New Purchases 05-22-12 part 1

I took a trip into town and got a few new cds and the website www.divinemetaldistro.com had a nice sale so I got a few from there as well.

First off from Bestbuy I got the new Shadows Fall record "Fire from the Sky". It came with a bonus making of dvd and anyone who's read my other posts know how I love bonus dvds. The cd is pretty good. I think it's better than "Retribution" which was their last release. Even though I've given it one play through I can tell it's an all around dark record. Just look at the cover. For $10 it's not bad at all and if you get it at Bestbuy you get two bonus tracks and that dvd. I picked it up because I've always been a Shads fan. Their "War Within" was my first album I ever bought and it is a near perfect record, one of my all time favorites. I'll forever compare anything they put out to that cd and compared to "War Within", "Fire from the Sky" isn't as good. Keep in mind I've only given it one play through so I'm sure with time it will grow on me.

                                                                                     
Then I saw Megadeth's "Rust in Peace live"! It was the 20th anniversary of "Rust in Peace" and Megadeth did a tour preforming it in its entirety. They played it from front to back! That's the only way I listen to it.) Being that "Rust" is in my top five albums of all time I had to pick up the dvd, plus it was only $11. I got home and watched it right away. The sound for a live recording was amazing and so was the picture quality. I can say I'm pleased with it and I'll probably watch it again sometime. The only thing that would make it a perfect performance is if Marty Friedman and Nick Menza were back in the band. Then it would be the 1990 line up all over again.

                                                                           
Next I stopped by F.Y.E. Whenever I go there I have a bad habit of buying anything metal out of the used bin. But this time I controlled myself and bought only 1 new cd. Yea, I actually found Exodus' "Let there be Blood". I had been searching for it and I saw it and didn't hesitate picking the cd up. I've already listened to it 4 times, it's just so riffolisious haha. And Gary Holt's guitar is extremely beefy! I really like it. It's actually a re-recording of their classic album "Bonded by Blood" (I'd like to pick that up as well.). So if you like classic thrash but would like to hear it with a modern flavor to it get this album.

                                                                         
I left F.Y.E. and then found a record store(if it can be called that). It's more like a little hole in the wall. It's a small store tucked away almost out of sight. The store, Threshold Audio, sells sound equipment, used cds and vinyl and a cheap price. I picked up 6 things for under $30 so I was happy. I walked in there and I saw Rush's "2112" on vinyl sitting out so I snatched that right away. I also found "A Farewell to Kings" and got that as well. I already had these on cd but I had been wanting to get some vinyl so I could look at the art work and so I could just say, "I own vinyl." haha. Yep these are my first records and it's not a bad way to start a collection if I say so myself.
                                       Look at that, I didn't know that star was a light on water

                                                             
                                  You can't really see it here but the "king" is actually a puppet            

                                                                             
As I moved away from the extensive vinyl section and towards the limited shelf of cds I found a few good ones. First I found a Deceased cd. Let it be known I know nothing about this band. It was only $5 and unopened. The sticker on the wrapper said it was "rare out of print cd" so I figured it might be worth some more moo-la someday. It's the "Fearless Undead Machines" album. I got home and checked out a little bit about the band and found out they are a death/thrash metal band. It sounds like it would be right up my alley but I still held off on opening it. I jump on ebay and Amazon to see how much that cds going for and found used copied selling for about $7. I was a little disappointed but I still haven't opened it and I probably won't....for now at least.

                                                             
Continuing down the shelf I found Dream Theater's "Falling into Infinity"! It's their 97 release, the one before their hit "Scenes from a Memory". I adore DT so I had to get it plus it was only $4. How could I not pick it up? It's okay but not my favorite.

                                                                         
Then I saw "Rosenrot" from Rammstein. I thought I might as well get it because I liked "Sehnsucht" and I wanted to hear some more from the German industrial metal artist. I've only skimmed though it so far and I think I really have to be in the mood for that type of metal. All I'm gonna say is that it's Rammstein. I'm sure once I listen to it I'll appreciate it.
                                                                             

                                                                           
Last I got an odd ball item. Yes' 3 disc "35th Anniversary". I only knew a few songs by Yes and I primarily got it because the Dream Theater guys say that Yes influenced them in their style of playing. I wasn't expecting something like Dream Theater and I was right. It's more of a groovy prog rock band. I enjoy it for when I need some easy listening. I sure got plenty of it, 3 whole discs! I also like the name...Yes.

