Metal Monday #6

The first song in discussion this week will be our first live track, usually id try and avoid live material as the recording quality is never really up to scratch and the band never really sounds as perfected as they do on the studio, however this track is a testament to how brilliantly such a well rounded band can perform under live circumstances. The band is Vanden Plas and the song is the opening track on their Spirit of live album. The track opens with a the crowds chanting the group's name and the listener is instantly transported into the crowd, a nice touch by the producers. The track is very much a perfect sample of what you are going to hear from the rest of the album, tracks from the 4 albums preceding the recording. Andy Kuntz delivers a memorable performance during the track especially during when delivering the higher and more harmonized notes which seem to always compliment Stephan Lill's guitar work throughout the track.

Vanden Plas - I Can See (live)


This track is slightly different in that it is not technically metal, but hip-hop. The track, Awaiting the Hour, heavily samples Slayers Rainning Blood and the name has clearly been taken from the lyric within the song "awaiting the hour of reprisal". The song hails from Ill Bills 2007 mixtape Black Metal and is very typical of the artist, featuring heavy hitting lyrics that justify the heavy riffs playing over them. The name of the song and the lyrics they were derived from were later re-used as Ill Bills second studio album "The Hour of Reprisal", also featuring heavy metal orientated tracks such as War is my Destiny, i haven't went into too much detail on ill bill here so i can do a profile of him sometime in the future, for now enjoy the track.

Ill Bill - Awaiting the Hour


The next track I want to talk about is Megadeth's Insomnia. To most people it almost seems to be an accepted realism that a band older work usually seems to be better and their new work is unlistenable, Metallica being a prime example, another being Dragonforce, however a few artists do seem to mature as they get older and have not only listenable albums, but albums that destroy previous endeavors, The Beatles, Jurassic 5, Common and Savatage being just a few examples. I am not going to state that Megadeth's later albums are perceivably better than their earlier work, however I still find their later work pretty damn good and very listenable, especially when you consider Megadeth's long time rivals pitiful attempts at making music. Insomnia come from the groups 1999 album Risk, which was a critical and commercial failure, with fans complaining about the lack of metal, however I feel that Insomnia really stood as a testament to the group and to what the album was trying to do, even if it was slightly experimental. The band would return to form with later albums which provided touring grounds for the band especially after their brief breakup in 2002-2004. Insomnia has a seeming organic flow to it which seems to stem from the violins that are heard backing the track throughout. I really enjoyed this track from this ill fated album, so I urge you to give it a chance.

Megadeth - Insomnia


Next I want to talk about Tool's memorable song Hooker with a Penis. I was first introduced to this song (and the band) through a cousin of mine, being a big tool fan he naturally wanted to spread the word about the group, I listened, I enjoyed and I wanted more. The song is from their critically acclaimed album Ænima and after hearing it I was satisfied. I felt it was a very accessible album and still do, especially compared to a slightly more conceptual Lateralus. The song was one I ended up listening to a lot over the years and was probably one of the key songs that got me interested in the progressive metal genre, even if I didn’t consciously link the two at the time. The song is very typical of the time it was written in and of Tool themselves, containing slightly irregular drum patterns that a few bands seemed to be experimenting with at the time and also containing Keenan's signature vocal style dominating the track and almost sounding like an instrument itself due to the aggressive tone and meticulous timing of his words.

Tool - Hooker with a Penis


The last track is another entry from Dream Theater, a band who seem to, unsurprisingly, keep making appearances in our list of featured artists. This track I want to talk about is The Mirror from their 1994 album Awake. The song is a lot heavier than the majority of the band's songs and heavily leans towards the thrash metal genre that they would explore further in later albums which I personally felt came full circle within Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, most attempts at the heavier Prog Metal just didn’t seem to work out for the band which Train of Thought seemed to prove, this doesn’t however mean that all albums after Six Degrees were bad, with Octavarium providing some great tracks. The mirror opens with a very distinctive riff that carries though as a theme of sorts to the song, running and appearing throughout it. LaBrie's vocal work seems to work here better than it does in the groups later attempts at the heavier genre, mainly because he's signing more naturally and seemingly passionately. This brings me onto some of the bands later work, specifically Systematic Chaos, were LaBrie seems to drown out the instrumentals on the albums (which just don’t seem loud enough), and he sounds like he's just reading the lyrics off the page, putting no passion into the words he's singing, therefore creating no story or musical flow for the music to follow with Petrucci just masturbating on the guitar in the background for the sole reason that he can. The Mirror is a prime example of when Dream Theater were an American muscle car speeding down the highway in what can only be described as progressive beauty. LaBrie balances his "metal" vocals well in this track and doesn’t go overboard on trying to tackle a genre he clearly can't, which as described above, he later goes on to do. The track also features exquisite work from Kevin Moore, from what would be his last album with Dream Theater. I personally think that Moore was one of the best things to happen to the band, Sherinian would prove to be an admirable follow up in the albums he was featured in, as for Rudess, I feel he was Dream Theater's Night of the Long Knives. Enjoy the track.

