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: 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

Song and Video of the Week

Heres an old Soundgarden song, from back when they were an underground band, and noone had ever heard of them. it's pretty obvious from the bad production, and low budget video. But it still got on MTV. Dispite the production, its still a good song.

Soundgarden - Flower



Heres somthing funny, the lego man calls a construction company. (Danboe is the guy who submitted the video, and is the one making the prank call.)

Lego Man Prank Call

Song and Video of the Week

Heres a song I found, its a thrash metal song called "Weapons of our Warfare", it's by a band called Deliverance, there a Christian band with a singer that sounds alot like Ronnie James Dio. He sang about elves and stuff, this doesnt sound too out of place. If my opinion isn't enough, Lars Ulrich called this video one of his top 10 favorites. (Maybe that doesnt help, idk.) Bottom line, this song rules.

Deliverance - Weapons of our warfare



This is hystarical, a bear is tranquilized, lands on a tramploine, and faceplants on the lawn, hilarious.

Bear Trampoline

Song and Video of the Week

Here's a really good song, it's Skid Row, when they were really, really good. Unlike now. But that's not this song, this is when they still has Sebastian Bach, who's a really good singer. But all rambling filler aside this is a really good song. I like this song, alot.

Skid Row-18 And Life


This guy is hysterical, I've put on of his videos on here before, here's a contemplation with some of his funniest moments. Hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing.

Best of Drive Thrus

Song and Video of the Week

So, I think I've finally solved alot of problems, one is being able to watch music videos at school, another is Youtube not allowing me to embed anything. I've found the answer. Yahoo Video. Which I hope will be my new source of music videos, and it allows me to replace some that have been pulled off Youtube for one reason or another. (Ok, Yahoo music didnt work, so heres another source.)

Heres a really good song. it sounds like AC/DC but it's even better if that we're possible. The singer sounds like both singers from AC/DC combined. They do things AC/DC would never do, like the part near the end. And, scince their a metal band, their heavier. It really sounds like AC/DC with a more early 80s sound really. but this is a really good song.

Accept-Balls To The Wall

Accept - Balls To The Wall
Uploaded by hushhush112 - See the latest featured music videos.

Finally, someones making censored Angry Video Game Nerd videos. Now I can post them here! This guys hilarious, although at this point he was still developing his style and wasn't really "angry" yet.

Angry Video Game Nerd-Karate Kid (Censored)

Music Video Collection

I'm going to post every single song I've ever put on here, since I started this blog almost a year ago. It runs from oldest to newest.

Pantera-Walk


AC/DC-It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)


David Allen Coe-The Ride


Blackfoot-Train,Train


Class of 99-Another Brick In The Wall pt. 2 (Pink Floyd cover)


Metallica-Enter Sandman


Metallica-One


System of a Down-Toxicity


Soundgarden-Spoonman


Public Enemy & Anthrax - Bring the noise


Hank Williams Jr. - A Country Boy Can Survive


Boston - Rock and Roll Band


I'll Sue Ya - Weird Al Yankovic



Metallica-Harvester of Sorrow (live,1991)


Megadeth-Hangar 18


AC/DC-Jailbreak



Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit


Metallica-Master Of Puppets



Bush-Machinehead


Merle Haggard - Mama Tried (live)


Judas Priest - Breaking The Law (Live 1986)


Bush - Comedown


Lynyrd Skynyrd-Tuesday's Gone


Alice in Chains-Got Me Wrong (Unplugged)


Metallica - ...And Justice For All (live-1989)


Bob Seger-Turn the Page


Metallica-Turn the Page (cover)

Video and Song of The Week

This is hilarious, a kids mom hides and scares her kid singing Britney spears, he got what he deserved for singing Britney Spears.

Kid singing Britney Spears scared to death by his mom


Here's a really good song. It in the beginning of Happy Gilmore and its on Guitar Hero: Metallica. Which is really good and which I'll talk about later. But this is a good song.

Tuesday's Gone-Lynyrd Skynyrd

Song and Video of the Week

Heres a great song that you've probably heard. It's ultra catchy, I think this live version is even better than the album version, they play it faster herE. Classic heavy metal song.

Judas Priest - Breaking The Law (Live 1986)


Heres another song I like, also by Bush. They sound kinda like a british Nirvana, only more commericial, but they had some good songs. Like this one. It's just sad how the lead singers doing pop-ballads now. Im sure you've heard them, their on the radio now. (I just realized this video cuts short right near the end, heres the full song)

Bush - Comedown


This video is just a kid playing with some puppets

Muppets elmo cookie monster Safety violation Gone wrong



A cop is giving a lecture on gun safety when his own gun goes off accidently, kinda ironic. Yes, its real.

