Album Review: Beneath The Remains by Sepultura

So I've had this album for a while, since before Christmas, and this is easily one of my favorite albums now. It's a classic. Now if you have no idea who i'm talking about, Sepultura is a Brazillian band who pretty much sucks now so i've heard. But there earlier stuff, genius, but then they traded it for selling out on the groove metal bandwagon and started sucking. This here, however, is a classic in thrash metal in everyway. Now, this album (and its follow up, Arise which i will also be reviewing) is debated as to wheater it's thrash or death metal. I say thrash metal, the music is definitly thrash metal. The vocals are why it's debated. They aren't the cookie monster vocals most people associate with death metal, nor are they the, well, I'm not sure how to describe it, low to mid ranged scream of early death metal that was used by bands such as Death. No, these are more of a grunt. Although they can get somewhat gutteral at times, such as on parts of "Stronger Than Hate". But I consider this thrash metal. Really agressive thrash metal, but still. Sort of like Slayer, but better. Although it does let up at times more, and this helps it. This stuff sounds genuinely angry and they have a reason to be, living under a dictatorship and all. Unlike say, Rage Aginst The Machine, where they're all from the mean streets of the suburbs. But one thing I want to mention is the drumming, Igor Cavalera, is in my opinion, one of the best drummers out there, he's spot on, interesting, and it all flows really well. He plays at these speeds for like 5 minutes at a time. He's quite good. But anyway, do you want brutality? Melody? Really good solos? Head-bangy rffs? There all here. I'm not going to go on about the songs, but the first 6 songs, and the last one, are great, the 7th I haven't listened too in a long time and the 8th is totally filler, but that doesn't detract from the album at all. How can you not like the lightning fast guitar and the "Who, who who, has won?! Who, who, who, has died?!" chorus in the title track? "Inner self" is the slowest song here, thats not saying much, it's still fast-ish, like a fast mid tempo I suppose, or a slow fast song, but it kicks. You know when you hear that chugging guitar riff, then the drums with these cool sounding drum rolls, and then double bass, that it's going to rock. Then when it speeds up just over halfway through the song, that part makes the song! Seriously, listen to the energy behind it. Speaking of that, the guitar tone on this album is great, it sounds like a real guitar, it's not super detuned, and it's raw and full of energy. Then we have "Stronger Than Hate" it's agressive, and it's got a super chorus with a whole bunch of guest vocalists, like Kelly Shaefer and John Tardy among others. Of course if your the average reader of my blog you probably have no idea who these people are. In fact, I applaud you for reading this far into my rambling reviews of metal albums that the average music fan has never heard of, of course that is if you do read this, seriously, I have no idea why I write these or if anyone reads them. But back to the review, theres a really awesome headbang inducing part at the end of "Stronger than Hate" which is suddenly interrupted by...clean guitar? I'm rocking out like an idiot the first time I heard this and then all of a sudden I get this crap. Whats up with that? Are they going soft? What is this? I'm just kidding, I like it. There's actually clean guitar sprinkled throughout this album. Like in "Mass Hypnosis" where the solo pretty much makes that song. Another thing about this, is that I can't understand half the words being sung. Maybe i'm exagerating a little bit, but it's just that his accent is so thick. It's not his singing or anything like that, it's just his accent is so heavy, it's obvious english isn't his first language. I mean in the chorus of "Mass hypnosis I thought he was singing something in spanish, then I looked up the lyrics and realized he was singing "Hate through the artieries" now it's clear to me but at the time it wasn't. The last real song on here though "Primitive future" is so energetic it isn't even funny. But I also have some bonus tracks that i'm not going to count towards the score because they aren't really part of the album anyway. Only 1 of the 3 bonus tracks is a song. That would be "A Hora e a Vez do Cabelo Nascer" Yeah, really. It's some brazillian hardcore punk song or something they convered, I can't really say much because i've never heard the origional, but on it's own merits, I can say that it's not a bad song. Bottom line is, this album is all I listned too for a while, go out and get it now, get the CD, download it off Itunes (I did), I don't care, just listen to this album. 10 out of 10.