Bonus Track: Ok, so I've had this song in my library for a long time, a good few years ago it was put onto a compilation cd that I'd listen to in school and I thought it sounded very familiar, then I listened to The Mirror again and I thought they sounded similar, after some time I actually sat down and compared the two tracks and I founded that they sounded almost exactly the same. The song in question is Darkane's "Chaos vs Order". I am almost certain that Darkane just flat out stole this song from Dream Theater, they open the same way and have pretty much the exact same song structures with all the same instruments appearing at the same times and so on, I'm not sure if anyone has actually looked into this but I feel it they are way too familiar to be a coincidence, have a listen and see what you think.

Dream Theater - The Mirror
Darkane - Chaos Vs Order

Metal Monday #4

I have to apologize for the late post, if you were here earlier you will have read that we were having technical difficulties which prevented us from posting earlier (and also gained insight to what's coming up).

As you can probably tell by now, we LOVE our metal, it's something that has stuck with us from an early age and will almost definitely be blasted out of speakers as or coffins are being lowered into the earth (I'm not even joking here, I have songs planned out). This blog was primarily created to showcase our work as DJ's and our love for dance and electro music, but we feel it is vitally important to not only remain true to ourselves and talk about what we actually live, love and breath but to also explain why. It's been a very progressive journey to get where our musical tastes now lie and we believe that you guys should see and understand that journey as its one of the biggest parts of who we are today.
It's likely that many people who come to this blog will come here for different reasons, maybe only coming for certain days, but we encourage people to come on all days as our goal here is a lot more than mere self-promotion, it's also one of enlightenment. I believe that most people (not all mind you) won't like certain types of music due to the clique's they associate with and the stipulations these groups of people apply to certain types of music and the ways they feel they should act. Let me teach you something, this is all bullshit. Music is an extremely subjective art form (aren't they all?), therefore its completely ludicrous to say something such as "if you like metal you can't like dance" or "if you dress like this, then you must listen to this", this is where things such as cutting your hair "isn't metal" comes from. If you believe these things, then you are very misguided and need to let go of these prejudices. Liking music comes from how you listen to it, two people may like a song for two completely different reasons because of how they decode the song, some people will follow the bass line, some will enjoy the lyrics, some will like the song because it was played when they first kissed a girl and some (most) will love a song because of how it comes together as a whole.
When I first started listening to electro I wasn't really sure why I liked it and it's only in the past year or two that I've realized that it was because there is a very, very fine line between dance and metal, they have the same basic timings and a lot of them have the same basic tempo's and all the good stuff has the brilliance that is distortion. The beauty of the internet is that it is a very personal vehicle, you can go and discover whatever you want, you can listen to who and what you want and you can watch whatever you want. When you're on your computer you are usually doing so by yourself, so don't be afraid to try new things, that’s why you have headphones .
If you are a die hard metal fan and come here only on Mondays (I know many come for more than Mondays) then I implore you to try new things and challenge you to give something new a chance. Sometime this week I'll be posting my latest mix, which was made in honor of metal and highlights the similarities between the genres it will have a metal theme progressing throughout it; maybe listening to this will change how you listen to the music and you a new understanding of it. I have a metal heart, this is why electro flows through me so easily.

