Mudvayne - Lost and Found

This was Mudvayne’s follow-up to their multi-platinum “The End of All Things to Come.” I really enjoyed the previous album, yet I find that I just can’t get into this one.
To me, this album feels like a re-hash of the more angry, visceral bits of their previous album. Certainly, there are slower, more intricate passages, but these islands of lucidity arll too quickly degenerate into rage-fueled nu-metal.
I did, however, quite enjoy the last song, All That You Are. This particular song starts as a slow, melodic piece that then builds to a more frantic pace. Though it flirts with the visceral feel that dominated the remainder of the album, it never gets stuck there. This song, more than any other on this album, shows the musical versatility that I love from Mudvayne.

Richard Cheese - Lounge Against the Machine

Rough day? Looking for something to put a smile on your face? Well, look no further than this collection of sixteen hits of the late 90s - swankified.
How about a smooth jazz version of Rage Against the Machine’s Guerilla Radio?
Maybe you’d enjoy Nine Inch Nails’ Closer performed as a children’s show theme, complete with classic Sesame Street riff?
This is probably Richard Cheese’s finest album to date - the music flows well, and it doesn’t really feel like he’s hamming it up. He toes the line very well on this album.

Twisted Sister - Love is For Suckers

Originally intended to be a Dee Snider solo album, “Love is For Suckers” would be Twisted Sister’s final album until 2006’s “Twisted Christmas.”
Musically, this album is a little bit “lighter” than previous Twisted Sister albums. It’s still Twisted Sister, but the attitude is a bit muted. Despite damping the attitude for a few rockin’ love songs, Twisted Sister still pull of a good album.
One thing that really stood out for me was the tile track. There are a couple sections where lyrics are spoken, rather than sung. At first, I though that they had hired Alice Cooper to do additional vocals. Then I realized that I was indeed listening to Dee Snider. The light dawned - Dee Snider sounds an awful lot like Alice Cooper!
I have no idea why I never noticed that before.

HIM - Love Metal

Speaking of love songs…
I honestly know very little about HIM. I know that I like their music. I know that they’re quite popular with “kids these days.” I know that I often see a proliferation if HIM merchandise when I visit Hot Topic.
I’ll bet that the “true metal” fans don’t take too kindly to HIM referring to themselves as a metal band. True, they don’t have the in-your-face attitude that characterizes a lot of metal…then again, they do have the darkness and the scattered satanic overtones. My opinion? HIM is…let’s see…a hard rock band with heavy goth influences and a strong sentimental streak.
Then again, I’m not one to quibble about genre - I figure genre is only necessary to help describe music without actually playing it.

Swaying Smoke - Lullabies

The beginning of this album is surprisingly energetic…for Swaying Smoke. An almost danceable beat greets the listener, but soon gives way to airy, very subtle drones. These softly flowing sounds are as soothing as the title implies, even when they are accented by, let’s say, the sound of an army marching in the distance (Lullaby). Well, that’s what I heard…
The song that really stood out for me on this album was Sultry. Before long, I decided that there must be some kind of joke behind the song title. To me, Sultry’s bright, cheeery chines evoke neither a sweltering summer day nor an “adventurous” night. Rather, this song takes my mind to a cool, breezy spring day. My wife and I are in the backyard, good books, and fresh iced tea close at hand…
I found out later that the title was indeed a joke, but not of the kind that I thought. It’s a pun - the song was played on a psaltry.

Poisonblack - Lust Stained Despair

So, how about a little goth metal to wake you up after a few nice lullabies?
I’ve stated before that I never would have recognized that Poisonblack is a gothic metal band if Wikipedial hadn’t pointed it out to me. I’ve finally figured out the reason for this - it’s all to do with Poisonblack’s particular approach.
Most gothic metal bands tend to incorporate elements of power, black or death metal - the epic nature of these styles lends itself particularly well to gothic music. Poisonblack, however, have taken a slightly different path, in that they’ve incorporated the sounds of late 1980s metal. Take a close listen and tell me that you don’t hear echoes of Skid Row.

Bad Acid Trip - Lynch the Wierdo

Thoughtful, sardonic, and poignant…is it any wonder that Bad Acid Trip caught the attention of System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian (this album was released by Serjical Strike records)?
In the world of experimental metal, Bad Acid Trip are definitely mad scientists. Their brief, furious bursts of manic energy hit your brain broadside, while the lyrics (“pop rock’s just a fashiuon rebellion”) burrow in and give you a little something to ponder.
It’s difficult to accurately describe this band, so…

Queen - Made in Heaven

This was Queen’s final album. Although released in 1995, this album makes use of vocal tracks recorded by Freddie Mercury prior to his death in 1991. Most of the vocals here were recorded by Freddie in the final months prior to his passing, although there are older bits (some unreleased, some familiar) as well.
Sad? Yes. Maudlin? Certainly. A fitting farewell to one of the greatest rock singers ever? There can be no doubt.