Album review: Endgame by Megadeth

So I've had the new Megadeth album for a while. What do I think of it? I think it's an excellent metal album. Megadeth have most of the time been rivals to Metallica, mostly because Dave Mustaine, the singer and rhythm guitarist, used to play guitar for Metallica, and wrote some songs that are on their earlier albums. But he got fired and started Megadeth to get back at Metallica. He wanted to create a band that would be more successful. He failed in that. However Megadeth have always been better musicians than Metallica, their songs are far more technical. But, while Megadeth may be better musicians, and they are indeed excellent musicians, they were never better songwriters. But that doesn't mean they weren't good. They were, and they definitely are now. Metallica put out Death Magnetic, and somewhat regained there former sound, the one that got them a fan base before they stopped being metal. It is a good album, but the extreme compression makes that album almost unlistnable to me. This album is not just a good album, but a great album, this album destroys Death Magnetic, its so far ahead its not even funny. Not to say Death Magnetic was bad, not at all, I gave it an 8, but Endgame just blows it out of the water. For starters, the production on this album is really good, its not over compressed, it sounds great. The modern production just makes the songs even better. Also, the musicianship is phenomenal. The drumming is fantastic, the guitars are tight and focused, the soloing is insane, they have dueling solos all over the place and its great. The songs themselves are excellent, all of them, but the standout ones especially. The songs just lock into the rhythm and drive forward with a fury. "1,320'" is a song that just locks into a groove and drives forward, as I said earlier, with a fury. "Dialectic Chaos" is a great instrumental. But I'm not going to describe the songs in detail, although "44 Minutes" kind of has stupid lyrics. It's almost like reading a report, seriously. But it's a good song, even if the lyrics are kinda stupid. Bottom line is that this is an excellent metal album, its miles ahead of Death Magnetic. Some songs are excellent, some good, but none are bad, or even "ok"; I like all of them. Even though I'm giving this a 9 out of 10, its tons better than Death Magnetic. 9 out of 10

Album review: Black Gives Way To Blue by Alice in Chains

(I know this is a very long review, mostly because I want to describe each song and how it sounds. So please bear with me.)

So yesterday I picked up this album at Best Buy on the day of release, it wasn't even on the shelves yet when I got it, it was still on the carts. But anyway, this is AiC's first album in 14 years, and there first album without Layne Staley, who died of a drug overdose in 2002.
I must say, his replacement, William Duvall, does a pretty good job of singing, he doesn't sound like Layne Staley but he doesn't sound out of place at all. The only problem is that he doesn't get enough upfront singing time, in there old material Layne Staley was clearly the undisputed lead singer, although much of there sound relied on vocal harmonies with guitarist Jerry Cantrell, he was always upfront and Cantrell was in the background more so. Now it's the opposite, while William Duvall actually manages to harmonize well, he doesn't sing upfront much, except on 1 song.
It actually seems that they've traded some harmonizing for switching singing lines, which is kinda cool I suppose. But anyway, this album is definitely Alice in Chains, although they aren't trying to rehash past material, it starts out with "All Secrets Known", its, I'm not sure how to really describe it, airy? AiC records, there 3 previous (they've been around since like 1987 and have only released 4 albums including this one and 2 EP's, although one of them is long enough to be considered a short album, its got 7 songs, it's like half an hour.) albums have always started off with a heavy, rocking song that kicked the crap out of you. This one doesn't, but it's a good song. One thing that stands out is the lyrics are about a new beginning and healing and such, which seems appropriate. The next song is the radio single "Check my Brain", its easy to see why it was on the radio, its melodic, it's a rocking, non-acoustic song and its kinda catchy. Some people whine about how it talks about California, and it is a little cliche, but its about Jerry Cantrell moving to L.A, so it makes sense, seriously. Although I will say that the music video for this song sucks. Its one of the cheapest things I have ever seen. I think they blew there whole budget and we got that cheap piece of crap for a video. It shows the band playing the song and all, which is good, it's what a music video should be, but it looks like it was made with windows movie maker and some stock stuff, I'm not kidding, for example, when they sing "So I found myself in the sun...", guess what they do, they put a picture of the sun in the background! That's real creative. Not. Cheap indeed. But it is a good song. "Last Of My Kind" is the one song where Duvall sings upfront for pretty much the whole song, and he sings great, I don't know why he doesn't sing upfront more often. This is one of the standout songs on this album I feel, it's also one of the heaviest, along with "A Looking in View". But this is the only song we get to hear him upfront. The next song "Your Decision" is an acoustic song. A really good one in fact. I think this is one of the best songs on the album. Then there's "A looking in View", This song is really good, though it has a small flaw in that it drags too long. It's over 7 minutes long. it's also pretty heavy, in the intro theres a little bit of, actually like a split second of double bass, which is unusual for an Alice in Chains song. and then it rips into this riff, it rocks, then the verse with the "Hear footsteps creak the floor..." part with all the harmonies, then it launches right back into that riff, then the verse picks up again with the harmonies, then that riff again, and William Duvall goes "Lay! Down!..." in the chorus. Brilliant, it kicks hiney as the kids say now. Then they have some of that line trading thing with the vocals, where one sings one line and another sings the next, that's cool. And it's got that hook-y "A looking in view too long on the outside..." post chorus thing too, and it's also repeated alot at the end. Great song. "When The Sun Rose Again" is another acoustic song, its cool, it seems to be speaking about how they are back with the "It seems you prophesied all of this would end, where you burned away when the sun rose again?" I think that might be a reference to there sun logo. And then, there's "Acid Bubble", what a song, i think it's the best song on here, it's brilliant. It took a bit to grow on me, but when you really listen to it, you realize the small things that make this song so great. it's slow, it's sludgy, it starts with this riff that just towers over you, its got these slow, harmonized verses, then they've got that line trading again, with Cantrell singing "and I always payed attention to all the lines you crossed" and then Duvall sings "Forgive this imperfection, it shows and know..." part, that's freakin cool, then they go into the chorus with all the harmonies, and then when Duvall sings "Alone inside your mind" the way it rings out, that's cool, and it has a vaguely Layne Staley quality to it,and he doesn't even sound like him at all. All the little things, and then I love that riff that they play in the middle of the song, during the "Intent obsolescence! Built into the system!" part, it's all like duh-duh-duh duh duh duh- duh duh duh duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh, of course you can't really get it from my typing, but its so cool. That song is 6 minutes and 54 seconds of brilliance. "Lesson Learned" is one of those rocking songs, its fairly fast, its short, it's catchy, and its a definite candidate for a single. It's a good song. "Take her out" sounds like something from Jerry Cantrells solo career, but it's a really good song, I've seen some people say this is a weaker song or that it should have been a B-side for a single. I disagree, this is a good song, it's got that sludgy guitar that chugs along at a nice pace and fits well with the vocal melodies, and the chorus is kind of catchy, this is also a song I think could be a single. But its a good song. In fact, I'd say there are no bad songs on this album. But bottom line is this is a good song. "Private Hell" definitely has that "down in a hole" vibe, it's not quite as good though, it doesn't have the same high "Down in a Hole" did. I mean this song has that, but it's not nearly as good as "Down in a Hole". This song does have those "Uh huh, uh huh" responses though. It's not a bad song by any means though. Finally, the album closer, and title track "Black gives Way to Blue", is easily the best ballad they ever did. Ever. In fact, Elton John plays piano on this song, which makes it even better. The only problem with this song is that it's too short, although that's not really a problem. It's a beautiful song really. And I like that they take a stab at all those rip off bands with the "Imitations are pale" line. Great song, perfect closer.
This album does not tarnish Alice in Chains in any way, in fact, it's a great album that in my opinion has no bad songs. It's merely a new chapter in their history. It took some time for this album to grow on me though, I seriously considered giving this album a 7 at first, but I figured 8, but now, I think that this album is deserving of a 10, it's that good. Go out and buy this album now, seriously. 10 out of 10.

