Back in November I wrote about a new Fear Factory song that had been leaked and now the full-length album that song appears on has been released. Early reviews that I've seen say Mechanize doesn't quite measure up to their classic albums Soul Of A New Machine or Demanufacture, but I don't think anyone expected it to. Still, being a fan of the band I am curious to hear what the reunion of vocalist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares along with the powerhouse rhythm section of Byron Stroud and Gene Hoglan sounds like.
Orphaned Land is an Israeli heavy metal band which is certainly not something that is exactly considered common. I have their 2007 release Mabool - The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven and think it is a fairly interesting album. It isn't something I keep on my iPod or listen to on a regular basis as it falls under my "Opeth Rule"...ie. I have to very specifically be in the mood to listen to it. That being said, the album's seamless blend of prog metal, death metal and Middle Eastern influences is nothing short of extremely impressive, so I am curious about the new album The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR.
Overkill are one of my favorite bands from the 80's thrash movement and one day I am going to write an in depth blog about why I think they rule so much. Their formula hasn't changed much over the two plus decades they've been at it and I'm sure Ironbound qualifies as a "for fans only" album, but I'm a fan, so there you go. [Side Note: I know I'm getting old when I'm psyched for new albums from bands I've been listening to since 1989.]
I haven't been a loyal Saturday Night Live viewer since....well, ever really, but in recent years I certainly never go out of my way to watch it. I stayed home this past Saturday night and my girlfriend and I decided to give it a shot. Ashton Kutcher was hosting which was already one strike against this episode in my book, but I didn't mind the prospect of seeing Them Crooked Vultures perform even though I find their album pretty lackluster.
There were a couple funny skits, but the best one by far was towards the end of the episode and featured Dave Grohl of Them Crooked Vultures (and of course Foo Fighters and Nirvana fame) doing a bit of "acting". Anyone who has ever seen the Foo Fighters live know that Dave Grohl's between song banter has some genuinely entertaining stand-up comedy elements to it and there is more than one pretty funny Foo Fighters video out there ("Big Me", "Long Road To Ruin", "Learn To Fly" and "Low" come to mind with the latter two both featuring cameos from comedian Jack Black), so it isn't terribly surprising to see him show up in a SNL skit. The clip is below and absolutely worth the 3 minutes it will take you to watch it. To sum it up briefly, the skit is set at a wedding where the father of the bride asks to bring up his old bandmates to play a song for his daughter and her new husband. The band turns out be a bunch of raucous punk rockers from the early 80's and proceeds to tear the room apart. Grohl plays the drummer, has a few lines and I have no doubt that he actually wrote the song they play. Grohl has made no secret of being a fan of 80's hardcore and metal and the song unabashedly pays tribute to Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies (the song is mostly a rip off of the ST classic "Institutionalized" to my ears) and early Corrosion Of Conformity (the ficitional band is probably not coincidentally named Crisis Of Conformity).
THIS IS JUST AMAZING! The description from the user who posted it:
"here's the thing. I made this, back in '87, because I was totally in love with this girl Heidi, and I was going to send it too her. after finishing it, I regained my sanity and this went into my "skeleton" closet never to be seen again. Recently(being right before I moved out to LA in November of 06), I started to think, what the hell? It's totally embarrassing but so f'ing what? If you can't laugh at stuff like this then you might as well be dead. dead I say!"
In the "AWESOME" news department, MetalSucks gives word that Dave Ellefson, Jr. has rejoined Megadeth as their bassist (technically I heard via my friend Pat's Facebook update first though). Ellefson was always the mainstay in Dave Mustaine's ever changing Megadeth lineups up until 2002 when he quit the band. The post-Ellefson material has been alright, but it has never felt quite right without him in the band as he played on all of Megadeth's classic albums (of which there are a few). Now I'm even more bummed that the Rust In Peace 20th Anniversary Tour isn't coming near New York City. Seeing Mustaine play Rust In Peace in its entirety with Ellefson on bass would be amazing (not to mention Testament and Exodus are the openers for that tour). I'm hoping their newly rekindled friendship/business relationship holds together through the summer so that I can see Ellefson play with them on the American Carnage Tour with Slayer and Testament.
Ellefson replaces current Megadeth bassist James Lomenzo who was previously in Black Label Society and before that played in White Lion. That would be awesome if this somehow facilitated a reunion of the original White Lion lineup, but that apparently isn't very likely.
Since I've already done two posts about commercials today, I figured why not do a third!
