God Lives Underwater - Life in the So-Called Space Age

It’s been quite a while since I’ve listened to this album…I’d forgotten how good some of these songs are.
This album gave God Lives Underwater their only “serious” hit: From Your Mouth. This song got fairly serious airplay for about a year before God Lives Underwater vanished from the public consciousness.
Part of the reson for thir disappearance may be the overall flow of this album. It starts oyt pretty energetic, but quickly starts to bog down. By the end of the album, you’re listening to a bizarre, extremely repetetive ambient techno piece.
This album’s worth picking up cheap, if only for the first handful of songs. Just be careful - it gets pretty dull before long.

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

Ahhhh…Good ol’ Type O. Among metal bands, only they would cover a song from Hedwig and the Angry Inch…and it’s done in Type O s Classic Gothadelic style.
I was fortunate enough to see Type O Negative in concert twice afer this album. The first time, when they had Lacuna Coil opening, the concert was awesome. I went home exhausted, deaf, and a little battered. (I keot falling into the mosh pit).
The seonc time, though - co-headlining with Cradle of Filth, with Moonspell opening, was EPIC! Not only was the entire bill awesome, Type O successfully “bazinga’d” the audience: Normally, when the house lights come down before Type O tale the stage, the audience starts chanting, “You Suck!” (it’s a tradition - I’ll tell you more about it when we get to “O”). About 2 or 3 “you sucks” into the chant, a rotating red light comes on, and the theme from “COPS” starts playing. While the audience laughed, the band took the stage, bedecked in orange jumpsuits.
Welcome to the strange world of Type O Negative.

Korn - Life is Peachy

This is definitely the weakest album that Korn has ever produced. I know that I liked it at the time (I did buy it, after all), but now…not so much.
Admittedly, I did like A.D.I.D.A.s. when I was a teenager, but it;s that kind of song. It’s the kind of thing that appeals to an adolescent. The rest of the album feels like Korn focused too much on the visceral sound, at the cost of style.

KMFDM - Light (single)

Best. Single. Ever.
This single contains 9 different versions of the song Light. None of these nine tracks is the album track. Ironically, it’s the fact that it’s the same song nine times that makes this single so great. These nine versions of Light are just different enough that you don’t ever get bored with it.
Now that’s skill.

Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment

Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment II

Liquid Tension Experiment started as a side project by Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy. Three quarters of this band would end up being members of Dream Theater - Jordan Rudess and John Petrucci also played in LTE. Because of this, bits of LTE songs are often incorporated into Dream Theater concerts.
Interesting fact: Dimebag Darrell was invited to take part, but he was not able to due to schedule conflicts. Too bad…
This music is nearly all instrumental, which is extremely awesome. When you let a bunch of top-quality musicians rock together like this, the sky is indeed the limit.

Patrick Doyle - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (soundtrack)

John Williams - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (soundtrack)

What a difference a change in composer makes!
Right off the bat, I notice a distinct change in tone from last week. Goblet of Fire has a much more dramatic sound than Sorcerer’s Stone. To be fair, Goblet of Fire is also a much more dramatic story than the previous installments, which were a bit more whimsical. The whimsical side is still there - the story isn’t nearly as dark as it will become, but even these passages seem to be a bit more expressive.
Then there’s Dance Like a Hippogriff, This is the Night, and Magic Works. You remember - from the band that performed at the ball. I quite Dance Like a Hippogriff. It reminds me of the goth music that was coming out in the 90s. The other two songs, I just can’t get into. They’re not necessarily bad, but they’re also not very interesting.

William Shatner - Has Been

Here we have one of the crown jewels of my Guilty Pleasures collection. I say “one of” because I actually do own both of Mr. Shatner’s albums. We’ll get to the other one in a few months…today, we focus on the newer one.
The second thing that drew me to this album (the first being that it’s Shatner) was the fact that he did a duet with Henry Rollins. I’ve been a Fan of Henry’s for some time now, and the idea of him working with William Shatner was just way too strange for me to pass up. I would later discover that this is exactly why Henry did the song in the first place.
This album has an undeniable sense of style to it. Shatner’s delivery is still “spoken word,” but without the…melodramatic delivery…that…screams…Shatner! There’s also the fact that the backup music doesn’t sound like the soundtrack to an episode of Star Trek (Go on, listen to his first album - you’ll see what I mean). Imagine an independent (read: unrestricted by record company control) rock album with Shatner just…being Shatner over it. Yeah, it’s that cool.

