Additions to my collection 04-17-12

It's been a little bit over a week (and quite a few purchases) since my last post so I figured I'd better get back on here and share what I got!

             First off I got two cds in the mail from Amazon. I got Adrenaline Mob's "Omerta". I ordered this cd primarily because Mike Portony (ex drummer of Dream Theater) was on this album. I didn't know until after I read the booklet that the vocalist and guitarist from Symphony X was on this cd as well. So I thought this was going to be the best super group ever! It's not bad at all. It's not anything like DT or SX it's good work out music, a solid hard rock album. Lots of good syncopation which I love! If you're hoping it'll be progressive like Dream Theater you will be disappointed. If you get it because you wanna hear good music you'll enjoy it. On Mike Portony's presence on the album I'd say his full potential was not shown here. It's good and the drums are defiantly there and he uses them a lot but I want to hear him drum like he did with DT. Sadly those days are over.

  (Just a wee little note, this album is explicit, I didnt know that until I opened the package and saw the black and white "Parental Advisory Explicit Content". Only one song, "Feelin' Me" is explicit the rest is clean.) 

                                                                               
The next cd I got was Machine Head's latest "Unto the Locust". I know I'm a little late to the whole Machine Head party but hey, better late than never. I sure am glad I got into them. I got the "Blackening" off Itunes around Christmas last year and I really like the riffage they use. It's a shame they use the "F" bomb so much. That being said "Unto the Locust" doesn't have an "F" bomb in sight! The album is pretty good, not as good as "Blackening" but still worthy Machine Head material. Of course I had to get the special edition, it was only $5 more and it came with more art work in the booklet and a dvd of the making of. It was a short 30 minute video and I was hoping for some more content but oh well. So I'd recommend this to anyone interested in Machine Head and if you're already a Machine Head fan you should already have this because it did come out last year.

                                                               
Then a few days later I went to our local F.Y.E. and got $80 worth of cds. Yes that's right $80....I think I have a problem. So first off I found Avantasia's "Wicked Symphony". For those of you that don't know, Avantasia is a side project of the vocalist from Edguy. This album, "Wicked Symphony" has a boat load of guest musicians. Such musicians range from Symphony X to Judas Priest. Other than that it's good Swedish power metal. If you like Edguy you'll like this.

                                                                       
Finally I come across something I've been looking for...Death! Of course I mean the old school death metal band Death with the legendary Chuck Shuldiner. Words could not describe my joy upon finding the albums I had been searching for. I picked up "Human" and "The Sound of Perseverance" I would have cleaned them out of Death but all the albums were $15 dollars so I had to leave behind "Individual Thought Patterns". I'm listening to "Perseverance" as I type this. "Human" and "Perseverance" were the reissue so they both came with two discs. The second discs are a bunch of demos, live tracks, and instrumentals which are interesting to listen to. It's a shame Chuck died because it sounded like he had a lot of good innovative ideas still bottled up in his head. I liked the way things seemed to be going on "Perseverance" but alas it was their last. Every death metal band has Chuck to thank for paving the way. Rest in peace.

                                                                The great pioneer himself

                                                                       
I found Destruction's "Day of Reckoning" and I thought, "What the heck, I like the song 'The Price' so why not. I hear that are good thrash, and I love some good thrash." Well they really aren't my kinda thrash. I like a bit more technicality in my thrash and this album just didnt do it for me. Maybe I need to listen to it again but I could have passed. They did put a cover of Dio's "Stand Up and Shout" so that made it a little better.
                                                             pretty brutal cover if you ask me

                                                                  
 Then I found Edguy's "Hellfire Club". I've been looking for this album because it has the song "King of Fools" and I really liked it. It's happy feel good power metal and its pretty good front to back.

                                                                 
Now, being the metal head I am you'd think I'd have some Iced Earth in my collection. But I did not until I got "Dystopia". This is Iced Earth's latest release and I like it (man i say that a lot.) Since I haven't heard any previous Iced Earth I don't really know what to compare it to. It is power metal so I'm probably going to like it and what a surprise, I do. If you want to hear what Iced Earth is all about and if you're a noob to IE (like me) go pick it up, I enjoy it.

