Buried in the Front Yard...
... not the Back Yard.
*evil laugh* Although I am POSITIVE that NONE of the people who read this (all 3 of you) will get that reference off the bat, I'll quickly explain it. It's from the cover of a new album I bought today: Rumpelstiltskin Grinder - "Buried In The Front Yard...". The cover features that lovable goblin-thing of fairy tale land, Rumpelstiltskin, digging a nice big hole to bury a body in the front yard of a freaky looking house. When you open up the booklet for the album though, you see that the picture continues, showing the back yard. Under the caption "... not the Back Yard." you see piles of bodies on a huge wasteland. Oh man... that amused me WAY too much to be healthy, hahahahahaha.
Anyway, alas, I've been blowing huge wads of cash on CDs since coming to university, especially the past couple weeks. Firstly, I've been succumbing to all those "2 for $25" and "2 for $30" deals. It started with the double-whammy of Metallica - Kill 'Em All and Metallica - Ride The Lightning. Up to that point, I had never heard any albums by Metallica - in fact, I had only heard three songs. There was Until It Sleeps, from Load, Enter Sandman from S/T and I Disappear from the Mission Impossible 2 Soundtrack. None of these are truly representative of Metallica as a metal band, since their self-titled was more mainstream effort and Load (as well as everything post-Load) was jut hard rock. Well, what can I say: the pure, straightforward thrash metal assault that was Kill 'Em All really did slay me, and then the much more mature and experimental Ride The Lightning blew me away. Those two albums were like nothing I'd ever heard before, and really got me more interested in thrash metal as a genre. The only representative album I had already heard was Kreator's Enemy Of God (which I loved at the time, and love even more now). I can now absolutely say that I am a huge fan of old Metallica (I haven't heard enough "new" Metallica to pass judgment, so I won't.)
I don't want to spend this whole post talking about all the stuff I bought, so it's time for ULTRA SUCCINCT REVIEWS!
Various Artists - Roadrunner United: The album is varied, and there is a ton of great stuff. The songs Annihilation By The Hands Of God, In The Fire and Enemy of the State are my favourites, but most of the songs are really good. The bonus DVD that comes with it is an hour-long Making Of documentary, and it is FANTASTIC - really inspired me to pick up the guitar and play, haha.
Cryptopsy - Once Was Not: The production on this is pretty crappy, I have to admit, and the music is a little more straightforward that Cryptopsy typically put out, but I still think that it's a good album - Flo Mounier is one of the greatest drummers of all time.
Soulfly - Dark Ages: I'd never heard anything by Soulfly before, despite the band being fronted by Max Cavelra, formerly of one of my favourite bands Sepultura. Well, I thought this was a good album - great stuff vocally from Max, and I still dig the tribal stuff he always puts into the music.
Metallica - Master Of Puppets: For the most part, accepted as Metallica's masterpiece. Well, I think it's awesome, but actually favour Ride The Lightning and Kill 'Em All. Don't really know why. Still an amazing album, though.
Metallica - Metallica: The release where they went in a much more mainstream direction. I really can't get into this in the same way as the earlier albums. There are a few classic songs, but there are some duds too. Merely average.
The Black Dahlia Murder - Miasma: A frantic album of melodic death with two vocal styles: a death metal growl and a higher-pitched rasp. This is quality stuff, with solid songwriting and a definite sense of urgency.
And then today, there was Rumpelstiltskin Grinder - Buried In The Front Yard..., which may be slightly tongue-in-cheek lyrically, but is very tight musically. For a debut album, it's especially impressive. This is thrash metal through and through, and there are amazing riffs and leads all through this thing. The vocals are unlike anything I've heard before, managing a harsh growl that is quite understandable. The lyrics are delivered with a lot of emphasis on each syllable, making them mesh with the groove of the song. My only wish was that it was longer, clocking in at only 34 minutes. Highly recommended album!
The second album that I bought today (which I don't really consider metal, although the band calls it that) was Sevendust - Next. I've been a Sevendust fan since they were called Crawlspace, appearing on the Mortal Kombat - More Kombat soundtrack. This is their fifth album, as they have been releasing an album consistently every two years since 1997. Musically, Sevendust haven't changed a thing - in fact, they really haven't changed their formula at all since 2001's Animosity. However, they have always had a style all their own, so the whole thing really hasn't gotten stale. Lajon Witherspoon has the best voice in all of hard rock - the guy can SING, and it simply MAKES this band. For fans of Sevendust, absolutely, pick up this album. People who are new may want to start with one of their older albums - Animosity would be a good start, as would 2003's Seasons in my opinion.
Okay, I think I'm going to start a new post with non-metal stuff now, so that it doesn't get lost in all this other stuff. RAN OUT OF ROOM IN THE NOW PLAYING... crap.
