Music – Page 13

I’m ready to go off

Time for a very quick Band of the Month post. Why quick? Because I really can’t come up with a band that I want to yap about but haven’t covered in the past. Maybe I’ll have to start renaming bands? Nah. I’ll just have to go outside my favourites, I guess.

Anyway, this month is a total cop-out. I’ve selected the Matthew Good Band as BotM for February, but I already did pretty good coverage of them back in October of oh-five when I gave Matthew Good the title. It’s understandable then that there isn’t much else to elaborate on.

I guess if there’s anything to say that I haven’t said on that page or in the (poorly-kept) CD archive, it’s that the MGB was the first band I really got into. Van Halen was the first rock band that I ever listened to by choice, but MGB completely enraptured me. Good’s solo career continues to keep me interested, and I’ve listened to his latest release, Hospital Music, no less than 30 times since I bought it. What can I say? He’s a frickin’ genius.

That’s really all I’ve got to say today. And hey, it’s 4:30 in the morning on a Sunday. Give me a break. I should have been asleep like forever ago.

matthewgood.org

Wikipedia entry on Matthew Good Band

Buy Beautiful Midnight

Buy The Audio of Being

So perfect, so happy

Whoo. I don’t want to jinx it, but 2008 has already been way better than 2007 ever was. It’s got a long way to go to keep that title, but considering all the horrible crap I had to suffer through last year, it shouldn’t be too hard. Oh, and we finally get Brawl, so 2008 FTW.

Complainey pants aside, it’s a new month, and that means it’s time for me to blab on shortly about a band that I like. We’ll start 2008 off right, with a band that is made up of neither cartoon characters nor 50-plus-year-olds. That band is Rise Against, and honestly, I don’t know a whole lot about them so this should be short.

I’d heard of the band a couple years ago when The Tall One started listening to them, but never really caught on myself. It wasn’t until late last year when Guitar Hero 3 was released, that I decided to look more into the band. Their song “Prayer of the Refugee” appears as a bonus track in GH3, and it quickly became one of my favourites to play, despite some tricky chords. The next step was obviously to go and check out some of their other music, and that was a realy good idea. I downloaded their most recent CD, The Sufferer and the Witness and I can’t think of any other word to describe it than “exemplary”. It’s truly a great CD; all the songs are great, and there’s plenty of distinction between each. The lyrics are inspired and paint vivid pictures, and some of them might even make you think. It’s great stuff, and I have since bought a legitimate copy. Because that’s what people do when they like things.

I guess one of the things that really drew me into Rise Against is that they remind me of Story of the Year. SotY struck me right away, and they remain one of my favourite bands (anxious for that third album), and I guess that the similar styles and themes between the two bands kind of gives Rise Against an extra push towards my favour. The song “Bricks” actually reminds me a lot of Bad Religion too, and I like to believe that’s a pretty high compliment. It’s short but it’s pretty awesome.

That about all I have to say. It’s not the end though! I’ve taken the liberty of putting an MP3 here for you to download and enjoy. It’s called “The Approaching Curve” and it stands out from the rest of the tracks on The Sufferer and the Witness because the “verses” are all spoken. It’s a pretty cool song, one of those ones that really encourages you to pay attention to the lyrics. Good stuff.

Official Rise Against website

Wikipedia entry on Rise Against

Buy The Sufferer and the Witness

Delicious and free

I told you back when I reviewed the Sons of Butcher’s first album that there was another one floating around there too. Guess what today’s post is about.

When we look at Meatlantis here, I could pretty much sum it all up right away. See, you can just take the general parts of the review of the first album and past theme here. The materal is very similar, maybe a bit harder. A lot of the songs lack proper context, and it’s even more apparent on this CD (why is Doug singing about needing an arm?), so people who don’t watch the show might be confused. Then again, I can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t watch the show would ever think to listen to the CD. Actually, those are really the only particularly similar things about the two CDs, so I guess I’m going to have to go into more detail.

Meatlantis offers a few “upgrades” over its older brother: most notably, the length. The disc contains 17 tracks this time around, and most of them reach around three minutes as opposed the the ones on the first album which often struggled to reach two. The newest version of Winamp is a dick and won’t tell me how long the entire disc it, but I think it clocks in at around 45 minutes, which is short for a 17-track disc, but a large improvement over the 20-minute debut album.