The Gathering - How to Measure a Planet?

This 2-disc set is The Gathering’s most atmospheric album to date. It’s also my personal favorite.
What really sets The Gathering apart (and keeps me coming back for more) is their ability to craft music that is simultaneously intense and minimal. The music on this album moves between moderately fast hard rock and slow atmospheric orchestrations, but manages to keep the listener interested throughout.
I cannot recommend this album highly enough - you need to have a copy.

Hieronymus Bosch - The Human Abstract

This is shaping up to be a very progressive kind of day. Excellent!
Hieronymus Bosch is one of those bands that exist so far out on the fringe of music that it’s hard to track down any data on them. Wikipedia, for example, has nothing.
It’s too bad that it’s so difficult to track down anything relating to this band - they’re probably the very epitome of progressive death metal. Well, I say death metal mostly because of the growling vocal style. The other telltale characteristics of death metal, such as blast beat drumming and tremolo picking just aren’t present. This is death metal…with styyyle.

Ayreon - The Human Equation

As is the norm with Ayreon, “The Human Equation” is a progressive rock/metal concept album featuring a bevy of “top shelf” musicians, including James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth), and Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad).
This album is told from the point of view of a man who is in a coma after an auto accident. Trapped inside his own mind, he confronts his past, his present, and his own darker emotions before awakening from the coma in a moment of “psychological rebirth.” Each of the twenty songs on this album detail one day spent in the coma by the protagonist (James LaBrie), as he confronts and deals with what happened to him and why.
As is typical with Ayreon albums, this production is top-notch from beginning to end.
There’s also a bit of a twist ending to this album, one that ties this album into the universe of the other Ayreon albums.

Richard Cheese - I’d Like a Virgin

OK, it would appear that the progressive music part of the day is done. Richard Cheese may be funny and entertaining, but progressive? No way.
No offense, though - it takes a special kind of brain to perform Snoop Dogg’s Gin and Juice as a swingin’ nightclub number. A special kind of brain and probably a few martinis, actually.
It only gets stranger from there, with covers of Ludacris’s Stand Up and Slayer’s War Ensemble. That’s right, Slayer. I know, it’s a real mental strain to imagine it. Regardless, Mr. Cheese (“Dick” to his friends) pulled it off.

Anthrax - I’m the Man (EP)

Warning: listening to this EP in its entirety is likely to cause I’m the Man overload. Of the six tracks contained herein, three of them are I’m the Man. There’s the original version, the censored version (all the swearing is bleeped so that the song won’t cause people to spontaneously become mass murderers upon hearing it), and a live version.
Balancing out all this I’m the Man madness are two additional live tracks and a cover of Black Sabbath’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. All told, this is a pretty durn good EP from one of the founding fathers of thrash.

Ambienteer - Ianua

This artist is entirely new to me. A friend recently gave me a DVD full of Netlabel music, and this EP was included on that disc.
Simply put, netlabels are an entirely electronic alternative to traditional record labels. Netlabels tend to emphasize free content, usually distributed under a Creative Commons license. In other words, that DVD is 100% legal.
Ambienteer is, true to name, an ambient musician. Each of the four tracks here is a different flavor of ambient music, which creates a slightly disjointed feel (amusing in a normally soothing genre). Bracketed by variations on “Traditional” drone music, this EP passes through soft, atonal pianos and random electronic arpeggios, and makes me look forward to hearing more from Ambienteer in the future.

Rodney Atkins - If You’re Going Through Hell

Assuming that you’ve been reading this blog for a little while, this one is going to be quite a surprise to you. With all the prog rock, black metal, and goth music that I’ve got, country music is going to stand out like a sore thumb. Regardless, here we have an entire album (one of three, believe it or not).
I first discovered Rodney Atkins when his song Watching You was big. I heard it frequently in various stores, and in my dad’s truck (my parents like country, among other things). Mom told me that, if I like that song, I’d probably like the rest as well, so I borrowed and ripped the CD. This is the first time I’ve listened to the whole thing.
In retrospect, Watching You isn’t all that exciting. What I Like About the South, however, has a fun honky tonk sound to it, and the title track is pretty amusing. The rest of the album is fairly standard country fare - not bad, but little that stands out to me.

