Band of the Month – October 2004

Computer’s still broken. I cleaned out a clump of spyware, but the scanner’s getting stuck on something and freezes up when it gets so far, so there’s probably something bigger afoot. In any case, we’re halfway through the month, and I haven’t done the Band of the Month yet. I did change the link and picture on the sidebar though, so I clearly haven’t totally forgotten about it. So yeah, I think now’s the time.

This month’s band is good old Saliva. I’m sure most of you have heard of them. As far as I can remember, they’ve only had two big hits, with only one being overplayed on the radio, but as far as I’m concerned, they’re still a band that most people probably know of. Boy, my banter is even more annoying and senseless today, isn’t it? Well, it sounds like it as I read it back, but I’m gonna leave it that way. I’m not going to go through the trouble of trying to salvage this train wreck of a paragraph. I just don’t really have it in me. In any case, Saliva’s put out four CDs so far, and I believe that it’s the time where I briefly summarize them for youse.

First up was Every Six Seconds. An excellent CD, which I never got around to actually buying. I dunno why. I loved it, but I guess I just never saw it anywhere. In any case, the hit off this one is clearly “Click Click Boom”, which probably went unnoticed for a while, until it was used in “The Fast and The Furious”. Or at least that’s what I hear. Not sure if it got much radio time, but I personally haven’t ever heard it there. Just in movies. But that’s not the only good song on the disc. You’ve gotta take “After Me” and “Your Disease” into account too. Now that I think of it, the latter may have been a radio song. I’m not sure. I only listen to the 80’s rock radio stations. That aside, all the other songs on the CD are good too, and worth your bandwidth if you wanna give ’em a shot.

Then comes Back Into Your System. This one held their real claim to fame; “Always”. Holy hell did that song get a lot of radio time. And it’s nowhere near the best song on the CD. Not by a long shot. While this CD is a lot slower than the first, it’s probably my favorite. “Superstar II”, which is somehow a sequel to a song, is a great song to start with. Along with great tracks like “Rise Up” and the somber “Rest in Pieces”, it makes for some great listening, particularly for those who like a rollercoaster style album, with both hard rock and slower songs intertwining the whole way through.

The latest CD is called Survival of the Sickest. It’s, well, very different than the last. This CD is all about rock n’ roll. The first track, “Rock N’ Roll Revolution” sets that up pretty well, and the rest of the album follows up with it pretty well. It’s not as slow as Back Into Your System or as fast as Every Six Seconds, but it does find a perfect little niche right in the middle, and always manages to sound good. At first, I was a little on edge about some of the songs, but after listening through it, I’ve warmed up quite nicely to the different sound of the disc. Particularly “Bait & Switch” and the hidden track “Sex, Drugs and Rock N’ Roll”. It sure takes a turn from the last two albums, but in a good way.

And after a little research, I should mention that Every Six Seconds was only the first major release. Before that, they had one independent, self-titled CD. I’d never heard of this CD before now, to be honest, and I only know three songs from it, being “Beg”, “Greater Than/Less Than” and “800”. The first two because they’re also on Every Six Seconds and the third because I’d downloaded it before. In any case, fans of the band seem to like it pretty well, so I guess I’ll just have to refer you to those opinions for now.

Another notable fact is that they’ve done a few extracurricular projects too. Like the uber-popular collaboration with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback: “Hero”. If you’ve ever played… Well, I’m not sure of the year, but I think it’s “Tiger Woods 2002” or something like that, but the soundtrack is like half Saliva, and a few decent remixes too. Finally, they also recorded a song for the Daredevil soundtrack called “Bleed For Me”, which I love. On a different note, the Daredevil soundtrack seems to be quite a find itself. A little too much Evanescence for me (any is too much for me), but the rest seems pretty good. But I should get back to the topic at hand.

Or not. I’m pretty much done. I guess this band of the month feature just started off as album summaries, and has been like that up until now. There’s not a lot else I know to say about music except for pointing out songs I like. But yes, that’s going to be the end for now. I’ll do my best to get future editions done during the first week or so of the month, rather than halfway through. For now though, it’s back to trying to fix my computer. Maybe this is a sign that I should go back to using Opera instead of Internet Explorer. Well it’s worth a shot, right?

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