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.

My goodness, I do seem to have quite a number of live albums. I checked ahead, and it looks like the next eleven albums are going to be live recordings.
In no way is this my entire live album collection, however. There are also the live albums that I’ve not yet ripped (Metallica comes to mind), and the ones whose titles do not begin with the word “live”.
Regardless, I do love a good live album. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Lycia - Live

The concert series starts with a rather unusual entry among live albums. The audience is nearly mute throughout this entire album - I only recall hearing them at the very beginning. Thus, the only thing to indicate that this is a live recording is the presence of “concert reverb” throughout.
Still, this is a good album - it shows Lycia at their best, and makes me wish that I’d been able to go to one of their chows back in the day. Alas, the opportunity is lost.

Faith No More - Live at Brixton Academy

This is a particularly fun live album. If you know Faith No More, than you know that they like to play around with music. Nowhere is this more clear than when they’re performing live. Their performance constantly feels like it’s on the verge of erupting into a spontaneous jam session. The band will occasionally go off on a brief musical tangent, and acouple times, Mike Patton would toss pop lyrics right into the middle of a song (during We Care a Lot, he briefly broke into The Right Stuff by New Kids on the Block).
Black Sabbath fans may be interested to know that the War Pigs recording included on the first “Nativity in Black” tribute compilation came from this album.

Twisted Sister - Live at Wacken: The Reunion

As the title, implies, this concert recording marked the end of the Twisted Sister breakup. They’d broken up after they rel;eased “Love is for Suckers,” but their record label had been releasing a pile of live alums in the meantime.
The concert is excellent - it really shows why Twisted Sister gained the level of popularity that they had in their prime. They give off a high level of energy at all times, and Dee Snider is constantly talking to the audience, trying to keep them noisy and involved.
As a bit of a side note, this is my favorite kind of live album. Rather than simply being a compilation of live recordings from several different shows, this is one single live performance, presented from beginning to end. That’s not to say that the other kind is bad, but I really prefer hearing the flow of a full concert.

Queen - Live at Wembley ‘86

Epic. Simply Epic.
At this point, it should come as no surprose that I’m very fond of this album. It’s Queen, for chrissakes, and it would appear that the true epic power of Queen can only be fully appreciated in a concert setting.
Apparently this concert was a beast. Queen played all of their own best songs, as well as a handful of “golden oldies.” It was a relentless onslaught of great music, and I’m sure that those who were fortunate enough to have attended the show still look back on it fondly. I certainly would.
One particularly amusing (if slightly morbid) moment came when Freddie Mercury, addressing rumors that Queen was planning to break up, “Forget those rumors; we’re gonna stay together till we f***ing well die, I’m sure of it.”
Clearly, he was right.

Corvus Corax - Live auf dem Waescherschloss

This was a particularly interesting live album. First, there’s the fact that I have no idea what’s being said between songs - to say that my German vocabulary is rather small is like saying that water is rather moist.
Second, there’s the audience. It was odd (and awesome) to hear an audience reacting to medieval peasant music in the same way that one expecte to hear an audience reacting to rock n’ roll. Then again, this was the “rock n’ roll” of the middle ages: fast-paced, popular, and demonized by the church.

Excelsis vol 1 - A Dark Noel (Compilation)

Excelsis vol 2 - A Winter’s Song (Compilation)

These holiday compilations were released in the mid-nineties by Projekt Records. They contains various holiday standards, performed by Projekt artists. In other words, they are goth/darkwave holiday albums.

Henry Mancini - Greatest Christmas Songs

It’s time for some more…traditional…holiday music. If you’re like me, you know Henry Mancini best for his Pink Panther Theme. He did a lot of composing in his time; his oeuvre includes quite a large number of movies and television shows.
This is a rather good Christmas album. Fairly typical for its time, it features a small orchestra backing up a vocal choir. I think I’ve probably heard a couple of these songs at the store.

Tales From the Crypt - Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas

Ok, that’s enough traditional music. It’s time, in fact, to inject some morbid humor into this jolly holiday. What better way to accomplish this than with the Cryptkeeper? (there actually is an answer to that question - just you wait).
this album sees the Cryptkeeper singing his own gruesomely hilarious versions of the Christmas songs we all grew up on. Deck The Halls With Parts of Charlie, We Wish you’d Bury the Missus, Should Old Cadavers Be Forgot…nothing is sacred when the Cryptkeeper’s involved.

Crash Test Dummies - Jingle All the Way

This is one of my absolute favorite Christmas albums. The songs aren’t the same as what you’ve heard a billion times already, yet they still carry the holiday spirit. Plus, it’s the Crash Test Dummies! Why these guys are stuck as “one hit wonders” is beyond me.

Bing Crosby - Merry Christmas

Once again, we return to the Christmas songs of my childhood. Of the two Bing Crosby Christmas albums that I own, I think that this one is the better one; mostly because it has Christmas in Killarney and Mele Kalikimaka. I’ve loved both of these since I was a kid. I guess I really have always had a soft spot for the unusual.

Projekt Holiday Single (compilation)

Following the tradition of their “Excelsis” CD’s, Projekt records released a three-track holiday single in 2004. All three of the songs on this compilation are great, but I have to be honest - I bought this one entirely because of Voltaire’s Peace on the Holy Land medley.

Frank Sinatra - The Sinatra Christmas Album

If ever there was a Christmas album that goes perfectly with a glass of , this is it. Although Jingle Bells has been (to borrow a term from Richard Cheese) swankified, most of the songs on this collection are the holiday standards that we all grew up on. OK, there’s also The Christmas Waltz, but the REST of them…

Tis The Season - A Celtic Christmas

This is the “Disc One” that goes with the “Celtic Christmas” that I listened to in the first Christmas Special. You remember, the one that would go so nicely with mulled wine?
Hmm…where is that wine…

Twisted sister - A Twisted Christmas

Legend has it that the genesis of this album came when Dee Snider realized that the primary melody from We’re Not Gonna Take It is roughly the same as the melody from O Come All Ye Faithful. The rest, as they say, is history. Twisted Sister went on to record an entire album full of heavy metal Christmas songs, and even filmed a music video for O Come All Ye Faithful (a video with a very familiar story).

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and The Arkham Carolers - A Very Scary Solstice.

If you only listen idly to this album, you may never notice that it’s not your standard Christmas music. The melodies and instrumentation are very much the same as what you’re used to. The lyrics, however, are completely different.
This is what happens when Christmas music meets H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos: songs such as Silent Night, blasphemous Night, The Shoggoth Song, and Es Y’Golonac will ensure that you have a maddeningly good holiday.