Album review - Inhaler by Tad

Tad was a grunge band from Seattle formed in 1988, despite the fact they were one of the first bands to sign to Sub Pop, they were the last notable local band to get a major label signing. They never became famous. After this album, their major label debut, they were dropped due to a controversial promo poster. After 1 more album that received negative reviews, they broke up in 1998 after several years of not being signed to a label. This album however, is apparently their best. It's also one of the heaviest grunge albums ever made. To me, this album almost defines grunge. Regardless of the hype surrounding the term, this album is grunge. It's heavy, distorted, it's got that dirty guitar sound to it. I also like the drumming, they seem to have a good drummer, he uses double bass occasionally too. Tad Doyle isn't really a good singer objectively, but he works well here. I think he also plays guitar. The album opens with "Grease Box", possibly the best song on the album, and in fact, one of my favorite songs. It opens with a great bass line that grooves. In fact, one time a few months ago it started playing in my head and I had no idea where it came from. But I was sure I'd heard it somewhere, then I found it when I remembered this song. But it starts with that bass line, and then the distorted, dirty, "grungy" guitar kicks in playing the same thing. It's great really. In the verse that guitars playing in the right speaker, then in the middle the other one kicks in the other speaker and I don't really know how to describe it but it rocks. I also like the "and you don't have to stand..." part in the chorus. And the solo is awesome, I mean, maybe its not like a thrash metal solo or something, but it sounds cool to me. The next song "Throat Locust" rocks and rolls. It starts and just assaults you with that riff, it's just a power chord or something but it kicks the crap out of anything Nickelback could ever dream of with a power chord. And then the chorus with its "It wont mean a thing..." is cool, and they have the lead guitar or whatever tremoloing over the power chord or whatever, its so simple but it's cool, I'm not a musician, so it can be hard for me to describe what I hear, but nonetheless, I try. Leafy Incline starts out downbeat, with it's downbeat verses until the loud chorus, with its sorta catchy "I'm not alone" part. It's a good song. "Luminol" has a bunch of bass drum that has a cool rhythm and sort of drives the song. Until the middle when it gets soft with the acoustic guitar for a bit, except the electric guitars chaotically chiming in, then it goes back to the cool drumming. Then it gets even softer with a piano and acoustic guitar. That's cool. Then it goes back to electric and starts the end part of the song. But I'm not going to go into detail about each song. "Ulcer" is alright but, it doesn't really impress me much. It doesn't seem to stand out alot. "Lycanthrope" pretty much sucks. I don't like it. "Just bought the Farm" is an ok song. Not really bad, not really good. "Rotor" is really heavy. It opens with this bass line, then the guitar comes in for one moment, then it goes back to just bass. It's so simple but I think its cool. It's got a cool riff too, its heavy and grooves. And I just like the way Tad Doyle Belts out the chorus. "Paregoric" is, along with "Grease Box" one of the best songs on here. Its got a great crescendo riff that gets stuck in your head too, the riff is really cool sounding. Plus it's got that "Too late!" band chant too. "Pansy" has a really sludgy riff. The closer song "Gouge" is a ballad, with acoustic guitars mixed with electric, and is the most melodic song on here. It ends with a whole bunch of feedback noises. It's a good song. All in all, this is a really good heavy metal/grunge album. An album that rocks and rolls, This is exactly what it sounds like, really heavy grunge. 8 out of 10