                                                                         
Now on to what I got at Divine Metal Distro. I don't use this sight that much unless I'm looking for a specific cd that you can't find in you're Bestbuy or F.Y.E. So the guy that runs it sent me an email notifying me that theirs this big sale going on a bunch of cds for $1.99 each. My eye lit up as I clicked on the link and scrolled down through the list of cds. They have just about any genre of metal you could want and I think the majority of it is Christian. I quickly selected a couple I had been thinking about and a few others I wanted to try out. I got Deliverance's "What a Joke". It has that nice old school feel to it. The production is low but on this cd I like it. Their are tracks ranging from 07 seconds to 7 minutes, I guess the it's true to the album name. The open track starts off with the band talking and someone says, "Alright, the label wants us to record another album let's get on it." I just find that stuff funny. Even the cover is amusing.

        

          

New Purchases 05-22-12 part 2

For some reason this blogger thing wouldn't let me type anymore in part 1 so I guess I'll finish it here.

Where was I? Oh yes I also got "Mirrors Within Mirrors" by Michael Phillips. It's a very interesting piece of work. It goes from a thrashy song then a very progressive sounding song then back to thrashy then an all acoustic song. Very very interesting and bizarre.

                                                                     
I selected "Bridging the Gap Between Heart and Mind" from I Built the Cross. Let me tell you, this is some extremely crushingly brutal Christian death metal. I think its on the edge of becoming goregrind. The technicality of it is very tasty. It opens up with a narration from a bunch of different speakers, then the roar/growl/scream comes in a furious attack from the vocalist as he shouts, "Were not going anywhere!". It get's you're blood moving. Just super brutal!

                                                                       
I wanted to check out the band Vengeance Rising so I got the album "Destruction Comes". It's thrash/death metal. I think all the songs sorta sound the same. I like the riff they use but I can't listen to it over and over and over again. If it wasn't 2 bucks I probably wouldn't have gotten it. Although they did send me some neat stickers of their other albums covers.

                                                                               
Taking a drastic step to the other side of metal I got Venia's "Victory by Surrender". It's female fronted Swedish power metal. It's okay but I don't think I'd listen to it that often. It's more of an every once in awhile album.

                                                                           
So that's everything I bought, but then I get an email from DMD saying I get to select any digital download for free. Sweet! I'm thinking I get to chose one song but as I go to the site and read further I find out I get an entire album for free. YAY! It was tough decision. I finally narrowed it down to 2 albums, one from the old school death metal band Morbid Sacrifice and the progressive Israeli band Edgend. I ended up getting the latter's album called "New Identity". It's good and true to what the description says, "Think Dio meets Symphony X.". It's better than the albums I paid for haha! Defiantly check these guys out!

                                                                             

Before I forget again I downloaded an album off of Itunes a few weeks ago and forgot to mention it here. The band Teramaze released their new album "Anhedonia" for $6 on Itunes. For those of you who don't know Teramze is a more rocky and not so progressive (Although prog elements are defiantly there) version of Dream Theater and I believe that are Christian but I am not 100% on that fact. Over all the album has some great riffs and time changes. If you like Dream Theater you might like these guys.

                                                                       
That's it for now. Until next time......Keep it Metal \m/

Additions to My Collection 05-15-12

What a surprise I went to F.Y.E. and picked up a few more cds.

Black Label Society- Mafia (Not too bad of a cd, although it did take a few listens for it to grow on me. I got this cd because it has the track "In this River". I liked that track and decided to take a chance on it.)