KMFDM - Hau Ruck

Any song with the lyrics “The beatings will continue…Until morale improves” is OK in my book. The song in question is Free Your Hate, the lead track from “Hau Ruck.”
As I’ve come to expect, KMFDM have produced a very energetic, techno-industrial slab of awesome. One thing that stands out on this album is the female vocals - they’re delivered in the same manner as Sascha’s vocals. This is very interesting - I like it.
Hmm…this is interesting. Two days in a row, I find myself listening to songs with electric chair-related samples in them. Today, it’s Professional Killer; Lat time, it was Vond’s My Dying Day. Creepy…

Slayer - Haunting the Chapel

I’d like to say right away that Tom Araya belting out a Neil Turbin-esque (Anthrax) wail in the middle of Chemical Warfare is nuts. 99% of the time, Tom’s just bellowing into the mike…that wail makes you go “wha?!?!” Well done, sir!
Being Slayer’s second release, this EP sounds pretty raw. Despite (perhaps because of) its unpolished sound, “Haunting the Chapel” delivers an excellent thrash metal experience. The speed and complexity of heavy metal…the raw, naked rage of punk rock…you can clearly see the roots of thrash coming together here.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Have Another Ball

Um…I didn’t realize that this was still on here. I grabbed this album from the Wife’s collection ages ago. I thought I’d removed it after listening to it. Guess not.
Me First and the Gimme Gimme’s are a punk rock cover band - they take distinctly non-punk songs and cover them in a punk-rock style. Unfortunately, these songs lack any kind of character - one sounds the same as the next - completely uninteresting.

Dark Tranquillity - Haven

This was my first Dark Tranquillity album. I remember seeing the CD at the store and thinking “Hmm…I seem to remember really liking one of their songs from one of those ‘Identity’ compilations.” I thought about it for a few minutes, then decided to take a chance and buy it.
This little excursion took place during a lunch break. By the time I was done working for the day, I was very glad that I’d made this purchase - I LOVE this album! My favorite thing about Dark Tranquillity is the way they use the harsh vocal style normally found in death or black metal while eschewing the frenetic pacing that is found in the same genres (replacing it with a much more melodic flow). The end product is…unusual, to say the least.

Carcass - Heartwork

I bought this album in the strength of a single song (something I just don’t do these days). I saw the video for Heartwork on the Headbanger’s Ball, and something about it just grabbed my attention. It wasn’t long after that I picked up a copy of “Heartwork” on cassette (I didn’t have a CD player at the time).
I like this album - Carcass defy the various subgenres under the “heavy metal” umbrella - black metal style vocals, instrumental passages that fluctuate between death and thrash metal…there’s a lot going on here. This is, of course, why I still listen to this album.

Thursday was a very busy day for me. That’s why I’m just getting around to Thursday’s post now (it’s Saturday). I didn’t post this yesterday, because yesterday was just an extremely unpleasant day.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (soundtrack)

A three act comedy musical written by Joss Whedon and starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion. This had “win” written all over it from the start.
A tale of inept heroes and blogging villains, foiled plots and love in a laundromat, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along blog is fantastically awesome. The music is half the show, and my personal favorites are Everybody’s Heart (Love the use of counterpoint) and Brand New Day. Honestly, though - the whole thing is great. If you haven’t experienced Dr. Horrible yet…what’s stopping you?