Now that all that’s out of the way, the first band I want to talk about is a band I have a lot of time for and one which i one had a chance to see but never did (before the promoter fucked it up and ran out of funds, something which haunts me to this day), they are the Swedish prog metal Andromeda. In 1999 Johan Reinholdz produced a demo that would eventually go on to become the beginning of Andromeda. By autumn of that year the band had formed its Extension of the Wish line-up and were in rehearsals for the recording of the album, which would be their debut and an unforgettable moment for the band. At the time they hadn't found a full term vocalist so they hired Lawrence Mackrory as a session vocalist to sing on the first album, this was later ratified when the album was re-recorded in 2000 and finally released in 2004 with the tag line "Final Extension". The first Album was completed by spring of 2000 but didn't hit the shelves until February of 2001, by which time they had recruited David Fremberg as a vocalist and had even began re-recording the album. There is debate within the prog circles about which version of the album is better. Mackrory offered softer and higher pitched vocals were as Fremberg pleased a lot of fans with his heavier and gruffer approach. I personally am on the fence on this one, the first one I heard was Mackrorys, but the copy I had was Frembergs so they both have a a place for me. It’s a great way of studying how important vocals are to a song, as even though they have the exact same instrumental tracks, the vocals really set them apart, making them strikingly different. At some points during Mackrorys version of the album he tends to go slightly monotone and can sound like a dalek, however this isn't necessarily a bad thing as it adds a nice touch to the tracks that fits in really well with a lot of the ideologies of the prog genre. Martin Hedin definitely deserves a mention here, his key work constantly dominate the album, standing out , not drowning out, over the other instruments on the album. This is one of the reasons I picked the track Starshooter Supreme as my track of choice for this album, it is instrumentally one of my favorite tracks on the album, from what I have already said about the two versions you can derive what I feel about it vocally, the track I listen to depends on what mood I'm in at the time. Due to the history of the album I will be posting both versions of the track up and let you decide what you feel about it, I'm doing this as I have found it changes between person to person. Consider Frembergs version a bonus track, a first for Metal Mondays and perfect way to start things off on this more than metal Monday.

Andromeda - Starshooter Supreme (Lawrence Mackrory on Vocals)
BONUS TRACK: Andromeda - Starshooter Supreme (David Fremberg on Vocals) 


To continue on with the prog them I'm going to talk about a band and album that more than defines the genre. The reason for this is that the goal this band was trying to achieve was highly experimental, I am talking about Arjen Lucassen's project, Star One. Arjen Anthony Lucassen is more widely known for his other prog metal project Ayreon, who can best be described as an extremely progressive metal supergroup collecting the who's who of the progressive scene. Ayreon's concept is to tell a story within each of the albums, these stories are all connected and characters reappear in and out of each of the albums telling one big story; I won't get into this story here, nor on Ayreon, as that’s a whole other post for another day (hint hint).
Star One is Arjen's attempt at creating and establishing a sub-genre of prog metal called "Space Metal", which seems to be a modern day reinterpretation of the space rock genre from the prog rock of the 1970's+. Space Metal, also the albums name, has many links and homage's to sci-fi movies, television and novels such as: Star Wars (Master of Darkness), Alien (Perfect Survivor), Dune (Sandrider), 2001: A Space Odyssey (Starchild), Stargate (They Eye Of Ra ), etc. The album is an interesting concept that is very well executed and definitely one, like most of Arjen's albums, to listen to multiple times all the way through and then try and decipher some sort of meaning to. Unlike the Ayreon project, the songs aren’t really linked together as such, other than the sci-fi connection, so it gives the songs more individual meanings, however it should also be mentioned that the album flows perfectly and the songs have been designed to be listened to one after the other (so make sure you let iTunes gather that gapless playback info when updating your iPod). Also being a supergroup of sorts has some interesting and exiting names taking part, such as Symphony X's Russell Allen, Jens Johansson of Stratovarius, Dave Brock of Hawkwind (a band who had a huge influence on the project) and Gary Wehrkamp of Shadow Gallery to name just a small few.
I found it VERY hard to pick out a song from this album to tell you about, I very nearly picked the song Set Your Controls because it is the song that kicks the album off (despite it being the second track, the first being an intro) and does so in such a way that not many other bands could ever achieve. I have decided, however, to talk about Master of Darkness, which is a massive homage to Star Wars and specifically, my favorite film of all time, The Empire Strikes Back. This is a series of films that pretty much changed the face of film forever and created the era of modern cinema (it may also have ironically been its downfall in more ways than one, but that’s a different discussion for a different blog). If you don't know the story of star wars, then kill yourself, if you do and enjoyed it (who doesn't?) then this song might just pull at your heart strings in the ways it did mine. It is essentially talking from Luke's point of view, but sometimes switches to other characters and goes over many famous scenes from the film, it does this in typical Arjen Lucassen fashion by switching between vocalists and beautifully so, with different vocalists playing different characters. I won't discuss the plot too much as you should really already know it, and it's all explained beautifully in the song., but it essentially sum's up Luke's quest to be a Jedi.
As usual with Arjen's projects, he plays the majority of the instruments on the album, but less so than usual. Master Of Darkness is dominated throughout by a distorted guitar riff that perfectly sums up the word "metal" to me, it's that level of distortion of power chords that we've all come to know and love, this is perfectly harmonized with keys in just the right parts of the song, however I do feel they could have made more of an appearance, the vocals speak for themselves (this is the bit fo the song you should really be concentrating on), the guitar riffage and then solo just after the half way point are a testament to the project and is intertwined with lyrics that justify the passion of the solos and riffage at the times in which they appear. I really hope you enjoy this one as much as I did and still do and I seriously urge people to hunt down a copy of this terrific album and give it a listen, you might be very pleasantly surprised at what you find.

