Monday, December 8, 2008

Gory Blister- Art Bleeds

Gory Blister- Art bleeds Yontar o meter: 90/ 100

okay yea i know their name is dumb. let's just get that out of the way. I agree with you. But man you want to talk about technical death metal in the vain of death and atheist. This stuff just reeks of early death metal, and I love the reekage. Brilliantly executed riffs, catchy, and still mighty heavy. It's pretty similar to death, but with more of a thrash influence, and the occasional dismember-ish style section, and a good deal more progressive. The musicianship is utterly remarkable, and for any musician or fan of wickedly good chops this a real must have in the metal realm. So, it's alot like a more progressive death with cleaned up modern production, but it's very very very tight, and very well done.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Kekal- 1000 thoughts of violence

Kekal- 1000 thoughts of violence, yontar o meter: 90/100

Ok so combine years of black metal experience, avant garde tangents, and industrial/electronic music and you have kekal. One of the most unique bands i know of and from indonesia. this really is great stuff and if you have never heard it pick it up. Loads of atmosphere (but very well done, and with good production values), really cool progressive songwriting, and general uniqueness make this a win in every way for me. seriously, go find it.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Subterranean Masquerade- Suspended Animation Dreams

Subterranean Masquerade- Suspended Animation Dreams Yontar o Meter: 94/100

More avant-gardeish stuff. This is closer to avant garde metal influenced stuff, pretty similar to maudlin of the well, if anyone has heard of them. But it's top notch stuff. Very well produced, very emotional artistic side of avant-garde. This is NOT mr bungle avant garde metal. This is purely expression based, and really genuine without being too extreme for most people (good thing I am not most people, cause then I wouldn't have bungle or anything similar). The musician ship is really good, and there is variety amongst the instrumentation (different percussion, horns, winds, strings etc.). Give this a try if you haven't yet. It surprised the crap out of me, hopefully it will spark something in you too.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Nile- Annihilation of the Wicked

Nile- Annihilation of the Wicked Yontar o meter 95/100

So, metal is what got me really into music, and out of the pack of brutal death metal bands nobody even comes close imo to nile or suffocation. This is my favorite Nile album because it's solid and has great production (unlike many of their old works). So, this brutal as crap. Their lyrics are based off of very deep studies in Egyptian mythology, and Egyptian mythology is brutal. Not brutal like grindcore or hxc brutal bull crap this is BRUTAL. This album will make you reconsider what heavy is. Yea, it's that heavy, and I freaking love it. Amazing musicianship, some of the fastest riffing out there, and slow sections that will make your brain go numb. Seriously if you like heavy stuff, check this crap out. NOW.

Pink Floyd- Animals

Pink floyd- Animals Yontar o meter: 91/100

When I am in the mood for spacey progressive rock, pink floyd and riverside hit the spot. Man, this album is just so classic, great soloing, great concepts. I can't say enough about. Truly beautiful alot of the time, and just so genuine. Plus, man what an awesome cover! Go check out all of their classics (the wall, wish you were, dark side). It's good. I believe it's good, and so do millions.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Frank Zappa- One size fits all

Frank Zappa- One size fits all Yontar o meter: 97/100 (holy crap this is good stuff!)

So, thanks to a friend I made here at school I delved in once again into the avant-garde and generally ridiculous world of Frank Zappa. This album in particular is freaking brilliant (many of his other albums are as well, but this one is more consistent than alot of his work, while still being completely un-commercial). From the get go there are three main influences in frank's work. Blues and Hard rock (usually together, sometimes separate), Jazz, and spastic classical music. It's like listening to Prokofiev mixed with a blues band, played by Jazz musicians inside of a giant sofa. I can't say enough about the musicianship and the arrangements, and his sense of humor is still fully intact as well. Just a blast of an album. Highly, highly reccomended.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Estradasphere- Palace of Mirrors

Estradasphere- Palace of Mirrors- Yontar o meter: 92/100

Some bands have criminally small reputations and followings. Estradasphere should be right up there with mr bungle and the fantomas in the avant garde scene, and maybe even better known than them because of their tendency for far more melodic music.

Now, obviously it is avant garde and tons of styles are covered. From the epic to the very quaint. From country and folk influenced music to things bordering prog rock and classical. It's a real adventure and the weird genre mixes are a great listen. Each player is really good and the songwriting is very accesible for being avant garde. If secreit chiefs were way less wierd and did some jamming with bungle (the california bungle) then you would be in the estradasphere area. A really great act, very talented live as well. It's Understood is also an awesome album (a 91 or so)

Thin Lizzy- Jailbreak

Thin Lizzy- Jailbreak- Yontar o meter 90/100

So, Some stuff is just completely classic and was even classic when it was released compared to the other artists of that day. Jailbreak is a testament to Thin Lizzy's perfection of blues influenced hard rock with great dual guitar leads. Good musicianship all around, good lyrics, and storytelling ability all just beef this album up even more. Every song is pretty different for being a classic rock album. You get hard rock, folky stuff, some almost funky blues sections. If ya dig the classics this is part of the cream of the crop.

I know these reviews are really basic, but um it's my blog and I like being straight up about things, when I get to metal reviews or prog rock albums maybe then I can elaborate more.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

First Review-Deadsy-Commencement

Deadsy- Commencement-Yontar o meter: 83/100

Well, this is my first review, and beware these reviews will be simple, to the point and almost always about albums i thoroughly enjoy.

Now onto commencement: This is Music that is pretty distinct. It is essentially electro-rock but it's way heavier than that with really thick walls of distortion and almost tinged with gothic attitudes. When I was 16 I loved this album and I still do. Deadsy make music that is really robotic sounding yet still sounds like it's being manipulated by humans. Around half of the tracks are more uptempo almost 80s techno pop influenced hard rock songs and the other half drudges along in thick distortion and slow tempos. They also cover tom sawyer by Rush very well in their style. Just think electro industrial hard rock and you are around deadsy area. That's it.

Link: Actually, find the link yourself ya bums. The least you can do is find the link on your own ;)