Ego Likeness - Dragonfly

Hmmm… How does one properly describe Ego Likeness? They sort of flow along, sometimes showing a “new wave” influenced sound, other times a more neo-classical sound. Unusual, experimental, maybe even a bit avant-garde, Ego Likeness is certainly a sonic experience worth your time.
I first encountered Ego Likeness via my fondness for inexpensive compilations, but what really made me take notice was seeing them perform live. About a year ago, Ego Likeness opened for Voltaire on his “Maiden Voyage” tour. I really enjoyed their performance, and was fortunate enough to meet them after the show. Long story short, I left that night with an autographed CD (not this album, though).

String Quartet Tributes - Dream Theater

Another gem from the “String quartet Tributes” series. Back when these CD’s first came out, it seemed that just about everybody was getting the String quartet treatment (I know that my wife and I certainly bought a lot of them). Unfortunately, a lot of these tributes turned out to be pretty uninteresting. Dream Theater was not one of these.
Dream Theater’s music is complex enough that it can be carried well by a string quartet. This, of course, comes as a surprise to nobody - Dream Theater are giants in the progressive rock genre for a reason. Songs like As I Am and Ytse Jam weave a rich sonic tapestry that is perfect for this kind of baroque arrangement.

The Cruxshadows - DreamCypher

Another band that I discovered through a friend, the Cruxshadows are another genre bending group. Part electro-industrial, part goth, part new wave… Imagine Skinny Puppy meets The Cure. That’s not quite it, but you’re headed in the right direction.

Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black

Once again, we hear from Seattle’s progressive power thrash masters. “Dreaming Neon Black” is a concept album. It tells the story of a man’s slow descent into madness after the death of his girlfriend.
This is a more emotionally charged album than previous Nevermore releases, featuring slower, ballad-like passages and a greater range of vocal stylings (the title track contains examples of both). The emotionality of this album is because it’s loosely based on a true story. According to Wikipedia,

…(singer Warrel) Dane’s old girlfriend left him when she joined a religious cult and was never heard from again, and he began having nightmares of her crying out to him as she drowned.

KMFDM - A Drug Against War (Single)

KMFDM are, without a doubt, the most prolific bunch out there. Every time I turn around, there’s another KMFDM single, EP, or album, and they’re always worth it.
This one is relatively short - three versions of A Drug Against War and Blood. The “overdose mix” of A Drug Against War isn’t really all that different from the original, but the “Hookah Mix” does change it up nicely.

Ra - Duality

I picked this one up cheaply when a music store went out of business. I have no idea why I picked it out - something about it just said, “Buy me.” What I acquired that day was a better than average hard rock album. Good, but not actually great. As I listen, I find myself repeatedly thinking of Breaking Benjamin.
Not bad, but not really all that interesting, either.

Dust For Life - Dust For Life

I bought this album back in the days of MTVX.
For those of you who didn’t know, back at the dawn of the 21st century, MTV had two “sub-channels” available in digital cable packages. There was MTV2, which played music videos (they were already purging all traces of music from the main channel), and MTVX, which specialized in rock and metal music videos. Alas, MTVX was doomed to a very short life - it was killed in 2002 to make way for MTV Jams.
Anyway, back to Dust for Life. Seed received pretty significant airtime on MTVX, and it grew on me. The overall sound of this album is a sort of post-grunge hard rock. There are echoes of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains throughout - historically speaking, this album is an excellent illustration of the transition from the grunge of the 1990s to the still dark, but less sludgy hard rock of the ’00s.

Murray Gold - Doctor Who (Soundtrack)

How cool is this? I got to start my day with the theme from Doctor Who!
This is the soundtrack from the first two seasons of the revived Doctor Who - Christopher Eccleston’s season, and David Tennant’s first season. The music is like the Doctor; sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical, and always entertaining.

Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle

It’s time for another dip in the Guilty Pleasures vault. This time, we’re listening to the mid-nineties gangsta rap anthem Gin and Juice. Right about now, some of my friends are undoubtedly beginning to question my sanity.
That’s ok, because I’m “Laid back…with my mind on my money and my money on my mind.”