Every year, at least one commercial or advertising campaign comes along that really raises my ire. Last year it was Toyota's maddening "Saved By Zero" campaign (which I believe they are currently receiving a karmic bite in the ass for with their recall woes) and this year it is the Chase Sapphire commercials. Technically this campaign started last year, but I didn't really get fully aggravated by it until this year when the second commercial in the campaign went into heavy rotation. The commercials feature a yuppie (for lack of a better term) couple who are living a more than comfortable lifestyle and discussing or taking part in what appear to be expensive vacations.
The first commercial:
This commercial bugs me because I don't think there are too many husbands/boyfriends out there who would just smile and laugh if their wife/girlfriend went ahead and used accumulated points on a joint credit card to purchase an evening dress instead of seeing if maybe the husband had plans to use the points to go on a nice vacation together. I mean how selfish is she? And lest you think I am being sexist, if the commercial featured the husband buying a set of golf clubs without conferring with his wife first, then I would feel the same way. I found this commercial to be fairly stupid, but then it was followed up with this commercial:
How annoying is the wife? And how stupid is the entire premise of the commercial? Who would actually have that conversation? And who would take their cell phone on a ski lift? And is this really a wise advertising campaign to have in the middle of an economic crisis? Doesn't Chase realize most people are not relating to nor admiring this couple? And most importantly, does anyone believe that you could call ANY credit card company and not have to push 800 BUTTONS to get through to an operator?!?!?!??!?!? Not buying it! This commercial drives me NUTS! The mere site of this couple sends me into a minor rage.
When I become a multi-millionare I will never use a Chase Sapphire credit card and might even use some of my money to buy billboards that mock them for this advertising campaign.
During last night's Superbowl, a spot aired for the new Ridley Scott directed Russel Crowe movie "Robin Hood". I wasn't even aware this movie was coming out, but it looks pretty good. Scott and Crowe were previously teamed together to make Gladiator which was an enjoyable action flick and this basically looks like Gladiator set in Sherwood Forest, so I expect it to be enjoyable as well. I also think Cate Blanchett is super attractive, so that's a bonus that she is a co-star in the movie.
"Mike, you're playing like Betty White out there!"
"That's not what your girlfriend says."
Last night's Superbowl commercials were disappointing across the board with the exception of the above Snickers commercial which I thought was pretty darn hilarious. You really can't go wrong with Betty White and Abe Vigoda as your celebrity endorsements.
The David Letterman promo really surprised me with the inclusion of Jay Leno. Great PR move on Leno's part, but surprising that Letterman invited him to do it (the spot was Letterman's idea) considering their history and Letterman's recent tirades against Leno. They were discussing it this morning on Howard Stern and apparently Letterman also wanted to include Conan, but the logistics weren't going to work out, so they scrapped that idea.
The rest of the advertisers' commercials were largely forgettable with the exception of Bud Light and Doritos, but that is simply because of the sheer volume of advertising those two products had. Actually, the one Doritos commercial where the guy was hiding in a coffin buried in a pile of Doritos watching TV really stood out to me because it was borderline offensive. I can't imagine that many people were laughing at the thought of a guy who would fake his own death to hide in a coffin eating Doritos and watching TV. If somebody like that really exists, then I hope they never reproduce. Personally, this commercial makes me never want to eat Doritos again.
The Bud Light commercial with T-Pain is one that I have a feeling will wind up being popular even though I found it to be particularly stupid. I will admit that I cannot stand Bud Light, but that doesn't necessarily make me averse to their advertising as they have had some fairly funny commercials in the past. This one is a tremendous failure in the humor department though.
Besides the commercials, the other main (dis)attraction aside from the actual game itself was the halftime show. The Who were the musical guests this year and I really enjoyed their performance. Sure, Roger Daltry and Pete Townsend look like absolute hell and Keith Moon and John Entwistle are arguably irreplaceable, but they came out and played some classics and played them well. Lots of people have been saying they sucked and music industry pundit Bob Lefsetz went so far as to say that they were "Lame. Killed classic rock overnight.", but I completely disagree. I'd rather wheel out some aging rockers who play and sing live than suffer through some mindless, soulless performance by a pop act like The Black Eyed Peas.
And then there was the game itself. Being neither partial to the Colts nor the Saints, I was simply rooting for a good game and felt like we got one. I felt a little sorry for Peyton Manning, but am happy for the city of New Orleans. Combine the first Saints Superbowl victory with the beginning of Mardi Gras next Tuesday and NOLA is going to make Sodom and Gomorrah look like Salt Lake City, UT these next few weeks.