Star One - Master of Darkness (Link Fixed!!)


The next track I'm going to talk about cold be considered fairly proggy, which is why I'm posting it here as it marks a nice transition between the prog posted above, and the heavier stuff that will be posted below, it gets heavier as it goes down (nice touch ain't it?). The track I'm talking about is by a man known as Mattias IA Eklundh who is probably best known for his work with Freak Kitchen, a Heavy/Progressive Metal band. He has also done a small number of solo albums, which I personally prefer to his work with Freak Kitchen, this is mainly because the vocals of freak kitchen don't do it for me, they do have one or two songs that are quite interesting to listen to, one such being A Regular Guy. I don't want to talk too much about Mattias as his history is very long and varied as he has worked with a lot of people and there just isn't enough space here to do the man justice. On top of this I have a feeling that The Last JUNKER will almost definitely do a piece on him in the future and it's good to not repeat material; so be ready for that one. The song I chose for this particular post was Lisa's Passion for Heavy Metal from Mattias's first solo album (under his own name), Freak Guitar. It has a traditional metal riff throughout and Mattias's signature guitar work and sound (Mattias is one of the few artists who's guitar is instantly recognizable as being his within the first note or two).

Mattias IA Endunkle - Lisa's Passion for Heavy Metal.


The next band that I want to talk about is from a group who frequently find themselves roaring their wait into a lot of my dj sets, they are a group whose name seems to be a perfect analogy of the sound that they make. They are DevilDriver. DevilDriver began when Coal Chamber's front man Dez Fafara decided he didn't like were the band was going musically and killed the band, after meeting up with artists with matching musical goals and tastes Devildriver was born. It all essentially boiled down to Dez's desire to be involved in a heavier genre of music that would more readily compliment his distinctive vocal style. After the formation of the band, they were quickly in the studio and formed their first album, which was suitably called "DevilDriver" and it's where the song I have chosen comes from. What Does It Take (To Be a Man) comes in as the 8th track on the album and was probably placed so late in the album to hold the listeners interest in what is an unusually long metal album at 12 tracks long. The track is typical of DevilDriver from the get go featuring truly relentless guitar work which is suitably harmonized with the truly relentless vocals of Fafara. A solo features just after the half way point which I personally feel is quite underwhelming, however this doesn't take away from the song, and is something that the group would work upon and evolve in their later albums.

DevilDriver - What Does It Take (To Be A Man)


The last song I have decided to write about is possibly the heaviest, though it could be debated and it depends on what your view of heavy is (we would actually like to hear your comments on this one, so feel free to discuss and state you opinions in the comments for this post). The song I have decided to post is Death's cover of the infamous Judas Priest song Painkiller and was the last song on Death's final album. Death are one of the biggest keystones to the Death Metal scene, which can be attributed to their late songwriter, rhythm guitarist, lead guitarist and vocalist, Chuck Schuldiner's unmatched vocals and songwriting techniques. Schuldiner vocals differed from what went before, his voice hit higher scales and he screamed the lyrics to the songs creating a dark atmosphere that many, many vocalists afterward would emulate. Apart from this being one of my top listened to metal songs, one of the main reasons I picked this song to appear in today's post is because of Schuldiner and what I said earlier in my intro. Schuldiner was one of the few metal artists who openly spoke against the prejudices that metal carried with it, he was not a man who wished evil upon people, he was not a Satanist or the antichrist. He states that he wrote the songs much in the same way that a horror director will make a horror movie or fantasy director a fantasy movie implying that you obviously don't believe in everything that you write (I doubt Tolkien believed in elves and orcs), and to him it was all a bit of fun. He was very much a humanist and didn't want to put religious beliefs in his music, he wrote what he enjoyed listening to rather than writing some sort of nutcase manifesto, which many at the time believed metal bands were doing. This is another reason for this song being chosen; it is a cover of a Judas Priest song, who were famously tried for the suicide of two boys (one of which survived a shotgun blast to the face and later killed himself) as people actually believe the band put subliminal messages in their music telling people to kill themselves. The case was dismissed. It doesn’t have to be said that Chuck's death was a blow to the music industry and he definitely had much more work left in him, he will be sorely missed. I'm not going to say much about painkiller as the song speaks for itself and I don't want to ruin the song to much with my opinions, I will however say to look out for the unbelievable solo contained roghly halfway though and the completely astounding death metal (verging on being power metal) scream that opens the song, it's beautiful and brings a smile to my face and warmth in my heart every time i hear it. Enjoy.