Accidental Discharge

Song(s) and Video(s) of the week

Yeah, I know I missed last week to this week you get 4 videos.

Songs of the week

I really like this song. I don't like the whole genre of "post-grunge" but thats because its terrible now, it never used to be that way, its just that the third waves of stuff is terrible. But this songs great. And catchy.
The music video has embedding disabled so I just have this with the lyrics. But if you want something to watch theres a really good live version here. Good song.

Bush- Machinehead



Yay, another great country song.

Merle Haggard - Mama Tried (live)


Videos of the week

This probably hurt.

kid attempts flip into pool and gets seriously hurt


This is hilarious.
Worst Beatboxer Ever

Video and Song of the Week

This is funny, a baby panda sneezes and scares the bigger one.

Sneezing Panda




It's getting extremely hard to find songs. I search and search but all of them say "embedding disabled by request." Stupid record companies, don't they know I'm spreading their music? Anyway, I even got into my I-tunes looking for anything. I searched and searched about 10 people, nothing. I seriously considered putting Love Will Tear Us Apart, by the Joy Division on here, but do I really want the most depressing song ever made by the most depressing band ever? I even went back to weird Al for some reason. Although someday I have to post "trapped in The drive-thru". But, thankfully, I've found something, of course you've heard it a million times before.

nirvana - smells like teen spirit

Video and Song of the Week

King of the Hill is one of my favorite shows, someone made a soundboard, this is funny.

Hank Hill calls Home Depot




This is a good song, sorta stupid video, but it's a good song.

Jailbreak-AC/DC

Video and song of the week

I ride horses myself and I can say with certainty that this kid is an idiot. Also, they seem to just be trespassing on someone else's pasture or farm or whatever, even if this were his horses he'd still be an idiot. Though I'm kinda surprised he stayed on as long as he did, one thing that kinda disturbing is that they just laugh. Still kinda funny.


Stupid Kid



I'm not as much a fan of Megadeth as I am of Metallica, I don't own any albums, though I will eventually, but while they aren't as consistent, this is still a really good song. Skip to 1:13 for the music. In case you were wondering, the song (and video) is about aliens.

Megadeth -- Hangar 18

Video and Song of the Week

I was going to post a video of a real trampoline injury, then I decided, why not this?

The Simpsons - Trampoline Nightmare


This time I knew what I wanted, but album version or some live version? After looking at about 6 videos and watching every single second of them to check for content, I found one, good but not the best preformance, and not comparable to the album version but my choices were limited.

Metallica Harvester Of Sorrow Live in Moscow '91



This concert also had AC/DC, Pantera, and two other bands, One was The Black Crowes, the other was EST. On a side note, I heard that because of the extreme security at this concert, 18 people died. Good performence though.

Behind the Music...that Sucks: Death Metal

It all started long ago in a year known as 1983, a young 15 year old Bryan Warner, later known better as Marilyn Manson, found that normal metal didn't bother people over 30 anymore. So he decided to make it even louder. But first he needed a band. "It was real easy" Warner later recalled, "all I did was find some outcast middle schoolers, pay for 1 lesson, and that was all I did, it was so easy." All he needed was a vocalist. They soon found one: Cookie Monster. "As soon as I saw that audition tape I knew right away he was perfect." We here at Behind the Music that sucks have managed to find this audition tape, which you can view here: produced by Chad Portwine.



And so, the band Death, was born. Bryan Warner was the main songwriter. "We figured, why not make the most violent lyrics possible? And while we're at it, why not throw in the F-word every 2 or so lines?" Their material was so obscure that no copies can be found today. Nonetheless, they developed a small cult following among disaffected freaks and angry teenagers everywhere. But trouble soon brewed. The rest of The Jim Henson project known as Sesame street were getting disillusioned that Cookie Monster was spending more and more time with his side project, Death. Also, the band soon faced a lawsuit from another band, Death. They happened to spring up around the same time. Unfortunately, Death lost the lawsuit to Death. But, the band was highly influential, Cookie Monster started a style of singing that is still imitated today, and surprisingly, it doesn't require gargling razor blades. His experiences in the band, and being the main songwriter, helped turn Marilyn Manson into the freak he is today, and as for the other 2 guys with no musical talent, no one ever heard of them again. Nonetheless, they opened the door to future bands that no one has ever heard of. Although, we at Behind The Music That Sucks, got a chance to interview Chris Barnes, formerly of Cannibal Corpse. My words are in bold while his is in tiny little stick letters of death.

So tell me, how did Cookie monster inspire you?