Morbid Angel - Domination

In our daily quest for musically induced psychological whiplash, we shift directly from a hip-hop drinking song to the grinding death metal of Morbid Angel. Right about now, even people who don’t know me at all are undoubtedly beginning to question my sanity.
There’s an interesting story about this album relating to the packaging. Originally, a special edition “slime pack” was planned Where the Slime Live was the video for this album). Unfortunately, it was never released, as several packs leaked, and the “slime” was found to be toxic.
This may just be an urban legend, but it sounds so…appropriate.

Various Artists - Don’t Blow Your Cover: A Tribute to KMFDM

This is a particularly interesting tribute, considering the genre we’re looking at. Industrial music is known, in part, for the proliferation of remixes. KMFDM, in particular, have been remixed with great frequency. The single for Light, for example, contained 18 distinct remixes of the title song (We’ll look at this single in a couple months).
Undoubtedly, this provided an extra challenge to the artists - cover a KMFDM track in such a way that it doesn’t sound like another of the hundreds of remixes out there, yet is still recognizable. This challenge was met triumphantly - this is a fitting tribute to KMFDM.
I wonder - do tribute albums count as compilations? Should they get the same “Supplemental Post” treatment? Comments, please - what do you think?

KMFDM - Don’t Blow Your Top

This was an unusually smooth transition…from a KMFDM tribute to KMFDM themselves.
This is one of the earliest albums from KMFDM, and it has a more minimal sound than their more recent releases. The songs on this album are mostly comprised of synths and samples, with percussion provided by a drum machine. There are songs here (King Kong Dub Rubber Mix, for example) that seem to point in the direction that KMFDM would eventually go; with a greater guitar presence and a heavier sound.

Green Day - Dookie

It’s funny; when “Dookie” first hit, it was decried as some kind of artificial punk rock. What’s funny about this is the current crop of what I refer to as “bubblegum punk” - bands like Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy, who make Green Day sound positively hardcore.
To be fair, “Dookie” is considerably more polished that most “standard” punk rock. It does, however, remain true to the straightforward musical simplicity that is one of the hallmarks of the classic punk sound. Green Day is best understood as the next evolution of the Ramones school of punk - simple, fun, and fast (as opposed to the Sex Pistols school, which is considerably more raw and angry).

Marvin the Paranoid Android - The Double ‘B’ Side

It’s time to let my geek flag fly.
In case you didn’t know, Marvin the Paranoid Android is a pivotal character from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He’s a phenomenally depressed robot, largely due to the nearly infinite difference between the intelligence that he possesses (he has a brain the size of a planet) and the intelligence necessary to perform the tasks required of him (parking cars, for example).
In the radio plays and the BBC TV series, Marvin was voiced by Stephen Moore, who also performs as Marvin on these two tracks, both of which provide additional reasons for Marvin’s perpetual misery.
Marvin, I Love you tells the tale of a long lost and nearly forgotten love, while Reasons to be Miserable is exactly what it sounds like - a list of things that make Marvin miserable.

Austrian Death Machine - Double Brutal

If you’ve never heard of Austrian Death Machine (I only heard of them recently), you’re about to be introduced to a very, very strange band. Imagine, if you will, an Arnold Schwarzenegger themed thrash/death metal band. Every song is based on one of Der Governator’s movies: I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots, and Your Motorcycle, Come on Cohaagen, Give Deez People Ehyar… There are also some hilarious vignettes featuring “Ahhnold” (session guitarist Chad Ackerman).
“Double Brutal” is, as the title implies, a double CD, with the second disc dedicated to covers of Judas Priest, Metallica, and other heavy metal masters. Ahhhnold is, of course, ever present. These videos are best enjoyed in order:

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

I think it can be argued that this is the album that made Trent Reznor’s career. “Pretty Hate Machine” got the ball rolling, “Broken” garnered some MTV airplay (back when MTV still played music videos), but it was “The Downward Spiral” that really exploded. Between the minimalist video for March of the Pigs and the disturbingly avant-garde video for Closer, Nine Inch Nails was all over the place.
The rest of the album is just as good. There’s not a single song on this album that fails to live up.