Sons of Butcher featured a couple bookend tracks, but they didn’t offer much, being mostly screaming and various sond effects over guitars. Meatlantis also offers bookend tracks, only this time they’re completely awesome songs called “Meatlantis” and “Meatlantis (reprise)”. Essentially two versions of the same song, but it’s got some of the most wonderful lyrics I’ve ever heard. And not wonderful as in “smart” or “thoughtful”, but wonderful as in “Meatlantis sounds like the greatest place ever”. They’re transcribed in full on my Facebook page under my favourite quotes, so check that out if you’d like to read them.

To be honest, I’m kind of running low on things I want to say. The songs are mostly just as fun as the ones on the first CD, but of course there are a couple tracks that aren’t as awesome as the rest. Most are great though, and they’re great to sing along to. The lyrics are tought to find on the internet, but not too tough to figure out on your own. “The Ultimate Drinkin’ Song” being at the top of the list of fun ones to sing along to. I really just wish the SOBs would appear in a Guitar Hero game so I could play along (because I still cannot play a real guitar). It’s a pipe dream because nobody outside of Canada has ever heard of the show, but I’d be ecstatic if, say “Party’s On” or “Razors” were to appear on a GH track list some day.

OH! And there’s a hidden track on Meatlantis. It is a hilariously graphic about… well, I’ll let you find and listen to it yourself if you really want to know. And as hilarious as it is, you probably don’t.

That about covers that then. Recommend it? Totally. Again, you’ll probably have to order it online, because regardless of what HMV’s website says, they don’t carry it. Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and similar retail locations are even more of a dead-end. But ordering it online is great because you get the free air freshener! Also, SOB plushies are now for sale on the official website, and they’re shooo cute! The stock is currently sold out though, so my dream of owning a Sol plushie will have to wait until another day…

You will burn in Hell

One of the things I’ve always liked about the Guitar Hero franchise is that it’s an easy way to get into new bands. Sure, they only get one track a game, but it’s still a good starting point. The bonus tracks are great for finding your way into the world of non-mainstream music, and I feel proud of myself when a song from a band I listen to shows up in the bonus songs. Makes me feel like I maybe have taste.

Anyhow, one of my favourite songs to play in Guitar Hero 3 is Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia”. The fourth song in the seventh set, it’s not a terribly hard song, but the first half is built for people like me who played the Hell out of “Misirlou” in GH2, and the second half meant to break your strumming wrist. It’s tons of fun though! I only recently got my five stars on it, and I’ve only felt that level of satisfaction when I got my five-star on “Psychobilly Freakout” (on hard). I imagine finishing “Raining Blood” will evoke a similar sentiment, but that’s something I’m just going to have to keep dreaming about.

The point I’m slowly getting to here is that I went out and picked up Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations on a whim one day, because I like “Knights of Cydonia” that much. To tell the truth, it’s one of those things that kind of proves the “know what you’re buying” adage I usually follow.

This isn’t to say that it’s a bad CD though. After listening to it a few times, most of the songs grew on me, but I’m pretty sure that if I’d downloaded it first I never would have shelled out the cash for it. That would be a shame too, because there are a couple other songs I really like on the disc. “Take A Bow”, the opening track, isn’t very musically complex, but it’s got a lot of power to it and I quite enjoy the simple yet decisive direction it takes. “Starlight” is a song I’d heard before somewhere, and I really didn’t like it. Turns out wherever it was I heard it didn’t have a sound system that does the song justice, because listening to it over a decent system revealed that there’s a lot to like about it, the thumping baseline and the surge of guitars in the choruses being the big ones. “Soldier’s Poem” and “Invincible” remind me of Hawksley Workman (that’s a good thing) and “Assassin”‘s metal roots and killer drum highlights make it totally awesome.

In conclusion, while I might have passed it over if I hadn’t been immediately commited to it, I can’t imagine having missed out on Black Holes and Revelations. Featuring a decent array of musical styles and often poignant lyrics, it’s a disc I would love to recommend to everyone. The problem is that the range of styles might turn some off, and they’ll give up on the album before reaching its finale. Oh well, I recommend it anyway. On a last note, I have no idea why, but it seems to me like a CD that smart people would listen to.

