quite good, though it's obvious that they've focused more on the vocals (which is even more obvious...)). The production is nice and clean.

There is a total of 12 songs on this album, and it lasts an hour. It has it's ups and downs when it comes to the quality of the songs, but most of them are actually quite enjoyable, like the opener "Another Battle", "Wish For A Miracle" and "Ask You Anyway". From the middle of the album, things seems to go downhill. There's nothing I would call bad, but they're just not good compared to the songs on the first half of the CD. "Where Have The Angels Gone" and "The Forgotten Ones" are both decent songs with a nice and catchy melody, but they simply doesn't live up to "Another Battle", for example.

This was honestly a bit of a surprise, considering how supergroups usually gets flushed down the toilet. The Battle may not be either of the vocalists greatest moment, but it certainly is worth a purchase if you like their work with for example Masterplan and Symphony X.

Rating: 7/10

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Flotsam & Jetsam - Dreams Of Death (2005) - http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/



Most people knows Flotsam & Jetsam as "the band Jason Newsted of Metallica founded, then left it to play in Metallica". Even though the Jason left, the band continued and is still active. Now in 2005, they've released their 9th full-length named after a song ( Dreams Of Death) from what's probably their most popular album, Flotsam and Jetsam.

Flotsam & Jetsam plays some sort of Thrash Metal combined with elements from classic Heavy Metal, so it's no ordinary Thrash-album. The vocalist has a pretty nice voice, but he sometimes feels a bit out of place and doesn't totally fit, but he's good nevertheless. The instrumental work is flawless, and the production is crystal-clear (as expected from any album released in 2005). Dreams Of Death is great when it comes to production and skills, but the songs on this album isn't as great.

There are some great songs on this album, like "Straight To Hell", "Look In His Eyes" and "Out Of Mind", but those 3 are pretty much the only ones that I would call great. The rest is decent (the instrumental "Nascentes Morimar" is the only song under the "decent-line"). It's not the best album in the world, it has it's moments. If this was a movie, I'd say "It's a rental". You get the point.

Rating: 6/10

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Elegeion - The Last Moment (2005) - http://www.elegeion.com/



Gothic/Doom Metal is a good combination in my ears, but it never struck me as something really, really great. Elegeion's newest album, The Last Moment, doesn't really help my opinion of the genre.

The Last Moment isn't really bad, but it's not horrible good nor interesting either. Elegeion makes use of two different vocalists, a female and a male vocalist (which is using harsh/gruff/whatever vocals. You get the point). The vocalists never (or rarely, I haven't noticed even after 5 listenthroughs) sing in the same song, which is dissapointing. The musicians and vocalists are all talented, the melodies throughout the song is nice but is just not "good enough" to keep me interested through the whole album (which is very dissapointing, as the album is only 40 minutes long). The production is decent enough, it's kind of raw, but it fits.

The only song that I'll dare call "very good" is the title-track. A very doomy and atmospheric track, just the way I like it. After that song, the female vocalist accompanied by a sad, ballad-like piano-melody and violins starts playing. It just doesn't fit. The mood doesn't change completely, but the style is totally different, which ruins the "flow". The song isn't totally bad, it's decent enough (just like the rest of the album). Fans of this kind of Doom Metal might enjoy, but me myself, didn't enjoy it as much.

Rating: 5/10

[Stark]

Opeth - The Ghost Reveries

Well I thought I might as well make a review about this seeing as this is the first album I've ever bought, and I think it was a wise purchase lol. What can I say, Opeth, anyone who knows them and appreciates them can see where I'm coming from hopefully, and others can hopefully make sense of a madman's ramblings. All I can say is that first off, Opeth rules, I think they are brilliant, and this newest album shows no sign of Opeth slowing down or getting worse in my opinion. I found I had to listen to this a lot to truly appreciate it. Even now I find myself overwhelmed by a note in a track that I might have missed before (For anyone who is wondering 9:40 to 10:15 of "The baying of the Hounds" found myself playing that particulat part of that track a number of times lol) I also found this album to be different to the rest, though I think it might be because I listened to all the other albums a lot before this came out so I would differenciate this from the rest, in any case I think I can say that this is a very entertaining album. I would recommend it highly.

TheotheImapler's Rating of Evil Vampiryness. 9.5/10

[Lag]

Hypocrisy - Virus [2005] (death metal)

I thought I'd do a short review for this album because it's one of my favourite recently heard metal albums.
The slow and quiet intro (predictably) ends in 16 seconds, then you get the song 'Warpath', which will snap you out of your seat/shoes, whatever. Skip track 3 (a good song) and then you get my favourite song on the cd, "Fearless". Awesome song. Can't get it out of my head for awhile. It's medium-slow, but really addictive. Hypocrisy seem to talk about murder in every song on this cd too The rest of the tracks are all good. I can't really compare them. The last track 'Living To Die' is very slow, but has an impact on the listener if you're patient enough to listen to the whole thing.

My rating on this fine album - 8.8/10

Standout songs - Warpath, Fearless, Blooddrenched, Living to Die, Carving for Another Killing.

[johnny blaze]

AC/DC - Fly on the Wall:
This album is flat out amazing. At first I found a few songs that I liked, the more I listened, the more songs I enjoyed. Send for the Man is probably one of the hardest songs they've ever written. Stand up has an awesome Chorus and an intense solo. This is probably my favorite AC/DC album next to Highway To Hell. Back in Business has a hard riff and some pretty badass lyrics. A+ album, will fap to again.

[austinsanity]

my favorite cd as of late has got to be the new coheed and cambria "good apollo im burning star iv" that band has come a long way since the days in the jersey vfws i saw them live at the nokia center and it was friggin amazing. when i used to listen to coheed i figured it was 2 guitars and mayb some overdub to make the recording sound nice, but to my amazment its just one guy playing ALL the parts. incredibly talented songwriter/musician, worth recognizing

www.coheedandcambria.com

[Lag]

Alright! You get to read (or not) another one of my bad and boring reviews.

Vader - The Art of War

This EP is short, but awesome. Death/thrash to make your day, guaranteed. I recommend it!

Arsis - A Diamond For Disease

This EP is long for an EP, but awesome technical metal that will keep you listening for days. Recommended again!

Behemoth - Slaves Shgall Serve

This EP is awesome. Recommended

Too lazy to review whole albums. Like I'd do longer reviews anyway