It seems the entire world is raving about how great James Cameron's new film Avatar is. When I first saw the previews for it I was quite intrigued and was fairly certain I would commit to seeing it in the theaters; however, now that the film has been released, I have lost all desire to see it. Sure, it is the highest grossing film of all time, Cameron won a Golden Globe Award for Best Director and the majority of people who have seen it seem to love it, but after reading an article on CNN.com about some people who "have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora", I want nothing doing with this movie.
Why you ask? Am I scared that I too will become so engrossed in the fantasy land of Avatar that I will sink into a depression because I cannot actually live there? No, not quite. Not unlike Belinda Carlisle, I believe that "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" and am fairly content here. To explain what has me so turned off, I am going to make a comparison to my two most hated musical groups of all time: Dave Matthews Band and Phish. It takes about two notes of either one of these band's music before I tense up, start seething with rage and my brain feels like it is about to explode. Whenever someone asks me why I have such adverse reactions to these two bands and how I could possibly hate them so much, I always have the same explanation: I actually believe that they are both comprised of quite talented musicians who I wish no ill will upon, but I simply cannot stand their hardcore fan bases. If in some bizarro universe Phish was adored by nothing but Slayer fans, then I'd probably be alright with them, but the reality is that they have a bunch of goofy hippies as their bread and butter fan base and I cannot get down with that. Dave Matthews has a similar fan base except with better haircuts and a lot more disposable income. A few years ago I met a girl that I dated for about a month. She was attractive, very nice and pleasant enough company, but Dave Matthews was her favorite band of all time and her extreme love of them and my extreme disdain for them wound up being the deal breaker for both of us. And the one ex-girlfriend of mine that I absolutely cannot stand and wouldn't pee on if she was on fire was coincidentally a huge Phish fan. Now I know what you are thinking..."he hates these two bands because of bad memory association with women from his past", but my hatred of these two bands started well before I met either one and stems from the fact that I went to a college where these two bands were quite popular with the relatively non-culturally diversified student body. These folks were content to sit around in khaki pants and A&F hats and smoke pot and listen to Phish bootlegs and talk about how awesome "Dave" is. If the thought of that doesn't make your skin crawl, then you and I have dramatically different musical tastes and life views.
Anyway, the whole point of the above rambling is to make the point that since there seems to be a fan base for Avatar that is so obsessed with the film that at least one has been brought to the point where they "contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.'", then I want absolutely nothing to do with these people and the object of their adoration. These people are in league (and perhaps beyond) Trekkies and the Stars Wars fans Triumph The Insult Comic Dog pooped on. (And for the record, I love the original Star Wars movies [Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi], but I got into those when I was a little kid and had no awareness of the larger fan base that was taking it a little too seriously.)
I realize that not wanting to see a film because a couple of people are geeking out on it and quite obviously taking it too seriously seems a bit irrational, but I fully admit that I often make snap decisions about films, TV shows, music and books based on this type of rationale and am more than comfortable with it.
So, in closing, I would just like to say to anyone who wants to go live on Pandora:
A couple weeks ago, my buddy was on Twitter/Facebook saying that the new Ratt album was amazing. I never thought any of Ratt's albums were "amazing", but their greatest hits package is certainly worth owning because they do have some fantastic songs in their catalog.
Roadrunner Records has put up Ratt's new single "Best Of Me" on their website and I have to admit that the song is definitely in line with the Ratt hits of old and is quite frankly downright enjoyable. I'm curious to see if the whole albums winds up being "amazing" like my friend swears it is, but I'm dubious considering my opinion of their previous albums being a couple hits surrounded by filler. Either way, at least we are getting another awesome Ratt song to enjoy (and did you ever think you'd be saying that in the year 2010?).
I'm one of those people that loves the show Lost, but I am not one of those people that reads all the blogs out there that really delve deep into the hidden meanings of the show. I do enjoy Jeff Jensen from EW.com's weekly column about the show and I'm told Lostpedia is fairly entertaining, but for the most part I simply watch enthusiastically every week and try to keep up with what the hell is going on.
The new season premiered last night and it was a total head scratcher. I'd imagine the Lost blogosphere is losing their collective minds over it and I have to say my head was spinning when hour two of the two hour premiere came to a close.
From what I gathered on my own and from my discussions with fellow fans, there appears to be a tale of two worlds being told. One where the castaways never crash on the island (and the island has apparently sunk to the bottom of the ocean), but are still being brought together by random circumstances and one where they are still on the island and very much in danger because Jacob, the all-powerful leader of the island and source or controller of its magical powers, has been defeated by his arch rival who has possessed John Locke's body and is also the smoke monster. Phew. Got all that? Me neither. The good news is that Jeff Jensen had the following to say in his EW article:
The good news I have for you today is that Lost exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have valuable intel to share with you to help your reading of the show. You can check out our Q&A with them if you haven't already. But the main ideas are these: (1) You are not as confused as you think. The questions you are asking are questions you should be asking. (2) You will get answers to these questions — but patience will be required. (3) The temptation will be to dismiss the sideways story as ''What if...?'' trivia, but we should trust that we're being shown this story for a reason, and so we should take the leap of investing in its reality.