Death - Painkiller

Metal Monday #3

You may have noticed that we haven't been updating this as regularly as we'd like to. These things happen. It isn't necessarily laziness per say, but rather a combination of unexpected events and dilemmas occurring that were both unforeseeable and unexpected. Though readers would be justifiable in expressing their discontent at leaving such a long gap between posts, it is out of our hands. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. We figured throwing up a Metal Monday post on a Wednesday or Thursday would not only be disrespectful to anyone who actually follows this blog but it would also kind of defeat the purpose of the post. Regardless, we hope we can make amends today and hopefully there won't be a repeat occurrence in the future.

Onto the tracks. First up, we have the first song from the revolutionary album Alaska by Between The Buried And Me Though I had been a fan for a few months before I saw them live, it was only when I saw them supporting The Dillinger Escape Plan that all of the pieces of the puzzle fitted together. Here was a band that could very much send shivers down the average metal bands' collective spines, yet at the drop of the hat they could switch up their style to fit just about anything from Progressive Metal to Power or Death Metal. This fusion of genres was what really made this band stand out to me. Diversity is a rare thing in metal these days so it was an absolute pleasure to hear a band who were not only instrumentally extremely tight but who were branching out and doing their own thing irregardless of what the metal community thought. The song, All Bodies, in particular, was chosen due to it demonstrating their versatility on a grand scale. For example, on this track, one minute the song will be building up to a crescendo of riffage when suddenly it'll breakdown and the focus will be placed on keyboards which sound like something out of a Vanden Plas album. On a similar level, vocally, Tommy Rogers puts ex-Scar Symmetry frontman Christian Älvestam to shame by not only going lower than him but also hitting the higher octaves seamlessly, which is itself a huge testament to his ability because Älvestam is one of the pioneers of this technique. Musically, the band themselves have described their album Colors as "new wave polka grunge" and "adult contemporary progressive death metal" which should give you some indication as to how unique they are.

Between The Buried And Me - All Bodies

This next choice is mostly for nostalgia more than anything else. It is, of course, Fear Factory's Linchpin, a song which I first familiarised myself with in my teenage years at The Venue (R.I.P.) Interestingly enough, I get the impression that this song (and a bunch of others) will forever be intertwined with fond memories of moshpits and headbanging in this particular club, which is both saddening and satsifying. Fear Factory as a band never really reached this high point again in their career and appear to have slipped into obscurity in recent years due to creative rifts between the members. The song Linchpin itself is characteristic of the type of metal music that was being produced in the early 2000s, culminating heavy riff and drum patterns with borderline-growling vocals that eventually and inevitably manifest into a more tame vocal chorus. I'm guessing this is how the majority of metal bands crossed over into the mainstream consciousness. As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage and more recently Slipknot have all been guilty of this, not that I blame them, but it does take away from the music at times. In spite of this, Linchpin remains a track that still gets put on rotation every now and again and not solely for nostalgic reasons either.

