10-14-2008
Update 10.14.08
METALLICA
Seriously, it’s been too long, friends. My apologies for making you fine people who come to S&T looking for insightful and entertaining comments on classic metal and hard rock only to find that my lazy ass hasn’t updated in over a month! Pathetic. It would be excusable if I had a job or something else taking up my time. I mean, living in mom’s basement here allows me to pretty much do whatever I want. Sorry…I’ve just been depressed about not winning any annual blogger awards (again).
So - Death Magnetic. Easily the best Metallica album since ‘88. Yeah, better than the black album.
I know, the ’90s was the decade that Metallica came the biggest band on the planet. But since when does being popular mean being great? Sure, they sold a lot of records, but how many of those fans are still listening to Metallica? How many will still be listening in another 10 years? I’m not sure, the % of new fans they made in the ’90s will be very, very low (does that make since to you?). Anywho -I’ve already gone through all of this - one thing I do want to address, however, is St. Anger. St. Anger has been given many clever nicknames, such as St. Crap and St. Shit, but I, proudly, can say that I’ve never insulted it or wrote it off as awful. Truth is, I’ve been listening to it along with the new one, DM. And while it pales in comparison, Anger isn’t that bad.
Yeah, Metallica was courting the teenage crowd, despite them being in the biz for 20 years. And I did always hate that, I mean I salute them for evolving and staying relevant, but why peddle to Mudvayne fans, etc? (NOthing against Mudvayne, I just didn’t understand why Metallica would try to be like those newer bands). So, yeah, there’s that ‘nu’ sound, the downtuning, the drums that seem off and the riffing, which was pretty substandard compared to some of their other albums. But you know what? It was heavy. It was aggressive. It was a metal album. It wasn’t a metal album from the ’80s, true. It was a new metal album - it had speed, aggression, intensity and …well, anger. And I’m starting to like it a little more.
And, to be truthful, I’ll listen to it more than I ever will the Load albums. Because it’s better.
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09-16-2008
Update 9.16.08
New XM AC/DC Channel
About time.
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09-16-2008
Update 9.16.08
Vital Idol
Despite several compilation albums, including the late ‘80s album, Vital Idol (which was supposed to be a greatest hits, but excluded ‘Rebel Yell’ (HOW?)), a new Idol ‘Very Best’ came out recently.
Picked up Billy Idol’s ‘Very Best’ album recently and while I’ve always liked Idol, there are about 4 tracks on here that could be removed. Seriously, there are four in a row here that came out in the mid-80s that I’ve never even heard of. A co-worker vouched for a couple of them, but I find it hard to believe they were hits, especially listening to them today.
There are 4 new ones at the end that one could argue were also unnecessary. One is from the “Speed” soundtrack, one from the last album a few years ago ‘Devil’s Playground’ and a couple of new ones. I think these should be on there. In fact they’re the selling points for me.
There is something impressive about Billy Idol. Listening to these old tunes, this guy had to have a certain charisma or something special to pull them off because, frankly…several of them just aren’t that good. The music is usually pretty mid-paced. I mean, I know Billy has Gen X punk roots, but nothing about him or the music is very fast or aggressive – but something works.
And I dig the new stuff. He sang and cowrote one track on Tony Iommi’s solo album, “Iommi”. It was one of the best on the album and a solid track. Also, his newer stuff is pretty solid. And consistent. I mean, he hasn’t really changed and the music doesn’t really seem influenced by anything new in the last 15 years. It just sounds like a musician that had a set sound 20+ years ago. And wasn’t that ‘Cyberpunk’ album from the early/mid-90s supposed to be pretty good? Kudos to William. I’m glad to hear from him and Mr. Steve Stevens, too. May have to pick up that ‘Devil’s Playground’ after all. But I think I will go ahead and skip the Christmas album.
And while I’m thinking of Billy Idol, I had no idea until reviewing his old album covers, but the guy has a major Phil Collins complex. Not that he’s obsessed with Phil Collins, but every Idol album cover (up to Cyberpunk, anyway) is basically a close-up photo of Billy’s face. There was a slight change with ‘Charmed Life’, in that it wasn’t so much a close-up. So, possibly an egomaniac? Think about it. Speaking of, I’d better drink another drink – ‘cause it will give me time to think.
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09-16-2008
Update 9.16.08
New “Tallica”
My feeling on the term ‘tallica’ – sucks.
My feeling on the new ‘tallica album – very good.
I am pretty impressed with this one. Some great riffing, strong solos and heavy grooves in here. Heck, even Unforgiven III is listenable – though certainly not the strong point of the album. In fact, I’m not sure I’m forgiving them for writing a trilogy of songs (but at least they don’t have Jar Jar Binks in them). Nonetheless, a very nice return to form. Classics? We’ll see. In my opinion, these are the best they’ve done since ‘88’s Justice album.
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09-08-2008
Update 9.08.08
And Now For Something…Different
Got my first SYL album in the mail today. Can’t believe I just now got this. Strapping Young Lad. No excuse here as I had ‘Underneath the Waves’ on a sampler cd and always liked it. It’s on the City album (1997), which is supposed to be their best. Killer. Very different from most metal albums. Interesting mix of industrial thrown in there. I can’t yet say this is a great album though, as the last two tracks seem weaker…or slower, anyway. I mean, what’s the point of SYL doing slower songs? Is there a crossover market somewhere? Anyway, didn’t dislike any of the songs, but I did think the last two be a bit weak. Great otherwise and I look forward to hearing more.
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09-08-2008
Update 9.08.08
‘Tallica Revised
Heard the new song, ‘My Apocalypse’ again. Definitely growing on me. Also heard another new one called ‘Judas Kiss’. Whatever – guess I shouldn’t say much until I’ve heard it a few times. Of course one problem with hearing all this “‘Tallica”, as James Hetfield refers to them, is that since I haven’t followed this band since growing extremely sick of the black album, I can’t tell when some songs are new and some were just Load/Reload stuff.