Blind Guardian - Imaginations From the Other Side

Once again, we enter the fantastic world of Blind Guardian. When I say “fantastic,” I mean that this album is brimming with references to fantasy fiction and other works of active imagination.
From Imaginations From the Other Side (which is about the imagination of s child, and how it seems to fade with age), to And the Story Ends (about a boy who is taken through a magic mirror into a fantasy world, the theme of this album is clear. Literary works referenced on this album (you’ve noticed this tendency in Blind Guardian, yes?) are the Arthurian legends, “The Once and Future King” and the Death Gate Cycle.
Of course, I also mean “fantastic” in that this is a great album. It’s Blind Guardian, what did you expect?

Voltaire - The Devil’s Bris

There I was, listening to the latest sampler from Projekt records. I’m hearing new songs from some of my favorite artists, enjoying new artists, and generally having a good time. Wait, what’s this? It sounds like some kind of strange gypsy music…and he’s singing about the joys of being evil. Wait…no, he’s not actually happy at all! Then again, maybe he is. Wow, that was interesting - I’ve got to share it with the guys.
That was over ten years ago, and the song was When You’re Evil. I’ve been a huge Voltaire fan ever since.
There is no “official” music video for When You’re Evil, but there are loads of fan vids. This one is particularly amazing.

Cintecele Diavolui - The Devil’s song

Here we have yet another project from Havard Ellefsen (best known as Mortiis). This album reminds me of Mortiis’ “Crypt of the Wizard” - the songs have a sort of folk influenced sound to them. The last song, One Soul Less for the Devil has echoes of Vond’s “Green Eyed Demon,” with the muted vocal sections
Sorry, no link for this one. Apparently, it’s fantastically rare, and therefore unreasonably expensive.

Kid Rock - Devil Without a Cause

There was a time when I really liked Kid Rock’s music. These days, however, I’ve pared it down to just four songs that I actually like: Bawitdaba, Cowboy, Devil Without a Cause, and I am the Bullgod. These four songs effectively encapsulate all that I enjoy about Kid Rock, while eliminating all that I don’t.

Devo - Devo

Egad - I’ve only got a single Devo song on my iPod. This situation needs to be corrected. Whip It is certainly an excellent song, but it’s far from being the only good one.

Slayer - Diabolous in Musica

Much like Fear Factory’s “Demanufacture” from yesterday, This is a great album to listen to when you’re in a really bad mood. I’d like to thank Henry Rollins for pointing out the therapeutic value of a good Slayer album.

Richard Cheese - Dick at Nite

Ol’ Dick here is best known for his “Swankified” covers of modern pop music. If you’ve ever seen the cheesy lounge singer character that Bill Murray played on SNL, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
On this album, Mr. Cheese tackles the theme songs from your favorite TV shows. Yes, your favorites - he asked all your friends what your favorite shows are, then made this album just for you. Any song here that you don’t like is therefore your friends’ fault. Go yell at them. It’ll make you feel better.

Fear Factory - Digimortal

After a brief digression, I am once again immersed in heavy metal. this time, it’s the semi-electronic thrash of Fear Factory. The band that my Wife says sounds like they have Cookie Monster singing.
Interestingly, the song Back the F*** Up features guest vocalist B-Real (of Cypress Hill). Industrial groove metal meets stoner hip-hop. Gotta love it when things like that happen.

Swaying Smoke - Digressions

More meditative ambient soundscapes, courtesy of Swaying Smoke…or so I thought. Sir, you have fooled me.
The song that really caught my ear was One. A soft drone brings you in. A string orchestra is playing down the hall, softly. Just over two and a half minutes in, the track begins to stutter. A moment of quiet, and a pianist starts playing.
I have no idea what just happened, but I liked it.
Unfortunately, it would seem that “Digressions” is no longer available on Swaying Smoke’s website.

Fantomas - The Director’s Cut

Here we have another appearance by the avan-garde supergroup Fantomas. This is a rather strange concept album. Each song on this album is based on the theme song from a movie. The songs are generally recognizable, assuming that you’d recognize them in the first place (I’ve never even heard of some of these movies), but they all bear the distinctive Fantomas mark. In other words, it makes you go “huh?”

Alice in Chains - Dirt

Suddenly, I’m back in high school again. That shouldn’t be any kind of surprise, though…at the time, the only bands more ubiquitous were Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Remember? The Seattle Grunge years.
With its incessantly dark sound and even darker lyrics, is it any wonder that teenagers nationwide latched onto this album? Just listen to Rooster…