Fear Factory - Linchpin

In direct contrast to the aforementioned compliant vocal melodies of the 2000s is Lamb Of God's Now You've Got Something To Die For, a track which is quite possibly my favourite by them. Believe me when I say that it pulls no punches in any respect. The brutality of what is on offer here would almost make you want to burn down a church out of sheer barbarity (but not quite.) I honestly can't remember how or when I was introduced to this track as it was quite some time ago but I imagine it was through my purchase of their eminent album Ashes Of The Wake which I acquired on a whim when looking for some heavier bands to listen to. Though many consider the standout song on that album to be Laid To Rest, which is in itself an incredible track, Now You've Got Something To Die For just takes it up to another level. In my opinion it not only spoils the album but spoils the majority of their discography due to it being so damn good. Like practically all of Lamb Of God's material, it doesn't compromise for even a second. Just to give you a sneak glance of exactly how uncompromising this track is, I will supply you with a sample of some lyrics:

Bombs to set the people free, blood to feed the dollar tree
Flags for coffins on the screen, oil for the machine
Army of liberation, gunpoint indoctrination
The fires of sedition
Fulfill the prophecy

Enough said.

Lamb Of God - Now You've Got Something To Die For

For the fourth track I've decided to go with something a bit different, a band that appears to have been forgotten about in the past couple of years, Pagan's Mind. Unfortunately I don't get enough time to listen them enough these days but hopefully that will change in the future. Like many bands who have played the illustrious ProgPower festival (and its various different incarnations) throughout the years, I was first introduced to this band by their placement on the ProgPower bill. Though it wouldn't be wrong to describe them as a Power-Progressive hybrid, there is so much more to their music than just being a band who fuses together two different genres. There are many different experimental elements to their music and you can tell they are deeply influenced by Symphonic Metal by their compositions and reliance on grandiose keyboard parts and guitar and bass accompaniment. Though I've been listening to this band for quite a few years now, I first fell in love with A New Beginning in my second year of university after an impromptu listen one morning, much to the deterrence of my housemates. This song not only conjures the spirit of the band perfectly, but it also has one of the best opening riffs of all time. So good, in fact, that that same morning I found myself air guitaring standing atop my bed which I can assure you is an extremely rare occurrence these days.

Pagan's Mind - A New Beginning

Lastly, continuing with the 'different' take I have decided to go with my favourite band, Dream Theater. Anyone who knows me knows that I have been a diehard Dream Theater fan since first hearing Awake around 2002. When that album entered my life I knew that not only had I changed in terms of listening but also that I was developing my tastes extremely rapidly. Contrary to what most people think, Dream Theater was not my first foray into the Progressive Metal genre. In fact, it was Symphony X with their track Eyes Of Medusa that introduced me to the genre. It was Dream Theater, however, who sealed the deal. Though I still think that their earlier stuff is a masterclass in musicmanship, I have been becoming less and less attached to them in recent years. The first album that for me was a bit of a letdown was Train Of Thought, their take on the balls-to-the-wall thrash metal genre. Although the follow-up Octavarium was an interesting return to form in a lot of respects, anything past that has just lost my interest. Recently I have been delving into my CD collection and picking out dozens of albums to listen to over the space of a few weeks. From these lists, Images And Words, Awake, Scenes From A Memory and Train Of Thought have made it onto the shortlist. I honestly don't know why I picked Train Of Thought, its an album I rarely, if ever, listen to. I guess I felt compelled to give it another chance and although it still makes me feel a little underwhelmed, the song, This Dying Soul, really shows what they're capable of. Though it is most definitely on the heavier side, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Just listen to The Glass Prison and then you'll see what I'm talking about. Not only are the instrumental parts of This Dying Soul technically sufficient, but every band member seems to really shine on this track, whether it is through the guitar and keyboards harmonising, the drums not only keeping but dictating the flow and the bass providing a solid foundation. What is also surprising about this track is that James LaBrie provides shockingly good vocals. It is no secret that his vocal cords were damaged in a food poisoning incident in 1994 and they have never truly recovered, but on this track his vocals fit perfectly to the music, proving just how adaptable he can be.

Dream Theater - This Dying Soul

Metal Monday # 2

Savatage - Sirens 
Classic metal here for the dedicated metal fan. This track comes from Savatage's debut album "Sirens" and is without a doubt one of my top listened to Savatage songs. Sirens is a perfect example of what Criss Oliva was capable of, as like the majority of Savatage's back catalogue, he played all guitars on the track, and did so with the grace that only Criss could, on top of this, Jon Oliva also shows us some early examples of his trademark shrieks within the track. Savatage are a rare example of a band that sounded better live than on the album, this can be heard within their live recordings, or by purchasing a ticket to a Jon Oliva's Pain gig and hoping they play a few Savatage tunes.