"sideways story"...I like that and it makes it sound more interesting than simple alternate reality. I am very curious to find out who these new characters are that are running the temple. My first guess as to their activities upon capturing the castaways is that they were trying to prepare Sayid's body to be a new vessel for Jacob and it appeared at the end of the show that the mission was accomplished. But this is Lost, so it could simply be that Sayid took a little longer to wake up than expected. Who the heck knows, but maybe we'll find out if/when they reveal the content of the letter they found in the wooden cross. I am curious to find out what the temple guys wanted to talk to Jack in private about so urgently, but my first guess is that it has something to do with his father's ghost that keeps popping up all over the island. And where was Locke/Smoke Monster taking Richard? And what the heck is Richard's deal anyway?
So many questions, but the good news is that they will supposedly all be answered by the end of this season as it is the show's final one. I for one cannot wait for next week to see what answers and new questions we are given.
The Great Misdirect Tour featuring headliners Between The Buried And Me with openers Cynic, The Devin Townsend Project and Scale The Summit rolled into NYC this past Saturday. Being a fan of all four bands, I was very excited for this show and my expectations were high. Unfortunately, my expectations weren't quite met. [And my expectations that I would have good pictures to post since I remembered to bring my digital camera with me and wouldn't have to rely on my Blackberry camera weren't quite met either. Perhaps I'll have better luck next time.]
First up was Scale The Summit. I would have caught their whole set had I not spent the first 15 minutes of it in the coat check line. Seriously? Have you ever heard of a coat check line being that long? And to add to the aggravation of waiting in a long line, I had the most annoying kid in the world standing in line behind me. He didn't speak so much as he yelled and everything out of his mouth was nonsense. He had a theory that all good merch was sold out before the first band went on which anyone who has been to a show before would tell you couldn't be further from the truth. But his major offense besides simply being loud and stupid was that fact that this WHITE KID dropped the n-word about 10 times like he was Jay-Z. There is nothing more offensive than a white person using that word and even if he didn't mean it maliciously, he was still WAY OUT OF LINE. The icing on the cake was that his midget girlfriend kept jabbing me in the lower back with her ridiculously over-sized bag. I hope they all got punched in the head in the most pit. Anyway, after grabbing a much needed alcoholic beverage, I caught the last bit of Scale The Summit's set and thoroughly enjoyed it. These guys are young and have some serious chops and, along with fellow instrumentalists and label mates Animals As Leaders, look like they have a bright future ahead.
Next up was the act I was most excited for: The Devin Townsend Project. And judging by the crowd reaction, I wasn't the only one feeling that way. Devin started the show telling a story about the, uh, bowel movement he took earlier in the day. Truth or fiction? I do not know, but the crowd was laughing and cheering regardless. Devin pulled his set list from his catalog of "solo" (The Devin Townsend Project, Devin Townsend Band, Devin Townsend) albums, but sadly only had 30 minutes to work with. I think the crowd would have gladly accepted another hour of material from Mr. Townsend, but enthusiastically soaked up the 30 minutes they were given. It was an incredible performance, but unfortunately for the two acts that had to follow him, perhaps it was too incredible.
Cynic followed The Devin Townsend Project and this is, in my opinion, the fatal flaw of this tour. Cynic has two albums out. One released in 1993 and one released in 2008. They are both good and I was looking forward to seeing them live for the first time. I don't know if they were having an off night or what, but their set was beyond BORING. I mean it was an utter and complete snoozefest. I think the major problem was that Devin Townsend was so high energy that Cynic seemed like Dave Matthews coming on after Metallica. I don't know how it was determined that Cynic be direct support, but they most definitely should not be. Devin would make so much more sense in that slot and the show would flow much better. I have to admit that this really soured me on Cynic and I will never go out of my way to see them live in the future.
By the time Between The Buried And Me hit the stage, my energy had been completely deflated by Cynic and all I could think about was where we were all going to hang out after the show. I love BTBAM. I own all their albums and have seen them live before and thought they ruled, but tonight I was just not feeling it. And again, I completely blame the choice of Cynic as direct support for this. They really destroyed the vibe for me. That being said, I won't hold it against BTBAM and most definitely would go see them again.