                                                                               
Then I found some good old fashioned Blind Guardian! I got "Forgotten Tales" which is a collection of covers (which include "Surfin' USA" and that is a pretty kickin' cover if you ask me.) and other tracks performed alternatively. It's pretty neat. Then I found "Nightfall in Middle Earth" and its a concept album based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion. I like albums that do that kind of thing, like an album that has an overall theme. "Operation: Mindcrime" being among my favorite concept albums because it's done so well. Back to the album, I haven't read the book so I couldn't tell you if it followed it or not. It does create the feeling that you are in Middle Earth and traveling on some epic adventure. Few albums have that power but this is one of them. If you like Swedish Power Metal this is a must! They also happened to have Blind Guardian Live so I figured I might as well pick it up as well, aster all it was two discs for $6. After listening to them live I think they are just as good if not better live than on the cd. Another thing that's always a plus for me is the album cover, and BG has some pretty sick covers. Just see for yourself.
                                                                Nightfall in Middle Earth

                                                             Blind Guardian Live

                                                                                         
I had to pick up something Dream Theater related so I got the only thing they had, the "Chaos in Motion" dvd. It's a two disc dvd with one disc having a bunch of songs performed around the world at different concerts and the second is a behind the scenes type of things. I haven't watched them both yet but what little I've seen I like. Luckily it was shot before Mike Portnoy left.

                                                                           
Of course no purchase is complete without some Maiden. That's right I got Iron Maiden's classic "Number of the Beast"! (I'm listening to it as I type this.) It's the first album with Bruce on vocals and it's pretty awesome! (Like all Maiden) The first track "Invaders" is to me a little bit comical. He's singing about invaders raping and pillaging but the music is happy and up beat. I laugh every time I listen to it cause I just can't take it seriously. Then It takes a more serious turn to "Children of the Damned" and the music fits the song perfectly. I'll go more in depth later on the Iron Maiden post I'm planning on doing. But now I almost have all of Bruce's Iron Maiden albums. I think I'm only missing "No Prayer for the Dying", Fear of the Dark", "Brave New World", and "Final Frontier".
                                                                          BUY IT!

                                                                     
This next one is different. My friend bought a used RED cd and turned out that someone had switched the disc. It was switched with a Lordi  disc called "The Arcokaplypse". Of course he didn't want it so he just gave it to me. I think it might be a concept album but I really have no idea. I don't even know that much about Lordi I had only heard of them before this. The music is a mix between death metal and high pitched clean vocals, really different sounding if you ask me. I think it's suppose to be funny, I mean just look at the title. It was free so I can't complain.
                                                    Oh, so that's what the cover looks like haha

                                                                         
Up next I got a classic thrash album from a band that probably no one has heard of, Onslaught. This album titled "The Force" (Nothing to do with Star Wars I assure you.) came out in 1986, the same year Slayer's "Reign in Blood". "The Force", although the production is not the best, the musicianship and riffs are way better than anything on "Reign in Blood". Why am I comparing these two albums? Well they are both thrash albums, they both came out in 1986, and......they are both "satanic" (or so they claim to be). I've listened to both "Reign in Blood" and "The Force" and I can't really say they are out right satanic. They sing ABOUT Satan but it's nothing like Black Metal where they profess their trust in him. What I thought was funny is that one song on "The Force" actually took a passage from Revelations and put it to song. They weren't slamming the Bible just singing along with it. Where "Reign in Blood" was a fast slaughter house sounding record, "The Force" mixed it up and every song actually sounds different. Each song has a unique riff and beat. You can defiantly tell that Onslaught was heavily influenced by Merciful Fate with the high pitched clean vocals they use. So if you want some good old school thrash that's not Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, or any other big named band check this out if you can find it. "The Force" isn't by far a masterpiece of thrash but  it's leaps and bounds a head of "Reign in Blood".
                                                        OH NO! Pentagram must be satanic!

                                                                                     
Finally I got Stratovarius' newest "Elysium". What can I say it's Stratovarius. Excellent Swedish Power Metal. The last album by these guys I got was "Elements Part 1" and I think that was back in 2003 when that came out. They've stayed pretty close to the same sound except maybe getting a heavy sound but that's not a bad thing at all. And the title track is an 18 minute epic so of course I love it.
                                                   

                                                                     
That's all I got this time and I think everything was used except for the dvd. I think used cds are the way to go. Anyways, until next time.......keep it METAL \m/
                                                                             

My Collection as of 05-01-12 Part 2 E-J

I had a few extra minutes on my hands so I thought I might as well add another post of my collection from where I left off.

E


Edguy- Hellfire Club (like I said in my other post, happy feel good power metal)

Exodus- Shovel Headed Kill Machine (Solid album from front to back. It's my first and only Exodus album I have and it's pretty awesome!)
                                                                     What a cover!