Album Review: Weapons of Our Warfare by Deliverance

(11/2/09 edit: What was I thinking? A 10? This album is really good, but a 10? This is too melodic to really kick my ***. Besides, his voice fits better with there more progressive metal stuff, like on Stay of Excecution (and he sounds almost exactly like the guy from Queensrÿche not Ronnie James Dio.) Now that is a good song. The chugging riff with a rhythm that charges forward. That is what I like in metal. My new rating is 8 out of 10)

(A few minutes later: I'm back after a few minutes, what am I talking about? Of course it sounds great, but prehaps I just dont like the operatic singing. Whatever the case, I overrated this album, its still really good, but not a 10.)

(1/12/10 edit: No! What was I thinking? It's not a bad album at all, its pretty good, there later stuff sucks I hear, although I do like the song "Stay of Execution", my final rating of 8 out of 10 still stands, but this is still a good metal album, of course it's heavy at times.)

So soon after I posted that video, and impressed by some stuff I heard on Rhapsody, I downloaded the album off I-tunes. My conclusion. This album rules. With a capital R. To start off, the production on this album is great. The musicianship is on par with early Metallica and Megadeth. And almost all of it is sutible for headbanging, or "Brain Breaking" as Leah calls it. This means alot coming from a Christian band. Where alot seem to stay in amaturism, I think because they have a guaranteed fan base, not these guys, these guys are up there, they seem serious about musicianship. Not to mention, even though it's a Christian band, you won't find any preaching or bible stories or anything (except maybe "23" which is about psalm 23, but Megadeth did the same thing) it's all spiritual warfare and such. Some songs that stand out to me, are "This Present Darkness" which is a fast shredder and reminds me of Metallica's "Battery" (but doesn't rip it off at all.) The title track, "Weapons of Our Warfare" which you can watch below, (and which Lars Ulrich called one of his top 10 favorite videos)."Solitude, which is one of the more melodic songs and is one of the best songs on the album. "Flesh and Blood" which at 7:21, is the longest song on here and rules. "Greetings of Death" which has a cool doodly hammer riff. After listning to it a couple times, I noticed the similarities to Metallica's "The End of The Line". But they didn't rip it off since this came out 18 years before Death Magnetic. But there really are no bad songs on this album, all of them are good in fact. (Except "Bought for Blood" objectivly speaking I suppose it's not a terrible song, but I don't like it.) On a side note, the singer doesn't really have alot of growl to his singing, he sings agressivly, and has a good range, well, actually thats a good thing he isn't trying to rip off James Hetfield, but he sounds fine, he doesnt sound like Joey Belladonna, he has more of a Ronnie James Dio quality to his voice. (Now that I listen to this more, he kinda sounds like Dave Mustaine in his higher ranges, but with out the grumbling and mumbling.) So it's still metal. Bottom Line: really well played speed metal, go out and buy this album now. 10 out 10

Album review-Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory by Dream Theater