Peace.
*evil laugh* Although I am POSITIVE that NONE of the people who read this (all 3 of you) will get that reference off the bat, I'll quickly explain it. It's from the cover of a new album I bought today: Rumpelstiltskin Grinder - "Buried In The Front Yard...". The cover features that lovable goblin-thing of fairy tale land, Rumpelstiltskin, digging a nice big hole to bury a body in the front yard of a freaky looking house. When you open up the booklet for the album though, you see that the picture continues, showing the back yard. Under the caption "... not the Back Yard." you see piles of bodies on a huge wasteland. Oh man... that amused me WAY too much to be healthy, hahahahahaha.
Anyway, alas, I've been blowing huge wads of cash on CDs since coming to university, especially the past couple weeks. Firstly, I've been succumbing to all those "2 for $25" and "2 for $30" deals. It started with the double-whammy of Metallica - Kill 'Em All and Metallica - Ride The Lightning. Up to that point, I had never heard any albums by Metallica - in fact, I had only heard three songs. There was Until It Sleeps, from Load, Enter Sandman from S/T and I Disappear from the Mission Impossible 2 Soundtrack. None of these are truly representative of Metallica as a metal band, since their self-titled was more mainstream effort and Load (as well as everything post-Load) was jut hard rock. Well, what can I say: the pure, straightforward thrash metal assault that was Kill 'Em All really did slay me, and then the much more mature and experimental Ride The Lightning blew me away. Those two albums were like nothing I'd ever heard before, and really got me more interested in thrash metal as a genre. The only representative album I had already heard was Kreator's Enemy Of God (which I loved at the time, and love even more now). I can now absolutely say that I am a huge fan of old Metallica (I haven't heard enough "new" Metallica to pass judgment, so I won't.)
I don't want to spend this whole post talking about all the stuff I bought, so it's time for ULTRA SUCCINCT REVIEWS!
Various Artists - Roadrunner United: The album is varied, and there is a ton of great stuff. The songs Annihilation By The Hands Of God, In The Fire and Enemy of the State are my favourites, but most of the songs are really good. The bonus DVD that comes with it is an hour-long Making Of documentary, and it is FANTASTIC - really inspired me to pick up the guitar and play, haha.
Cryptopsy - Once Was Not: The production on this is pretty crappy, I have to admit, and the music is a little more straightforward that Cryptopsy typically put out, but I still think that it's a good album - Flo Mounier is one of the greatest drummers of all time.
Soulfly - Dark Ages: I'd never heard anything by Soulfly before, despite the band being fronted by Max Cavelra, formerly of one of my favourite bands Sepultura. Well, I thought this was a good album - great stuff vocally from Max, and I still dig the tribal stuff he always puts into the music.
Metallica - Master Of Puppets: For the most part, accepted as Metallica's masterpiece. Well, I think it's awesome, but actually favour Ride The Lightning and Kill 'Em All. Don't really know why. Still an amazing album, though.
Metallica - Metallica: The release where they went in a much more mainstream direction. I really can't get into this in the same way as the earlier albums. There are a few classic songs, but there are some duds too. Merely average.
The Black Dahlia Murder - Miasma: A frantic album of melodic death with two vocal styles: a death metal growl and a higher-pitched rasp. This is quality stuff, with solid songwriting and a definite sense of urgency.
And then today, there was Rumpelstiltskin Grinder - Buried In The Front Yard..., which may be slightly tongue-in-cheek lyrically, but is very tight musically. For a debut album, it's especially impressive. This is thrash metal through and through, and there are amazing riffs and leads all through this thing. The vocals are unlike anything I've heard before, managing a harsh growl that is quite understandable. The lyrics are delivered with a lot of emphasis on each syllable, making them mesh with the groove of the song. My only wish was that it was longer, clocking in at only 34 minutes. Highly recommended album!
The second album that I bought today (which I don't really consider metal, although the band calls it that) was Sevendust - Next. I've been a Sevendust fan since they were called Crawlspace, appearing on the Mortal Kombat - More Kombat soundtrack. This is their fifth album, as they have been releasing an album consistently every two years since 1997. Musically, Sevendust haven't changed a thing - in fact, they really haven't changed their formula at all since 2001's Animosity. However, they have always had a style all their own, so the whole thing really hasn't gotten stale. Lajon Witherspoon has the best voice in all of hard rock - the guy can SING, and it simply MAKES this band. For fans of Sevendust, absolutely, pick up this album. People who are new may want to start with one of their older albums - Animosity would be a good start, as would 2003's Seasons in my opinion.
Okay, I think I'm going to start a new post with non-metal stuff now, so that it doesn't get lost in all this other stuff. RAN OUT OF ROOM IN THE NOW PLAYING... crap.
Peace.