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Howdy all,
Today I've got a real treat. Thanks to Metallica's streaming of several tracks of their new album on their website, I've decided to bring you an advance review based on what I've heard so far.
Metallica have been streaming six of the ten tracks from their upcoming album "Death Magnetic" on their website. For those interested, they can be found here Really Long Link
Overall, there is definitely remnants of the St Anger feel in some of these songs. However, what I think Metallica and Rick Rubin have managed to do is go back to what made Metallica great in the first place, then update that sound and style for 2008. These songs are filled with killer riffs, break-neck tempos, and blistering solos.
While there does seem to be some random moments that made me go "well that was weird", and a couple of Kirk's solos (YES the solos are back!!) seem to be lacking anything stand-out, They have come a long way back to what makes them so great, and this album should be a spectacular return to form for these Heavy Metal Masters.
I had the feeling that this album would do one of two things. It would either be the band's saving grace after a few less than impressive and rather left-field albums, OR, it would be stranger than anything they had done before, and basically turn them into a parody of themselves. Personally, I am glad it was the former.
"Death Magnetic" is more than an album. It's a warning to all those up-start bands out there. Metallica is still here and they can still make great Heavy Metal music, even after over 25 years in the industry.
Full review coming after September 13th.
As always, comments welcome.
Dan
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So I went to see Disturbed play the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney last night. What a show!
The opening band was an Australian band called Behind Crimson Eyes. I really didn't have much interest in seeing them, so I didn't bother getting in there until Altar Bridge were on.
Alter Bridge have some great songs, however I really think their stage show left something to be desired. Perhaps they were having an off night, I don't know. But when the lead guitarist makes his "guitar hero" face for every single solo, I'm not really that impressed with their live performance. I still dig the songs tho.
Next on stage was P.O.D. Now these guys haven't been around in the mainstream a lot since their Satellite album, however, that have released a self-titled album, one track featured on one of "The Matrix" sound tracks, and they have a new album coming out this month. They pretty much only played songs from their Satellite album, which was a disappointment, since there are some great songs on their self-titled release, but they got the crowd going and it was good to see them getting back in the game.
Now we come to Disturbed. David was brought out onto stage on a trolley with a straight jacket and Hannibal style face-mask. He removed these and they opened with "Perfect Insanity" from their new album. The music was a good spread across all four albums, and they played all the songs that everyone wanted to hear. Before they played their encore, David came out on stage and addressed the crowd with regard to "Inside the Fire" which was the next song they were going to play. He took a little bit of time doing it, which was very brave considering he was addressing a crowd of rabid metal fans who were gagging to hear more music. He got a huge cheer for it and I for one appreciate that he is taking the time to discuss an issue that is often either ignored or considered too taboo to talk about.
They closed the show with "Down with the Sickness" and their standard "We all are Disturbed" chant.
All in all, I was very satisfied with both P.O.D. and Disturbed, however I probably wouldn't pay to see Alter Bridge as a main act.
Thoughts from anyone else who has seen Disturbed on their current tour?
Comments always welcome.
Dan
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And we're back.
Firstly, let me apologize for my absence and lack of posts lately. I've had a lot on my mind and haven't really have time to think about blogging. Now, to get into it.
For those of you that don't know, Slipknot have released a new album, and it is called "All Hope is Gone". In the lead up to the release, the band described the album as their heaviest yet, while still exploring new areas in a similar way to "Vol. 3", their last studio album.
From the long fade-in of the intro track, you get a feeling about this album. When the guitars for the start of the first actual song, "Gematria (The Killing Name)" came in, I knew instantly that I would enjoy this album. Interestingly enough, the chorus lyric is "America is a Killing Name", but we can see why they had to change that for the album sleeve.
The next track is along the same lines. Brutal.
The next few tracks are interesting. They seem to fall into a territory somewhere between the ass-kicking face-stomping Slipknot of old, and the slightly more hard rock sound of Stone Sour. "Psychosocial" has a thumping verse and rocky, melodic chorus, followed by the verse riff again with what sounds like the whole band screaming "Psychosocial" repeatedly. It's definitely a good choice for a first single, and gives a very fair overview of all the best things about this album.
The emotional, but still extremely powerful "Snuff" continues to showcase the new side of Slipknot that was exposed on "Vol. 3" by tracks like "Circle" and "Vermilion"
The title track from this album is not one to be missed. "All Hope is Gone" takes a similar sound to many of the tracks of "Vol. 3", but much heavier.
The extended version of the album comes with a few extra tracks, including a remix of "Vermilion Part 2" and a live recording of the first single from this album, "Psychosocial".
This is a must buy for Slipknot fans, and is probably even good for converting a few more Maggots to the cause. They've grown again as a band, and still managed to keep a lot of what made them great to begin with. This is the kind of development that many bands today still lack, and I'm sure we'll see the boys from Iowa coming back for a 5th studio effort in a few more years, after the music media has written them off AGAIN.
To summarize, BUY THIS ALBUM. You won't regret it.
As always, comments welcome,
Dan
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Now I'm not sure if this post falls entirely within the scope of this blog, but its something I need to vent about.
So I went down to JB Hi-Fi yesterday to buy the latest Dark Lotus album, if you haven't heard of them, I won't bother explaining about them, but anyway. I get out to the car, open the album to play it, and half of the little teeth in the center that hold the CD in place are broken. Now, if this was just one CD, I wouldn't mind so much, but it seems like more than half the CDs I buy lately, from ANYWHERE, have a number of broken teeth in the center. This means that the disc is able to move around inside the case, and potentially get damaged
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Welcome back to another episode of "Metal Beats" (insert killer riff here)
I'm your host Dan "Seraph" Black. Todays topic is "Previews
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So hey, I figure if I'm doing a music blog, I should say something about musicians eh?
I myself am a musician, and hence, you might think I'm biased. Well... for you non-musicians out there, let me be the first to say
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Hey everyone,
Today's topic is local bands. I'm sure some of you find the time to go down to venues in your area and support local music. To you I have one thing to say... THANK YOU!  [ Click here to read more ]
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Hey again
So I was thinking, those of you out there who read this must be forming some opinion about me by now, so I figure I should try to find out a little bit about you! [ Click here to read more ]
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Hello again everyone,
Now I know that this album came out last year, but I figured I'd review it anyway since it is one of the best Metal albums I've heard in a long time
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Hello again everyone. It's time for my first album review. I'll probably do one every so often.
Today's review is the brand new album from Disturbed, "Indestructible
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Comment by Daniel Morrow
on Disturbed in Concert
Metal Beats