Come to me in a dream

I chose Dethklok to be this month’s Band fo the Month, even though by most definitions they aren’t a real band. All the work is essentially done by two guys, and credited to five cartoon characters. The band behind it may be fake, but the music is real and in fact, The Dethalbum is the highest charting extreme metal album ever. Not too bad for cartoons. But! Dethklok isn’t the only band of its kind.

Indeed, the Sons of Butcher are also a band based on a cartoon, the biggest difference between them and Dethklok being that the main characters from Sons of Butcher are (based on) the people that actually write and play the music, so the band can tour to promote both their show and their music. The SOBs have been around for two seasons, and they aren’t currently scheduled for a third, but hopefully the rabid fan demand for more will change that. Anyway, with both seasons of the show have come corresponding CDs. Their eponymous debut album is what we’re going to be looking at today.

Sons of Butcher is a pretty fun CD, but has one glaring flaw. Obviously enough, the bulk of the material present is pulled directly from the show. The songs are extended and fleshed-out as compared the the snippets that appear in the show, but still end up being rather short, the longest track clocking in at 2:28. Having twelve tracks and only ten real songs (the CD begins and ends with filler tracks), it’s pretty damn short. Just over 20 minutes, to be precise.

On the upside, most of the tracks are enjoyable in some respect. Most of them are hilarious if you know the context (they’re almost all written about situations in the show), and a few are funny on their own. Of course, it’s an off-humour, so unless you find a song about, ahem, going “in through the out hole” funny, maybe it’s not going to be quite up your alley. On the other hand, the music itself is of good quality, especially considering that it’s from a TV show. The various riffs and baselines are respectable and have some level of integrity to them. Ricky’s solos are pretty wicked too, and fit the party rock/light metal tone of the CD really well. Being that none of the main characters are drummers, the drums remain somewhat neglected on most tracks, and for the majority of the time are just there to help keep the rhythm and make the sound complete.

So yeah. Sons of Butcher is a realy cool album, and I recommend it. It’s not quite as epic as going to see the SOBs live would be (as I’ve heard), but a good bit of merch for the fans anyway. If you order it off the official website, Sol, Ricky, and Doug will autograph it and send you a free meat-shaped air freshener too (comes with every order!), so that’s probably the best way to procure it (that and the only music store in my area that carried SOB goods closed down a while ago). If you’re thinking about checking out one of my recommendations, I’d probably say to look for The Dethalbum first, but that’s only because Sons of Butcher suffers from being incredibly short, and the fun ends way too soon.

Live there, die there

If you’ve yet to experience Metalocalypse, I highly suggest you expose yourself to it as quickly as possible. Monday nights on Teletoon, and God knows when on Cartoon Network (I don’t get the channel). It’s a Brendon Small production, so right there you should have a good idea of whether or not you’ll like it. It’s not quite as brilliant as Home Movies, but it’s hilarious and the members of Dethklok are some of the most lovable characters I’ve seen in ages. The first season DVD was also released in mid-October, so maybe just go out and buy that. The special features alone are totally worth it.

Since the show is about a band, it’s completely understandable that they would make at least one CD to cash in on the franchise even more. Dethklok’s debut album seems like so much more than an easy cash grab though. It’s a full-length CD, with complete versions of a bunch of the songs featured in the show, as well as a couple new ones. We can only hope that subsequent seasons of the show result in follow-up albums. Sadly, I do not own a legitimate copy of the album, as not one retailer in my vicinity stocks the damned thing. It’s possibly the world’s greatest injustice. I’ll buy it online eventually, but until that day… illegal MP3s are all I have.

Blah, but enough about loosely-related things. How about the actual music? Well, it’s most definitely metal. I actually intend to do a complete review of the disc, so I won’t go into too much detail here. I will say that from the day I downloaded it to the day I lost my car, it’s all that I listened to while driving. That should probably say enough. If not, you know the song “Thunderhorse” in Guitar Hero 2? Well, it’s on the Dethalbum, only it kicks so much more ass you wouldn’t believe it. I think I mentioned so in the past. I think I may have also posted an MP3. There are a couple songs that don’t quite measure up to par, but overall it’s a fantastic CD, and the bonus disc that comes with the special edition (pictured) is gravy.