So, another musical related post, don't worry, I'm not turning this into a music blog, I'm working on Casino commercials and something I've been wanting to do since i started this blog. But this will not become a music blog, just saying, anyway, I listened to this album, its been called Dream Theaters masterpiece. But what did I think of it? Its sort of like Yes crossed with Metallica. And according to Brad’s Completely Useless Record Reviews
, Pink Floyds The Wall. But Yes had substance, Metallica (not the terrible St.Anger Metallica, the good one.) had substance, this doesn't. Its nothing but flashy show-off ism. Now, these guys are very technical and some of the stuff they do just blows my mind; they've got the potatoes but where's the meat? WHERE??????. Yes the guitarist can play multiple notes at a time really fast, and yes the drummer can hit the bass drum really fast, but maybe it should sound like a normal bass drum. Let me explain, most bass drums sound like boom or thud, not this, this sounds like a possum getting run over by a car, "squash", seriously. This flash gets old after 10 minutes. Not to mention, some of these lyrics are just plain stupid and these guys have no songwriting skills. Take out the flash and you have nothing. The ballads on here are terrible. The vocals are over the top operatic nonsense and there's rarely a moment when somethings not getting overplayed. Its so empty. But like i said, the technical skills are mind blowing. Another thing, the bass line and riff in the song "Home" reminds me of Tool. But this is no masterpiece, i stopped paying close attention around track 8 or so, and i cant remember how any of these songs go. All flash, no substance. 6 out of 10

Albums you must stay away from

Since I did albums you must have, why not albums you must stay away from? I'll tell you what not to spend your money on. These albums make Guantanamo bay look like a vacation. These albums are the worst combination of sounds ever created by man. These albums should have never even been made. Never, ever, ever even think of buying these albums ever. I haven't heard these entire albums, I don't need to, i get a few songs in before i cant stand the "music" anymore. But i don't need to, what I've heard is proof enough.

St.Anger-Metallica
I've referenced this album many times before on this site. So I'll go into more detail about it. The production; terrible; the music; awful; the lyrics; a 5 year old could write more intelligent lyrics. This is a very, very poor attempt to get back to their roots. Thankfully Death Magnetic was much better and came close to succeeding, but i hardly ever listen to it any more because of its extreme over compression. Anyway, let me list off why this is so terrible. First of all, the drums sound terrible, the snare especially sounds like trash cans inside a empty metal dumpster. They tuned the guitars all the way down to C making them all guttural. It sounds like Nu-metal. Now, I kind of like the guitar sound, but seriously, play them in the right order. These aren't riffs. Fingers go up the neck, fingers go down the neck. That's it. The lyrics are so stupid, but not only that they repeat them over and over again and pound them in your head. The songs don't flow at all. The other instruments are often buried under the terrible drum sounds. It seems like if he bangs on them even louder it'll make a better song. It does the exact opposite. Also theirs no solos anywhere on this album. Why?? It sounds as if Kirk Hammett just gave up trying. Their are only two moments on this album that would even qualify as being listenable to the human ear. The intro to the title track, which sounds kinda cool until the singing starts. That intro is the only good part of the song. And "Frantic"; does it suffer from extremely stupid, unbelievably repetitive lyrics? Yes. Terrible snare sound that overpowers everything? Yes. Guitars that do almost nothing? Yes. But is it the best song on the album? Yes. Its listenable. and that says alot on this album. On another note, this is from the band that made Master of puppets? Seriously. Its unbelievable how much they declined. Thankfully, the next album was much, much, much better. If your at the store and you see this album. Don't even think of buying this. I wouldn't even take this if they gave it to me for free. Absolutely horrendous abomination.

Cut The Crap-The Clash
Ah yes, the clash, a staple of classic punk. Except this, this was their last studio album. Good thing too. Its hard to find a bigger joke then this from a formerly respectable band. The songs have random, inappropriate boing, ping, thwack and other ridiculous sounds that drown out everything else half the time. They got rid of their drummer and replaced him with an ultra fake sounding drum machine. There are a million cheesy 80s synthesisers all over the place and the guitar has a slicked over pukeish sound. The chorus's always have like 100 people singing it with no singing voices that probably got pulled off the street. This is a complete joke. Now to be fair, even though "This is England" has all those terrible things, their are less ridiculous noises and its a decent song. But other than that. This album is a bunch of vomit random 80s noises that should never be listened to by any creature in the universe. What idiots made this? Seriously? Did they honestly think this was good? An exaggerated but true example of how mainstream pop music can absolutely destroy the sounds formerly known as music.

Marti Gras-Creedence Clearwater Revival
Here's another example of a formerly great band sucking badly before breaking up. So after the rhythm guitarist left the other band members wanted to get more song writing in, except your John Fogerty and you almost single handedly are CCR, you write all the music and lyrics and you could probably play every single instrument with little to no change in musical quality. But you let your remaining band mates write and sing on some songs. Except they are absolutely terrible at writing songs and cant sing to save their life. One has the range and charisma of a monotonous drone. Another just sounds plain terrible. The songs would suck even if they wernt sung by these people. If you can find a worse hoe down song than "tearin up the country" I'd like to hear it, or maybe i wouldn't. This is one of the worst examples of a rock band going country I've ever heard. Thankfully John Fogerty does sing on some songs. They arnt quite up to the standards of their earlier material but they are honestly decent songs. Truly the last breath of CCR. For some reason these ended up on
Chronicle but "Born on the Bayou" didn't why? If you are ever going to buy a CCR album, don't buy this one ever. I recommend the greatest hits contemplation Chronicle volume 1. Their studio albums are filled with a few hits surrounded by airless blues jams that go nowhere. Until Cosmos Factory they weren't good at it. But since 7 out of 11 songs on that are in Chronicle you might as well get that. It made my "albums you must have" list, which you can read if you scroll down some. Bottom Line; Stay away from this.