Droid - Together We Die
Coming from DROID's first album "DROID", Together We Die is a prime example of how metal is still progressing for the better. This groove metal/metalcore band sound very reminiscent of much of Devildriver's work with elements of Lamb of God, but their own unique touch. Unusual for a metal band within this genre is how the song's are structured, as unlike many bands, the vocals within their songs are coherent and not lost under bass like growling or distorted guitars. Something I noticed on the songs is the absence of guitar solos, which I personally think is a good thing, they get to the point and don't mess about with finger tapping nonsense, which most bands end up doing. Together We Die has some of the best drum work I've heard in recent years, and is a stand out track on Droids debut album, also look out for Fueled By Hate, which also left me wishing I was drummer.

Scar Symmetry - Slaves to the Subliminal
I just haven't been able to stop listening to this track over the past two months, it came on random on my mp3 player when I was doing a late night shop in Tesco's and I ended up walking around the store nodding my head with a ridiculous grin on my face, needless to say I looked like an idiot, but it was completely worth it. This soul crunching track from Symmetry's memorable second album, will hopefully have you wanting to take up MMA as a full time career. I was first introduced to Scar Symmetry in 2006, not long after their second album came out, the track I heard first was the mesmerizing "The Illusionist" and the rest of the album quickly followed. Slaves to the Subliminal is unnatural proof of how someone can go between deep growling vocals to pitch perfect harmonics within a fraction of a second, which was an rare ability Christian Älvestam, their now ex-vocalist, held.

Children of Bodom - Needled 24/7
Needled 24/7 is the track that first got me interested in Bodom, it stood out on Hate Crew Deathroll as it got straight to work on driving heavy riffs into your ears (it's the first track on the album) with a nice combination of a guitar riff that sets the pace for the song, keyboard mastery that wouldn't sound too put of place in a video game, and then drums that are beyond ludicrous this is where the vocals hit and give us an impression of what the rest of album will sound like. Although I haven't dedicated much of my time to Bodom over the last 2 odd years, 24/7 is a track and Hate Crew Deathroll is an album that will occasionally still flick on out of interest and nostalgia. Be sure to listen to the guitar solo near the end of the track which sounds like it should be in a JRPG.

Jameson - Beat It.
The last track is a bit of fun, a tribute to The King, but also a stand out metal cover. It is obviously a cover of Michael Jackson's perfect track "Beat It". Jameson are band I've only recently come in contact with through their debut album Down For The Count, which includes a few memorable tracks such as "Get to the Choppa" and "Morphium". The beat it cover is an interesting track of what cover songs can do, and is a hint to an upcoming post. Nothing much really needs to be said about this track as you can just listen to the track and form your own opinion.

Metal Monday #1

This is something we have had planned for quite some time. It is no secret that the writers for AHC are huge metal fans. It is, without a doubt, one of the biggest influences on our lives. We grew up listening to it and it has helped shape who we are today. Unlike a lot of other early teenage metal fans, however, we never grew out of it. In fact, our adoration has almost increased over the years and at least one of us can be frequently found at the latest concerts featuring heavy acts.

The idea behind Metal Monday is basically every Monday a different blog staffer will take the reigns and post up any metal tracks they've been enjoying that they wish to share with the world. There are no genre or subgenre limitations. As long as it can be classified as metal, it is eligible for posting. There are also no specifics, which essentially means that anything goes. The reason behind this is to keep it fresh. For instance, one week you could be listening to the high-pitched wails of Timo Tolkki from Stratovarius, the next you could be hearing the dissonant, abundant distortion of Gorgoroth, .

Once we get our shit together, we are hoping to make a variety of different daily posts based on conceptions similar to this. Techno Tuesday or Funky Friday, for example. Unfortunately due to other commitments and blog-related issues we have been unable to pursue this task but we fully intend on persevering and accomplishing it sometime within the near future. It could be a week, a month or even a year from now.

Onto my post. For this post I have decided to mix the old with the new, blending a variety of styles and genres for contrasting effect. The majority of the stuff is extremely heavy and will possibly put a few people off. The likes of Slipknot, Metallica, Oceano, Sikth and Overkill all make appearances.

The first track is Slipknot's People = Shit, a track that until recently I had all but forgotten about. I was first introduced to this song through a Kerrang compilation CD around 2000-2001. Up until this point, Slipknot had been kicking the world into a frenzy with their debut self-titled LP and the wait for their next album, entitled Iowa, was exponential. The aforementioned compilation CD was no doubt a promotional mixtape designed to wet fan's collective appetites; a goal it easily achieved. Just like Iowa itself, People = Shit was the opening track (515 doesn't count as a proper track) and what an opening track it was. To those naysayers who claimed the band had lost some of their driving force in the time between the albums, this was a track for them: an absolutely brutal Molotov cocktail of chord progression, turntable scratching and signature drum patterns complimented by a performance by Corey Taylor that is arguably one of his finest moments.