So yes. If you like the show, you probably already own this CD. If not, what the hell is wrong with you? To anyone who hasn’t seen Metalocalypse, I reiterate my point of “check it out now”. Beneath all the blood and metal is some rather inspired satire. Also, jokes. The CD carries on most of those elements too, so yeah. Get it.

Metalocalypse on [adult swim]

Buy The Dethalbum

Buy Metalocalypse Season One

Taste the steel

I think I’ll just let a video do the talking for this one.

But seriously. I’m not a huge metal fan, but I fell for DragonForce real fast-like. In sharp contrast to most fans’ opinions, I think I like the vocals the best. The lyrics -at least thematically- are more or less the same in every song, but I just totally love to sing along to DragonForce more than any other band. Try them out.

One thousand hearts bleeding

Errr, so have you playerd Guitar Hero III yet? It’s like… awesome.

Everything about Guitar Hero III is excellent. The presentation was a little too much for me at first, but it’s grown on me. Playing online is totally awesome, because I can play against someone without actually socializing, and battle mode is twice as fun as anything else. The track list is maybe not as wonderful as that of the impending Rock Band, but it’s still absolutely great. “Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll” (Blue Oyster Cult), “Stricken” (Disturbed) and “Closer” (Lacuna Coil) are my personal favourites. I don’t think I’ll ever finish the game though, because I’ll probably never be able to beat “Raining Blood”.

If I have to lobby any complaints against it, I hate the fact that they dropped my two favourite characters, Pandora and Eddie Knox. I was almost ready to boycott the game for that one, but Casey Lynch has a sweet lookin’ leather getup this time around, so I’m willing to forgive. I’ll never forget though. Also, Bret Michaels isn’t in the Wii version. It makes no difference at all, it’s just one of those WTF things.

In the end, it’s all good. If anyone reads this and has the Wii version, I’m more than willing to take you on. Just send me an e-mail and we’ll set it up for me to destroy you. At “Through the Fire and the Flames”. I haven’t lost at it yet. Nobody’s even come close.

It’s all yours

Hey hey hey. Band of the Month time. And this month’s band is a little group called Letterkills. I actually wrote a reivew of their CD, The Bridge, almost two years ago now, so maybe check that out for more info on that CD. It’s also got a small paragraph detailing how I started listening to the band, so I guess I don’t need to repeat that story here either…

Ummm… That’s really their only CD, so there isn’t much more to say. They don’t seem to have a real website, and their MySpace just has songs from The Bridge. Wow. Guess I’m done here then. Recommendation is clearly implied by the fact that they’re the Band of the Month.

Murder? Check.

I went out after work today to find some stuff. Stuff to buy. The main object of my quest was Dethklok’s album, The Dethalbum. I did not find it. This is bad. My parents got me the soundtracks for the first two (original) Star Wars movies for Christmas like ten years ago, but never got me the Jedi soundtrack. Today, after years of searching, I found it. This is good. I finally got around to watching Resident Evil: Apocalypse last night. It was a little silly at some points, but overall I liked it, and decided I wanted to purchase the first RE movie. I could not find it though. This is bad. However, I was marginally surprised that Corner Gas Season 4 had snuck into stores without me noticing. This is good.

Um, I guess the moral of this story is that I really want The Dethalbum. I have it downloaded (two copies, actually), but it’s a CD I kind of need to own. Have you heard the album version of “Thunderhorse”? It’s like a billion times more metal than the watered-down version that’s on Guitar Hero 2. But I’ll warn you though, not just anybody should listen to it, because I’m pretty sure that it’s so brutal that it will literally kill anyone who’s not awesome enough. Oh, what the Hell? Fuck copyrights, here, download it. And now that I’ve done you that favour, do me one and go buy The Dethalbum. Maybe if I can convince people to buy it, nobody will sue me for putting that song there.

Oh, and if you’ve never heard of Dethklok… yeah…