                                                                             
Oh yes, I stumbled upon a jewel....Liquid Tension Experiment. I'm pretty sure it's their self titled but just to be sure this cd has the 30 minute jam session called "3 Minute Warning". For the non-prog fan this will be a total turn off. This band is, or should I say was, made up of Mike Portony, John Petrucci (guitarist from Dream Theater), Jordan Rudess(now current keyboardist for DT but at the time of this recording was not) and Tony Levin on bass. I like prog, therefore I like this. I think only hardcore prog fans will appreciate this cd. I am, however, not saying I don't want other metal heads to listen to this because it is a good and different album. It was only recorded within a week! But it's all instrumental for the most part so since vocals were out of the way they didn't have to take the time to write lyrics to fit the songs. Maybe that's why they pulled it off so fast, I don't know because I have really no idea what it takes to record an album. One more thing, reading the booklet it had an interview with Mike and he was talking about how he was trying to figure out which guitar player to pick. He asked Pantera guitar legend Dime Bag but he sadly couldn't do it. Know I love John Petrucci's work and he truly is a gifted musician so I'm not slamming him when I say this. I really would have liked to hear what Dime Bag would have done with this project. I and a huge Pantera fan because of the awesome guitar work! It would have been interesting to see how he would have add his own flavor to the mixture. Plus it would have been nice to have more of his fret work in general. Too bad he's gone.

                                                                                 
Finally I get to the Kreator section and I start flipping though to see whats all there. A copy of "Coma of Souls" and "Hordes of Chaos". I knew Kreator was good but I didn't have any of their albums yet so I grabbed them right away. If you ask me I couldn't tell you which one I like more. "Coma" is classic thrash, "Hordes" is new thrash. Both are in your face Kreator from front to back and it's nice. I was lucky that "Hordes" was the special edition and it came with a making of dvd as well. But all I can say is that they are both good thrash albums, I doubt you'll be disappointed with either if you like Kreator or thrash in general.

                                                                           

                                                                                 
Well that's it all I got in the past week. It should hold me over for a while.....I hope. Until next time.....keep it  METAL \m/

My collection as of 04-14-12 Part 1 A-D

Hey all again, I'm back and this time I've decided it would be a good idea to catalog my entire cd collection since it is up to about 170. So, why not post it on here for all you to see.


A
AC/DC- Back in Black


Alice in Chains- Dirt (pretty good album if you like feeling depressed)


All That Remains- Fall of Ideas (Most of you probably know of this band from Guitar Hero II from their song "SIX". Let me just say that Fall of Ideas is solid album and you should seriously consider picking it. From front to back it's aggressive and keeps it going until the end)

                                                               


Amon Amarth- With Oden on Our Side (This probably has to be my favorite out of the albums I own by them. I'm not saying their other albums are bad but With Oden on Our Side just was more memorable for me. As all their other albums its full of all things Viking. But I'm sure you could figure that out from the title of this album)

    others from Amon Amarth- Twilight of the Thunder god (I got the one that came with a bonus live concert!)
                                              Surtur Rising  (Only adding the cover because it's just awesome)

                                                        
As I Lay Dying- Shadows are Security special edition (came with a dvd with the making of and music videos!) 
                          An Ocean Between Us (Between Shadows are Security and An Ocean Between Us it's hard to pick which one I like more. They are both great!)

                                                        
As They Sleep- Dynasties (Brutal Christian death metal here. Plus they are a conservative band, just listen to  "To the Republic" and you'll know what I mean. The whole cd is good and its an interesting to hear them sing\yell about all the different powers that rose and fell throughout history. From Egyptian kingdoms to Hitler's Reich and to our present day government. I highly recommend it.)

                                                                    
Atreyu- Lead Sails Paper Anchor (A so-so album not really my thing, I'd call it happy feel good metal. No I don't mean glam metal)


Avenged Sevenfold- Waking the Fallen (Really good album)
                                 City of Evil (Definitely my favorite by them, although I haven't heard Nightmare, this cd really does it for me. Guitar work A+, drums A+, vocals A+, bass eh can't really hear it. This is one of those cds I listen to from front to back every time. The Rev's drum work really comes out on the record and its too bad he's dead.)

                                                              
 ....and I have their self titled.... nothing really to say about that cd except PASS! Ok well the first song "Critical Acclaim" was the only one I really liked.