Only one release coming out today that is on my radar and that is the self-titled debut from Charred Walls Of The Damned. This is a solo project of sorts for metal drummer extraordinaire, stand-up comic and (what he is probably most well known for) Howard Stern sidekick Richard Christy. He, of course, plays drums (and wrote the majority of the music) and recruited Tim "Ripper" Owens (Judas Priest, Iced Earth) to provide vocals, Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Testament, Sadus) to play bass and Jason Suecof (a producer who has worked with Trivium, All That Remains, Chimaira and God Forbid to name a few) to play guitar.
I've heard a few songs and it sounds not unlike what one would expect a record that guys with the collective musical resumes they have would make. For those who don't know what that sound is....think aggressive, thrashy, non-theatrical power metal with soaring vocals and superb drumming and bass playing (I'm not familiar enough with Suecof's guitar playing to qualify it as superb, but the guy is in incredible company in this band, so it is probably safe to assume that he can hold his own).
I had the pleasure of meeting Richard Christy this past Friday evening and I must say that he is one of the nicest "celebrities" I've ever met. My girlfriend and I must have taken 800 pictures with him (actually it was only 4) as we are both huge Howard Stern fans and he was completely gracious and polite to us and he also, like everyone else, thought my Iron Maiden scarf was awesome. He is certainly a good ambassador for not only himself, but also The Howard Stern Show.
I am definitely going to purchase the album because even if I wind up hating it, I won't care because I don't mind supporting Richard who I think is a super nice guy, an incredible drummer and a great comedian (let's face it...his prank calls on Howard Stern are one of the highlights of that show).
Today has been a great day for me as I've gotten good news about more than one of my favorite bands. First, the Drive-By Truckers released a brand new track on their website and now Faith No More has announced their first non-festival US show since reforming last year. They'll be playing a warm-up show on April 14th at The Warfield in San Francisco before their appearance at Coachella a few days later. A full US tour is supposedly in the works, but if I can manage to be one of the lucky few to get through on Ticketbastard and score a ticket for this show, then I am just going to have to book a flight to San Francisco. It would be a great excuse to visit the most amazing record store in the world, Amoeba Music, and gorge on the amazing Mexican food that Northern California has to offer. Maybe I'll even take the Kitchen Sink Challenge at the San Francisco Creamery Co.
One of my favorite bands, the Drive-By Truckers (who I've written about before) released a new song entitled "Birthday Boy" for download on their website today. This is the second song they've released from the forthcoming new album The Big To-Do (you can get the first one, "This Fucking Job", here) and based on these two tracks I'm beginning to get a gut feeling that it will be their best effort since their 2004 masterpiece The Dirty South. The albums released in between, A Blessing And A Curse and Brighter Than Creation's Dark, are both excellent in their own right, but the former sounded like a band divided (and Jason Isbell's departure after that album lends a fair amount of cred to that observation) and the latter sounded like a band trying to find their way again. These two new songs sound like the work of the well-oiled rock n roll machine the band was on earlier releases.
I guess I'll have to wait until March 16th to find out if my hunch about exactly how good the album will be is, but I know no matter what I won't be disappointed.
So, according to the Pop Culture Madness website, the #1 song in America the week of my birth was "Lovin' You" by Minnie Ripperton. I can't decide if that is awesome or really lame.....
I like music. A lot. I'm going to babble about it here. I'll also share my thoughts on movies, TV shows, books, current events, the occasional amusing misadventure in my life...basically whatever happens to strike my fancy.
Back in November I wrote about a new Fear Factory song that had been leaked and now the full-length album that song appears on has been released. Early reviews that I've seen say Mechanize doesn't quite measure up to their classic albums Soul Of A New Machine or Demanufacture, but I don't think anyone expected it to. Still, being a fan of the band I am curious to hear what the reunion of vocalist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares along with the powerhouse rhythm section of Byron Stroud and Gene Hoglan sounds like.
Orphaned Land is an Israeli heavy metal band which is certainly not something that is exactly considered common. I have their 2007 release Mabool - The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven and think it is a fairly interesting album. It isn't something I keep on my iPod or listen to on a regular basis as it falls under my "Opeth Rule"...ie. I have to very specifically be in the mood to listen to it. That being said, the album's seamless blend of prog metal, death metal and Middle Eastern influences is nothing short of extremely impressive, so I am curious about the new album The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR.
Overkill are one of my favorite bands from the 80's thrash movement and one day I am going to write an in depth blog about why I think they rule so much. Their formula hasn't changed much over the two plus decades they've been at it and I'm sure Ironbound qualifies as a "for fans only" album, but I'm a fan, so there you go. [Side Note: I know I'm getting old when I'm psyched for new albums from bands I've been listening to since 1989.]
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