I wouldn't be here without Cookie Monster, the day I heard his singing is the day I knew what I wanted to do in life.

What about the Musicians?

That was mind blowing to me, I mean, they all played something completely different, when the drums are doing one thing and the guitars are doing a completely different thing, you know?

Yeah. (picks up guitar, plays some random chords with no rhythm or anything)

That was really good, can I use that?

I didn't do anything

Sure you did. It sounds like something I'd play.

Hey, get that Goat out of here, there will be no sacrifices on my watch.

Aw, Comon.

No, I don't want your Satanic crap in here.

Alright, fine.

What do you think of Christian Death Metal?

That exists?

Yes, it does

Wow, that's surprising.

Can you tell me how do you play drums in Death Metal?

Oh, its easy, all you do is hit the drums as fast as you can, it doesn't matter what you do, theirs really no wrong way. Just slam the cymbals and bass drum alot.

Okay, then play me a blast beat

Alright.

(He stepped up to the drum set we had and started playing. Until the drumsticks flew out of his hands and went through the glass in the door.)

Ow!


Sorry!



From there, nothing much happened, all in all it was a pretty awkward interview. Of course, no one can beat the greatest Death Metal band to ever live, Slipknot.

Music at Walmart

I dont like the music selection at Wal-mart, it's terrible. They barely have anything. They have Top 40 and a few other things and that's it. In some places the only place to buy music is at Wal-mart. They have that market cornered. That's Bad. One good point some guy on the Internet made was that they refuse to sell uncensored albums, yet they sell R rated movies and M rated video games. Uncensored. Sometimes, even if an album doesn't have a sticker they'll still censor it. Except they don't tell you. I buy albums at Wal-mart sometimes, mostly because they have some good deals, but I make sure what I'm buying doesn't have a sticker on it so I know it won't be censored. They censor alot of albums that may or may not have deserve it. But they didn't censor Nickelbacks new album. Why didn't they? It doesn't have a sticker. Why not? I'll tell you why. Those "parental advisory" stickers don't have any set standards like with movies and video games. Whether or not it gets a sticker is determined by the record label. This leads to some albums with absolutely no cussing on them to get stickers, while some albums with all sorts language or objectionable content wouldn't get one. They didn't put it on the Nickelback album. I think that it's so it would sell more and wouldn't put off parents. Besides, the lyrics on that album are just downright idiotic. You know, Nickelback used to be a Metallica cover band, I'm serious, they started out playing good music. But anyway, album wasn't censored. Another thing is that Walmart never has anything where it should be. One time I was looking for something and found it half way down the aisle. I'm not kidding. It says the artist on the little cardboard thing you know? And theirs a hodgepodge of different people, but nothing of what it says it is. I've seen worse at bookstores with music organization. But still. It's really the fault of people who are too lazy to put things in the proper place. But wouldn't you'd think the store would move it back everyday? I prefer to buy music at Best Buy, they have an excellent selection of artists, sell uncensored album versions, and everything is always where it should be. Although sometimes it's a hit or miss. For instance. When I go to buy music, I have a mental list of albums I want. Let me tell you what happened once. I was looking for some albums. I looked at Anthrax, didn't have the album I was looking for (Among The Living). This is strange because it happens to be their most popular album. They had a bunch of greatest hits albums, but I'm not the kind of person who just buys a greatest hits album. Unless their mostly a singles band (Creedence Clearwater Revival) or have way too many albums (David Allen Coe, with 41 studio albums) then I'll make an exception. I mostly stick to actual albums and not contemplations. So I moved on to Soundgarden, I was looking for Down On The Upside, they had Superunknown (already had it, and one of my favorite albums by the way), Badmotorfinger (already had it), A greatest hits album (already explained), they even had Ultramega OK their debut album that was made back when they were a local band that no one had ever heard of. But they didn't have what I was looking for. I went to The Smashing Pumpkins,alot of Internet people (such as Mark Prindle) hate them, but you can't deny they have some good songs, plus Brad from Brad's Completely Useless Record Reviews gave it a 10. But I didn't didn't find what I was looking for (Siamese Dream). This is strange, because sometimes they don't have the most popular albums by famous musicians, but they will have just about every obscure Death Metal band and people you've never heard that of you can imagine. Seriously, I saw a band called Sounds Of Animals Fighting. I'm serious, what the heck is that? Nonetheless, Best Buy is an excellent choice of music, it blows Wal-mart out of the water.

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

Video and Song of the week

Video of the week

This is funny because its ironic.

Walmart Intercom: Michael Vick, please come to the....





This iv'e mentioned this in my last post, good song. Its got both Public enemy and Anthrax

Public Enemy & Anthrax - Bring the noise

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