B
Becoming the Archetype- Terminate Damnation (This cd is REALLY good for their first release. Very melodic and a few nice breakdowns here and there. I picked up this cd at one of their concerts and it was a pretty small place just about 15 people were there but they still kicked butt! They even asked me to get up on stage and it was just AWESOME for my first metal concert ever. They are super nice guys, even signed my copy! Now since then their singer and bass left to be with his wife and little boy but they do have a new vocalist but I'm not sure about a bassist. Agian REALLY good album!)

                                                            
their second release- Physics of Fire (For me they sorta lost some steam on this one. It's still good but not as good as their first. It opens with a nice track called "Epoch of War" but then the songs seem to just melt together, they all sorta sound the same. But toward the end the song "Endure" is a nice change up and it's pretty good. If you not a real big fan like me I'd say pass and just download the two songs off of Itunes or Amazon.)


their third- Dichotomy (Now this is their jewel and one of my favorite albums ever. This is the ultimate praise and worship cd! They even do a cover of the hymn "How Great Thou Art", and a song called "End of the Age" telling about what's going to happen to God's enemies. If that song doesn't get you're blood pumping you're dead. I love this album its full of good riffs and time changes and it's a masterpiece of musical talent. Don't wait any longer add this cd to your "Need to Have" list and then go buy it!)

                                                                             
and their fourth- Celestial Completion (This is the last album with their first singer and bass player Jason Wisdom. It's very different from anything else they've done this far, it was very experimental. They even had trumpets and a little jazz breakdown in "Cardiac Rebellion". It's an okay album but not their best.)


a little note- (they did release a single called "Necrotizing Fasciitis" but it was only for download and I wasn't going to add it to this list but I'll say it is brutal old school death metal. I was hoping, since it came out between Dichotomy and Celestial Completion, that their fourth album would be old school sounding but sadly no. But maybe with their new vocalist they'll have a new direction and go that way, who knows.)

Black Sabbath- We Sold Our Souls for Rockin' Roll (Ok who doesn't have some Sabbath in their collection? It's good old fashion doom metal. This is a double cd like a best of with Ozzy on vocals. Although I prefer Dio over Ozzy it's still good, but it's Sabbath of course it going to be good.)

Bride- Snakes in the Playground 

          Oddities 

          This is It (If Guns N' Roses were Christian they'd sound like this. Pretty good band though.) 

C

Corrosion of Conformity- Blind (it has the classic "Voting with the Bullet" on there!)

  

 Creed- My Own Prison 

            Human Clay (one of their best)

            Weathered (My favorite and first rock cd I ever got, I think I was 6. I still listen to it today.)

                                                      

and their latest- Full Circle (Not bad after a long hiatus. Pretty good I enjoy it a lot)

D
Demon Hunter- Demon Hunter (This, or Mortification's "Best of Five Years" I can't remember, got me into metal! I was 11. This album was and still is awesome. It's has nice riffs and few breakdowns and stuff like that. Just really good!)

                                                      
Demon Hunter's second- Summer of Darkness (This album, while still good, wasn't as good as their first. I guess it was just their sophomore slump.)
                                   
their third-Triptych (Oh yeah, my favorite by them if not my favorite album ever! From start to finish it's stuffed with nice chugging riffs and syncopation that really gets you're blood pumping! You can tell just with a few listens that they are influenced heavily by classic metal bands such as Pantera, Prong, Testament, and Fight. The songs sound great and simple so nodding you're head along to the music comes naturally. I wish more bands did more simple songs because they rock harder! I got the special edition that came with all their music videos and interviews and it was totally worth the $16 I paid for it back in '06. I will forever compare anything that DH ever puts out to this album. I cannot say enough good things about this album. Just go and buy it NOW!)