Slipknot - People = Shit

Secondly, we have Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls. I will be the first to admit that, like the rest of the world, I abandoned Metallica after listening to St. Anger in its entirety. Here was a band that had a loyal legion of fans who stuck with them through thick and thin, awaiting an album worthy of the likes of Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets, ... And Justice For All or even The Black Album. Around early 2003, the first details emerged of such an album. With the departure of their bassist Jason Newsted and the consequent inclusion of ex-Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Black Label Society and Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Robert Trujillo, the band set about in creating what they perceived to be their rawest and heaviest record to date. Unfortunately for the fans, this couldn't have been further from the truth. Although the album did indeed have a raw quality to it (mostly due to a lack of production overdubs), the exclusion of guitar solos in favour of bass solos didn't make it heavier, but instead made it sound bland and unimpressive. Although technically it was heavier due to its emphasis on bass, it lacked the amplified distortion which typically characterises the Metallic sound. On top of this, the songwriting on the album was nothing to write home about. It lacked that Metallica seal of quality where the lyrics meant something and the music conveyed a wave of emotion that most Metal bands could only dream of achieving. Although their newest album, Death Magnetic, is a return to form, something was lost on June 5th 2003 that can never be replaced. This is why For Whom The Bell Tolls has made it onto this list, it remains a timeless classic and is probably the song which best summarises Metallica at their finest.

Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls

The third track on the list is by a band called Oceano. Admittedly, I know very little about this band, having only been introduced to them very recently when one of their videos came on a late night music channel. The reason they caught my attention was not only because their lead singer was black, but because he could really bellow. It is rare that you see a ripped black singer who looks like he could easily slay an entire room spitting rhymes that can deliver skullcrushing screams that would put even the most hardened Metal fan to shame. Fuck Killswitch Engage, we have a new contender to the throne. More power to him and of course the rest of the band.

Their debut album, Depths, is out now. Buy it. You won't regret it.

Oceano - District Of Misery

Next up is Skies of Millenium Night by the now defunct Sikth, a band who I have absolutely no qualms saying quit before their time was up. Here was a band who were undoubtedly at the top of their game, creating a ferocious amalgamation of technical metal and mathcore as well as having two seperate vocalists harmonise in a way which no doubt makes Mushroom Head wonder where it all went wrong. Like Slipknot's People = Shit, I was first introduced to this band via a compilation CD. Unlike my introduction through Kerrang, however, I recieved this CD in a rock/metal club. To this day I have no idea how or why they acquired these CDs, but after listening to it only two acts stood out. The Swedish Metal band Passenger (who I may talk about in the future) and Sikth. The song, of course, was Skies Of Millenium Night, a track which remains my favourite by them. Upon first listen, I wasn't really sure what to think. At this stage of my life, I was majorly into Progressive Metal, to the point where I had less and less time for heavier artists. I guess you could call it Metal elitism and in a sense that's what it was, however, regardless of all this bullshit, here was a song really stuck with me. I just loved it for what it was and later went out and purchased the album, much to the dismay of many of my friends after I give them a little sneak demonstration. Its difficult to pinpoint, but you could say that this was the first, if not one of the first tracks to get me back into a lot of the heavier stuff. Whether that ultimately proved to be a good or a bad thing is up to yourselves.

Sikth - Skies Of Millenium Night

The last track to be submitted is It Lives by the band Overkill. Despite being in many respects an underground force within the metal community, this thrash metal band have been going since 1984. Although personally I'm not the biggest fan of their earlier stuff, it really puts it into perspective. After all, they are still playing live and releasing albums today. That's commitment. Though the first track I heard by them was Elimination, a song which to this day I still love, it was only when I picked up the albums From The Underground And Below and Necroshine that it all clicked for me. It Lives is the first track from the former album and I submitted it because it really has that opener feel. From the first sample of "looks like you've been up to the devil's business" you know you're in for a treat. It is just metal at its purest. There are no elaborations or compressions here, it is what it is and that's what I love the most about it.

Overkill - It Lives

Enjoy the tracks. Over and out.