Van Halen 3-Van Halen
I love Van Halen back when they had David Lee Roth (Still do i guess since he came back). Then Sammy Hagar came and ruined it. But this is worse. This has Gary Cherone. He sounds terrible. Really. I cant say it better so I'm going to quote Brad from Brads Completely Useless Record Reviews. "What does it sound like, you ask? Well, picture Sammy Hagar at 80 years old. With laryngitis. And LUNG CANCER. That’s what Gary sounds like." and he also said "...it feels like someone has taken a large piece of sandpaper, stuck it inside my ear, and started grinding it violently against my eardrums. It’s AWFUL. If one looks solely at vocals, this is the by FAR the worst album I’ve ever heard, and it has no real competition." That's nuff said. Don't buy this album. Start with the self titled Van Halen or a greatest hits contemplation. Not this.

Some bands to stay away from entirely:

Limp Bizkit
Creed
Godsmack (complete rip-off of Alice in Chains)
Linkin Park
Korn
The Naked Brothers Band
Hannah Montana
Fallout Boy

Guitar hero world tour is disappointing

Edit: okay, maybe i was a bit too harsh. Its fine on multiplayer, its a good game, but the set list sucks. GH 3 had tons of classic rock. This is full of new stuff and just plain bad stuff. Korn? Breaking Benjamin? Paramore? Why? Its all whiny emo-ish stuff. That's not rock. They do have some good bands. But not enough. And the only metallica song in this is trapped under ice. I was hoping for a good song after all the terribleness. but they give me that? Why not "Creeping death?" or "For Whom The Bell Tolls"? or maybe even "Fade to black". There from the same album as that. Why? I'll just have to wait for the expansion. And i hear theres a Jimmi Hendrix one coming out too. So theres that. Good game, bad songs. Rock band 2 did it better, its not worth $200 in my opinion. Anyway, now that that's out of the way, read my original review below.


So, flushed with Christmas money, about 2 $50 visa cards, $20 in cash, a $50 gift card to Barnes and noble, a $20 check and a small $10 gift card to borders, i like books. But anyway, i didn't ask for much so i got a ton of money. So i go to the store to spend some. I got 2 books. I was going to spend the rest of the money on albums, but i got an X box 360. I figure, why not get a game? After arguing over rock band 2 or guitar hero: world tour, we got GH. Yes, i knew rock band had better songs but i figured, stick with guitar hero. Big mistake. I pay $100 because me and my brother split it. it cost more than i thought, i thought id have some money left but no, both the gift cards are used. This better be good, I thought. I get home, i set it up. It was disappointing. Its not very user friendly on multi player. Some things you cant tell. And the songs, terrible choice. Rock band 2 nailed it. Guitar hero missed. There are some good songs, but many of them I've never heard of. Some just suck. Why is Korn here? Why? Blink 182? They don't deserve a spot. The thing with Guitar hero 3, which was great, was that every song was a classic. Even the new stuff was really popular at the time. And another thing, id heard of almost everyone on there. On this, i don't even know who half these people are. HushPuppies? Stuck in the Sound? NOFX? Who are these people? Your supposed to be doing songs that actually have something significant about them. Another thing, Why does Tool have 3 songs?? Why? I don't have a problem with Tool, but why 3 songs? O yeah, one of them isn't forty six & 2. In comparison, Rock Band 2 features Pearl Jam, Joan Jett, Kansas, AC/DC, Alice in Chains, Tenacious D, Megadeth, Ratt, Billy Idol, Soundgarden and a better Metallica song than GH. ("battery" from master of puppets as opposed to "Trapped under Ice", one of the few songs off Ride the Lightning i don't like.) Not the Hushpuppies. To be fair, its an alright game, its got Creedence clearwater revival, Nirvana, Ozzy Osbourne, the smashing pumpkins, jimmi Hendrix and even a Willie Nelson song, but so much stuff that tries to appeal to the casual gamer. Instead of Black Sabbath, we get Blondie, instead of Slayer, the mars Volta, seriously, the mars Volta. Some songs on GH are the same as on rock band 2, and there are some of the same artists with different songs, for instance, system of a down, its great there on there, but rock band 2 has "Chop Suey!" this has "B.Y.O.B". Both are good songs but "Chop Suey!" is clearly the more classic song. Ive also heard complaints about the note chart being way off what it is in real life, and how sometimes theres a note that isn't really there or something. Its not worth $200. Worst $100 I've ever spent, possibly the worst purchase I've ever made. At least I have the Metallica Expansion to look forward too. That's gonna be great. Probably alot harder too. At least i got that. GH world tour is overrated, its clearly slipping, i cant believe they screwed up like this, if the next one isn't better then they've clearly jumped the shark. Buy rock band 2 instead, it has much, much, much, better songs.