                                                                                 
their fourth release- Storm the Gates of Hell (This album, although not as good as the Triptych it's still great. With the Triptych and Storm the Gates Demon Hunter had their golden line up as I like to say. Just like Megadeth had a golden line up with "Rust in Peace" and Metallica had the line up through "Kill 'em All"-"Master of the Puppets" DH had the "Triptych" through "Storm the Gates" line up. After Gates their lead guitarist left to drum for Reliant K and Ryan Clark's brother, Don Clark the rhythm guitarist left.
                                                               The Golden line up

                                                                    
then came number five- The World is a Thorn (it's heavy and melodic, both pluses! But just not as good as "Storm" or "Triptych". I do like the low Sepultura sounding guitar sound though and that was a nice touch to the DH sound.) 
                                                 World is a Thorn art work. It even looks heavy!

and recently # 6- True Defiance (I just got the box set and I'm pretty happy with it. But like I said before in my other post it sounds like "The World is a Thorn pt.2" That, however, is not a bad thing at all.)


on a side note DH did come out with a dvd documentary called "45 Days". It was about their 45 day tour with Living Sacrifice and a few other bands. But since it isn't a CD I wasn't going to add it to this list.


Dead Poetic- Finest


Diecast- Internal Revolution (NICE metalcore! I'm not a huge fan of metalcore but I really like this band and its a shame they haven't put out anything in awhile. The vocalist can really sing and I actually mean SING! Of course it wouldn't be metalcore without some screaming but he does that nicely as well and its not annoying like so many other generic metalcore bands. And the Breakdowns are just mind blowing but simple. Again simple is good. IR brings it from start to finish! So check them out, Diecast's Internal Revolution.)

                                                            
Dio- Holy Diver
       Last in Line 
       Dream Evil (What can i say, it's Dio....do i need to say more? RIP)


Disturbed- Sickness
                Ten Thousand Fists (Their best in my opinion, but I haven't heard Asylum, Believe or their newest album, I can't remember what it's called. And yes I'm too lazy to look it up.)

                                                       
and I have- Indestructible ( a solid follow up to "Fists" but not equal.)


Dragonforce- Ultra Beat Down (If you like fast power\Swedish metal you'll like this)


Dream Theater- Images and Words (Amazing)
                       Metropolis pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (for all you who don't know much about DT this album is  supposed to be a continuation a track off of "Images and Words" called "Metropolis pt. 1: the Miracle and the Sleeper". Pt. 2 is pretty sweet, it tells a story like Queensryche's "Operation Mindcrime" does. It's one of their best.)

                                                          
then I have- Train of Thought (One of my favorite albums. I listen to it front to back ever time. I just enjoy the 11 minute tracks they put on here plus the 14 minute "In the Name of God" track at the end is just epic. It's by far DT's heaviest album and it was my first by them. This is an album I never get tired of listening to, well I don't really ever get tired of Dream Theater because their music is so vastly different than anything else out there and it always satisfies. It helps when the the band is made up of gods, but that's a different subject entirely. I could make a whole post about nothing but Dream Theater. So anyways Train of Though, heavy melodic, progressive, different, GREAT!)

                                                                 
then- Systematic Chaos (If Train of thought  needed a follow up this is it! Although about halfway through it looses some steam it makes up for it at the end with two 15+ min tracks! It's Dream Theater so it's going to be good)


next- Dark Clouds and Silver Linings (This one opens up with "A Nightmare to Remember" a 15 min track! I got this one after "Train of Thought" and it didn't jive with me right off cause I was expecting something like "Thought" After a few listens I was glad I got it. The last track "The Count of Tuscany" is 20 minute epic! It takes your ear on a journey you won't soon forget.)


and their latest release- A Dramatic Turn of Events (This is the first record in over 25 years that the drummer hadn't been on. I heard this news and was crushed Mike Portnoy is my favorite drummer because he makes the drums feel so there. I don't know how else to put it, but he uses the whole set all the time. You may think its obnoxious but you can't say that unless you've heard him drum. It is amazing. So DT got Mike Mangini to replace MP. I got the special edition just so I could watch the drum audition and see how they picked someone to replace the master. In my opinion they should have picked someone else, but what do I know. With MP gone I held my breath while I listened to this cd. There is a BIG difference you can certainly tell the drums are not there as much as in previous albums. At first I shrugged the album off wishing Portnoy was still in there. Then I listened to it again, and again, and again. It wasn't bad, just different. I actually really like it but it's not their best. I even like some of their slower songs on this cd. James, the singer, really puts a lot of emotion into it as always. If you want something to listen to that different and new this is for you. If you've never heard any other DT albums you'll love this. Even if you are a hardcore DT fan you'll still appreciate it, but you'll still be thinking what I might have been if Portony was still sitting behind the drums)
                                                        The master Mike Portnoy

                                                                 




Ok well that's it for now. This post is long enough and I'll finish it in more posts. Don't want to give it to you all at once, gotta make you want to keep coming back for more.  So until next time.......keep it metal \m/  

Recent purchases 04-10-12

Well yesterday I dropped $75 on cds at Best Buy so I figured I'd share what I got with the masses.