                                                               
F

Fear Factory- Obsolete
                      Archetype
                      Mechanize (I love how heavy FF is, but I think Mechanize is their heaviest!!! The guitar sound is so low, I think they might be using an 8 string although I'm not 100% sure. This is one of my favorite albums and I listen to it front to back almost every time.)

                                                                 
Fight- War of Words (If you've read my other posts you know how I adore Fight. This is another favorite of mine. In my opinion Fight is way better than Priest.)

                                                                     
and I have War of Words the Demos

Fires of Babylon- Fires of Babylon (one of many side projects from Rob Rock. If you know his style this won't surprise you. It's so-so for me but I'm not that big a fan of Rob Rock, I only got the album for the song "Lake of Fire" which wasn't available on itunes until recently. Cool album cover though.)

                                                             
Flyleaf- Flyleaf (I'm sure you're wondering, "What the heck, that's not metal?", and you're right but I enjoy it and it's part of my collection and it's my blog so shut up and just skim over it. Other than that, I like her vocals.)

For Today- Portraits (Excellent Christian Deathcore! If I had to pick the most Christian based band these guys and Mortification would be at the top of my list. Portraits basically tells the stories of great figures in the Bible and I REALLY like this whole album. Every song is brutal and in you're face. One of my many favorites.)

                                                                     
and their latest- Breaker (Just as brutal with the message but not as good as Portraits, but still an okay album.)

G


Green Day- Dookie (I know, they aren't metal either but they used to be good back in the day. Take this album. Its my favorite of their's and it came out in 1994.)
                   Insomniac
                   Shenanigans

H


Hope for the Dying- Dissimulation (This epic material, poetic and lots of fancy guitar work. Just very very nice.)

                                                                       

I


Iced Earth- Dystopia (My first IE album and I enjoy it. I listened to it 3 times in one day.)

                                                                     
I, the Breather- These are My Sins (Decent metalcore but without the annoying whinny vocals)

Impending Doom- Serpent Servant (Good heavy dirty sounding death metal)
                             There Will be Violence (Great heavy clean sounding death metal. Brutal from front to back!)

                                                                         
In Flames- Jester Race/Black Ash Inheritance
                  Clayman

In the Midst of Lions- Shadows (Crushing deathcore!)

(HERE WE GO! To keep this post from running on into infinity I'll try to only say a few words about the next albums. I know I'll probably have a separate post just for this artist anyways.)
IRON MAIDEN- Piece of Mind (BUY IT!)
                            Powerslave (BUY IT!)
                             Live After Death ( It's like the best of so far. BUY IT!)
                            Somewhere in Time (The underrated and over looked album. One of my favorite album covers. BUY IT!)
                            Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (BUY IT!)
                           Dance of Death (I know, what a big jump. Still, BUY IT!)
                            A Matter of Life and Death (BUY IT!)
                           Somewhere Back in Time (A best of the 80's. I as I add more to Maiden to my collection this will probably become useless to me. I bought it before I really got into Maiden's back catalog. If you are a casual Maiden listener, BUY IT!)
                            From Fear to Eternity (The best of the 90's to present. This was my first IM cd so just like the album before it I have no doubt that this will become useless to me as well. If you are a casual Maiden listener, BUY IT!)    
                         Iron Maiden being one of my absolute favorite bands will get a solo post so don't fret.

                                                             
J

Jimi Hendrix- Smash Hits (It's what it says. Pretty much the only Hendrix you need. Great Nam music as I like to call it.)
                                                      One of my favorite musicians, rest in piece

                                                                             
Just on a side note I do have his Live at Woodstock dvd. It has his awesome rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner"!

Joe Satriani- Surfin' with the Alien (interesting)

Judas Priest- Ram it Down (No metal collection is complete without some Priest. Although I don't really like Priest that much I do appreciate what they did to help move metal along. I know it isn't classic Priest like "British Steel", "Screaming for Vengeance", or "Sad Wings of Destiny" but it was free so I'm complaining.)    

That's all I have time for right now but I will finish my collection eventually. I'm finally getting to some good stuff. Until next time.....keep it METAL \m/