Movie review: Four Christmases

So yesterday i saw Four Christmases, what did i think of it? I thought it was hilarious. Its about a happily unmarried couple who doesn't want kids or to be married, gets stranded at home and has to visit their parents who are all divorced and dysfunctional. I wont go into the details but it was a funny movie, a laugh out loud funny movie. Funny moments include two "semi professional" cage fighters who beat up their older brother, not realizing a $10 cap on presents so one kid gets an X-box and another gets a flashlight and destroying a house trying to install a satellite dish because of stubbornness. Its funny throughout and I enjoyed it. It wasn't perfect, no movie is, but it was quite funny. In album review terms, high 8 out of 10.

Albums You Must Have

Since Christmas is coming up soon, and as a way for me to get alot of album reviews in, I'm going to be doing mini-reviews of some albums which I believe are classics in every sense of the word. Not in any particular order.

Back In Black-AC/DC

If you don't have this album you're missing out on alot, if you don't like a single song on this album you're a complete idiot. I should just stop there, but I wont. Every song is perfect, some are lesser but not even approaching mediocre. My only complaint is that its AC/DC and the songs all start to sound similar after a while, but individually every song is near perfect. 10 out of 10

Master of Puppets-Metallica

This is the pinnacle of early Metallica. Yes, its pretty much a remake of Ride The Lighting, but it takes side 1 of that album and perfects it. People say side 1 is the best collection of metal songs ever written, and it may very well be, but side 2 is good too, though it can be kind of a disapointment when you get 3 or 4 perfect songs on side 1, you cant be better than perfect. The first track is the shortest at 5:12. Its really fast. Its got an acoustic intro, then a little flurry of electric before exploding. The next song is the title track. Its been called the best heavy metal song ever. I'm not going to argue there. Words cant describe it. There's also the best instrumental they've ever done on here, "Orion" is excellent. The rest of the songs are great also.
10 out of 10.

Superunknown-Soundgarden

Soundgarden is one my favorite bands,this album is in my opinion, one of the best albums of the 90s, the amount of diversity and songwriting skills on this is stunning. Its got 15 songs and is more than 70 minutes long, but it deserves to be 70 minutes long. It sounds like a greatest hits album half the time. "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman" were huge radio smashes back in 1994 (Black Hole Sun still is.) But anyone of these songs could have been big too, including the title track. Its got all sorts of psychedelic stuff too. Like "My Wave" which starts out as a great poppy rock song (but NOT pop-rock) that's ultra catchy but then morphs into a psychedelic freak out that doesn't loose its catchiness. "Head Down" is mind blowing, just 6:09 minutes of pure moody brilliance. "Mailman" and "Limo Wreck" are grindingly slow. "Spoonman" was huge and got played every 20 minutes practically, I still hear it on the radio, great song. Only two things are unnecessary, "kickstand" is a 1:34 minute throwaway tune with punk speed and "half" is just weird and I've listened to it maybe once. Absolute classic in every sense of the word. Very High 10 out 10.


Toxicity-System of a Down

SOAD is one of the very few modern bands I like. I used to think they were just another crappy Nu-Metal band, until I actually listened to them. If today's bands put even half the effort these guys do in their songs, maybe 96% of it wouldn't suck. Did I mention, they're all Armenian? Only one of them was actually born in America, and his parents are Armenian or something. Serj Tankian is one of the more versatile and interesting singers of today, he goes from melodic singing, to grunting, to yelping, to all sorts of weird stuff without blinking and it makes sense. The guitarist and back up singer has the exact opposite voice, almost 80s metal type, hard to describe, but it counterbalances his perfectly. They have all these thrashy parts combined with all this balladish melodic stuff usually in the same song. They use a bunch of ethnic instruments, like all those Armenian instruments and gentle soloing at the end of "psycho" intertwined with the "Psycho! Groupie! Cocaine! Crazy!" part in the chorus. But theirs more memorable chants and such. We got "Science! has failed! our world!" in "Science. and we got "Pushing little children! with they're fully automatics! they like to push the weak around!" in "Deer Dance". I think its about some riots in turkey or something about the Armenian genocide, idk. But the highlight is the title track, easily one of the best songs in years, just the way they have that little 2 second drum fill and then the drums working against the guitar is genius, its the little things that anyone could have done but they were too stupid too do that's part of the appeal. You'll be jerked around between all these emotions during this album, you'll be banging your head during the thrashiness, then think "gee, that's pretty." and then laughing at the lyrics and vocal mannerisms in the same song. Excellent album, possibly one of the best of the decade. 10 out of 10