First off Demon Hunter's new album "True Defiance" came out yesterday and I was lucky enough to snag a limited box set! It came with a nice metal pendant, a booklet of photos of the band, lyric cards, and a bonus dvd of the making of. I have all the DH cds now and I really like it. The album isn't as good as the "Triptych" (my fav) but it is good. For all of you who got their last release "The World is a Thorn", "True Defiance" sorta sounds like "The World is a Thorn pt 2". 6 albums in Demon Hunter is still putting out good solid stuff.

Next I saw Fight's "War of Words demos" sitting on the shelf for $5, so I couldn't pass that up. I love Fight and I think they are WAY better than Judas Priest. I'm not knocking Priest but I could really careless about them. But back to Fight, these Demos are really raw sounding compared to the final "War of Words" release. But for $5 you get all the tracks of "War of Words" plus some unreleased tracks, 16  tracks in all. Its a shame this band only put out 2 cds, them being "War of Words" and "A Small Deadly Place" (the latter I still have to get.)  

Moving on down the limited selection of cds I stopped at the "I" section. I bet you know what I saw. If you guessed Iron Maiden you were correct! Last time I was here they didn't even have Maiden, but this time it was FULL! To make things even better they were all $10! usually they were $15 and up. So in my excited state I start pulling  all the albums I don't have by them. Both Di'anno albums, "Number of the Beast" "Powerslave", "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", and "Final Frontier". Of course I couldn't have ALL of them so I had to decide. I ended up getting "Powerslave" and "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son". Next time, I'll make an all Maiden run and snag the others. Now my Maiden collection is a decent size, nothing huge. But that is a different topic. So "Powerslave" and "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" $10 a piece totally worth it!

Finally I get to the "M" section. Well I bet you won't guess what band I was looking for. Nope not Metallica or Megadeth.... it was Meshuggah. "What??", you may say. Haha yep I got their last album "Obzen" from Half Price Books (one of my fav places to find new bands for cheap!) of $5 and I liked it. So their new album "Koloss" came out last month I think and I figured I'd try it out. I'm not sure if it's still available but the song "Break those Bones Whose Sinews Gave them Motion" (I know, what the heck?) is free on itunes and it's one of the best tracks off the album. Of course I had to splurge and get the $20 package that came with a dvd that has the making of and a 30 minute video of the band running all over India playing shows. Overall its an okay album. If you know Meshuggah you know that they have these crazy time signatures and awesome syncopation throughout the songs, especially on "Obzen" but on "Koloss" not as much. On "Obzen" each song stood out because they all had different beats. On "Koloss" a few song like the one I mentioned above (yes I'm too lazy to retype it), "Do Not Look Down", and "Demiurge"  had some decent changes throughout the song but I think overall the "Koloss" could have used more. If you a fan get it but if you're like me (I'm not that into them) just download the songs I mentioned. Haha I could have saved my money and got two more Iron Maiden albums....Darn it. Well, at least I can add it to my collection of cds. 

Until next time......keep it METAL \m/

First off...

Hi all (if anybody is reading this) I really like Heavy metal, all the genres...except black metal. So because of my love and unhealthy addiction to it I thought I figured I'd start a blog about it. This is my first blog and I really don't know how everything works so this be my crash course in blogging. (yes that was a nerdy reference to Metallica's cover of Cash Course in Brain Surgery). See, you can already tell how big of a Metal head I am. So, I'm just doing this for fun because I have to have an outlet for all this metal info stuck in my head! I'll post what ever I feel like, weather its what I'm listening to, what cd I just bought (yes i'm old school and I like to have the REAL cd in my hands.) or anything else that has to do with METAL MUSIC. So stick around and book mark this page so you can see what I'm listening to and you never know, you might find your new favorite band. I'm always searching for a new band, so you all get to tag along for the journey.
Until next time......

.....keep it METAL  \m/