As much as I’d like to sound cool, I’m actually looking forward to hearing this album. Enjoying what I’m hearing so far. Well, not looking forward to Unforgiven III. Seriously. The first one sucked. The second one, too. If they were going to write a sucky song for this album, couldn’t they at least give it an original name? Sheesh. I’d respect them more for just leaving it off and releasing 8 long songs – Puppets style.
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09-01-2008
Update 9.01.08
New AC/DC
There’s a new AC/DC song available called ‘Rock & Roll Train’. They’ve got a new album coming out this fall (after 8 years of nothing) and I was pretty excited. This was my favorite band at one time and the title has promise, like this could be really catchy. And you know what? It sounds like an AC/DC song. One of their usual ones. So, nothing to get real excited about, I suppose. Frankly, there’s no way I can even criticize these guys since I’m pretty much a worshipper. I’ll end up with the album eventually, I suppose. Next time I’m at Wal-Mart, anyway.
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09-01-2008
Update 9.01.08
New ‘Tallica
First of all, Metallica has their own XM radio station now. Of course, it will gone soon – there are only so many bootlegs of Ktulu I can take (oddly, this station is not getting as old as fast as Zeppelin’s station did). Anyway, there are lots of snippets of interviews with the band members on the station between songs. The most annoying which doesn’t feature Lars is one of James referring to the band as simply ” ‘Tallica’”. That extra ‘muh’ sound in front apparently just a waste of energy. Very annoying – kind of like the way ME-tallica tried to be the MMJ of the late ‘90s and early aughts (‘00s). You know, by booking tours with Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, Kid Rock and System of a Down. Apparently they felt that being a legendary and landmark metal band wasn’t quite as good as being part of a passing fad.
Well, they’re still around, despite not releasing much of note in 16 years (of course, I seem to be the only one that doesn’t constantly dog the St. Anger album – I mean, hey, at least it was fast!) and the pressure is on them after the all around negative opinions of their last album (5 years ago!). So here we are.
The new single is ‘The Day That Never Comes/Came’ – that’s based on what I remember. Something to do with child abuse I think. And you know what? It’s good. Actually, I think it’s quite good. Starts out slow (this new vocal style by James is on there and that’s not a good thing), gets faster and then there’s some soloing and good riffing. Overall a good return to form.
Now, was it hard to do? OF course not. They knew that everyone just wanted them to return to their ‘80s style, which was riffing and some sort of epic formula (long tracks with lots of changes). So that’s what they did. Now, it seems pretty harsh to ask them to do that and then criticize them for it, so I guess I can’t say too much bad about it.
But there’s a second song that’s floating around out there – ‘My Apocalypse’. This song is not too impressive. But, it is fast. I suppose I should be happy, huh?
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09-01-2008
Update 9.01.08
My Morning Jacket – Currently Popular
So, while being in Dallas for the Masters of Metal show, I was brought along to a show the next night as well – My Morning Jacket.
First, I am not familiar at all with their music, though I have read overall positive/complimentary things about the band. The show? Good. They put on a good show and had some good guitar solos and jams. They also had some moments that sounded more industrial, like something off a Beck album. I suppose you could classify this band as diverse.
Here’s the biggest turnoff about MMJ: the place was packed and I doubt half the people were there to actually hear music. You see, it was ‘the place to be’. Now, at about $40 tickets, I’ve got to think that there would be a singles bar around with a lower cover charge than that. Very annoying to see groups of girls chatting and laughing and guys all slicked up just moving around the venue to socialize. I haven’t really seen activity like this at a concert since Harvey and the Wallbangers played at my junior high.
Again, MMJ is a pretty solid band, but whenever your crowd consists of a bunch of scenesters, I think it would be harder to hang around for the long run.
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09-01-2008
Update 9.01.08
Masters of Metal
Back from the Masters of Metal celebration and my neck has finally healed enough to sit and type this. Actually, I typed up a quick review a week or so ago, but the computer messed up and shut down without saving (I swear it wasn’t my fault) and I was so mad afterward that I had to wait awhile before re-attempting.
Anyway, it was nice to head out of town for some good old-fashioned fun and get away from the political convention crowd.
Openers were Testament and Motorhead – for some reason (actually, I know exactly why) I missed Testament. But according to the 65-year-old man I spoke with while waiting on the urinal, they were very good. I did arrive in time for Motorhead and the volume was just as I remembered last time – it shook my clothes. I was impressed they pulled out ‘Going to Brazil’, which they did not do the last time I saw them. That’s got to be my fave ‘Head song – not sure why, but I just really like it. Great to see Lemmy etc. going at it, despite the confusing fact that they still open shows. My complaint here is that despite paying an outrageous amount to sit in the 7th row, I couldn’t even see Mickey D behind the kit. Does that makes sense?
Black Sabbath with Dio came out – yes, I’m calling it Black Sabbath and not ‘Heaven and Hell’ since that’s just silly. A great performance, as I figured it would be. Fantastic guitar solo by Iommi and a great performance by Dio.
Priest – opening with Nostradamus was ok, but I was pretty puzzled that they followed that with ‘Eat Me Alive’ (‘Metal Gods’ may have been between them, but strange to hear ‘Eat Me Alive’ at all). Overall a pretty impressive set by Priest. Apparently Halford is no longer worried about ‘gay’ rumors as he was wearing a very lustrous silver cape as he marched around with a giant candelabrum.
So there it was, the Masters of Metal – something I waited for over 3 months to attend. Was it worth it? Yep.
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