Chronicles-Creedence Clearwater Revival

This is a greatest hits album, i haven't listened to it fully yet, so I'm not going to rate it. But I have listened to alot of it. It has most of their hits and singles, except "Born on the Bayou" instead of which we have 2 of the better songs from the awful Marti Gras. At least their the ones that John Fogerty sings on. When he lets the rest of the band try solo, like on that album, its absolutely awful. If it had "Born on the Bayou" of course it'd be perfect. But really, its missing why?! It makes no sense to leave that song out. But anyway, i will say this. This album is essential for anyone with any interest in classic rock what so ever.

Paranoid-Black Sabbath

This album is an absolute all time classic, its got "Iron Man" and "Paranoid" in the same album! Every song, except the instrumental "Rat Salad" is great. Yes, maybe the lyrics arnt great at times, but think about how many bands wouldn't have existed without this album, really, most of them. These guys and The Beatles (who I'm not very familiar with) pretty much created everything you hear today. "Planet Caravan" is a weird song that's really psychedelic. "Fairies Wear Boots"
is a great song and its got "Iron man" and "Paranoid" That speaks enough about this album. 10 out of 10

Honorable mention

Powerage-AC/DC 9 out of 10

...And Justice For All-Metallica 9 out of 10

Badmotorfinger-Soundgarden 9 out of 10

Ride The Lightning-Metallica 10 out of 10

Other people that do rants that I like

besides doing my own rants, i also read and watch other peoples as well, many of these people inspired me to start this blog.

62365

This guy, with his strange name of a few numbers, is the guy who originally inspired me to do this blog. And i admit, i steal some of his points on things too, in fact, i liked his NASCAR one so much, i decided to use alot his talking points, cause its so true, yeah, my best rant isn't even completely mine. I admit, alot of my really early posts, were not completely my own ideas, but really, this guys hilarious, o yeah, i started using his Later thing too cause i liked it so much. It works doesn't it?

http://www.youtube.com/user/62365

Angry Video Game Nerd

I like this guy, he's very funny, he also cusses alot, but i try to keep this clean, which is why I don't post his videos. I did however, take some of his pens at the post office rant. Off his you know whats Bull$*1* series of videos. He normally reviews really old games and are hilarious. But besides for that pens at the post office, i don't take any of his ideas or reviewing style.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesNintendoNerd


Brad’s Completely Useless Record Reviews


Now this guy is called Brad, and hes not my cousin. He inspired me to do albums occasionally, even though he admits he ripped of 99% of Mark Prindles writing style. he also used to cuss in alot of his early reviews, but he almost never does anymore, hes matured alot. He also seems to be really slow in updating lately, but whatever, I also adopted his simple 1-10 rating system, instead of letters, grades or such. he also likes Led Zeppelin alot for some reason. Other than that he seems to have somewhat similar tastes to mine.

http://www.geocities.com/bradreviews/

Theres also some random teens who did some things on HSM that i can't pinpoint.

Those 3 are ones i like alot. Theres probably more, but i'll edit this list over time. Later.

Album review, Death Magnetic by Metallica (it dosent suck this time, i swear)

So i just bought the new Metallica album that came out 2 weeks ago, currently its #1 in almost every country. After the pile of utter crap that was St.Anger with its mind numbingly stupid lyrics (("My lifestyle! Determines my deathstyle!") ("Frantic-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tock!"), ridiculously simple riffs, no solos, and terrible, terrible production. We didn't think they could be intelligent again. Wow, were we wrong. This album is a very good one. In fact, probably the best one they've done in 20 years. They've combined all their previous influences and for the most part got rid of the pop concerns from their self titled 5th album. And they've started to play the kind of music that they played in the 80s. That's very good. My only complaint with this album, is that its so compressed. alot! The sound quality is bad at times. All this unnecessary distortion. And its mixed way,way too loud. I'm playing it now and Ive got my computer volume on less than half and my rhapsody volume(its kinda like i-tunes) very, very low, and this album is still plenty loud. Its so loud and compressed. Anyway, its still good. I mean, they even have an instrumental track again! Its almost 10 minutes! and its good! Its great they've realized their former sound somewhat. While these songs are mostly midtempo and somewhat inferior to their 80s material, its still a great album. My favorite track, by the way is track 4. "The Day That Never Comes" . It sounds kinda like "One", you may have heard that, its on Guitar Hero 3. Not quite as good but it comes close. 8 out of 10

Ok, maybe it sucked a little, but comon, its almost 9:47 PM. Next time: headlights on cars.